Community Safety Policy
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Community Safety Policy - an introduction
Community Safety Policy falls into several parts which we have detailed below:
Governance policy - mainly related to the growing compendium of guidance on partnership working in crime, disorder and combating drug misuse and its links to central, regional and local governance
- Practice policy - plenty of it but needs to be handled with caution - as a good idea does not necessarily translate into an effective project
Performance policy - potentially the 'tungsten tipped point' to prod the good intentioned and worthy project toward specific and defined outcomes and outputs
The central government responsibility for crime and disorder reduction continues to sit with the Home Office. In the division of governmental crime and justice responsibilities, which occurred in 2007, the Home Office retained the police service and Community SAfety Partnerships (CSPs) under their wing but passed the probation service and the prison service to the Ministry of Justice.
Central Government Policy
The relationship between the Home Office and the individual CSPs is increasingly complex and distant. As far as we can tell - no joke intended - since the Coalition Government came to power in 2010, there has been no published national crime reduction strategy and, perhaps consequently there has not been an operational national community safety plan.
Current policy consists of the Community safety partnerships mergers guidance - which provides the latest guidance for CSP on the procedure for the merger of CSP areas(Published 10 August 2011).
Community Safety Governance - local
The strategic governance of crime and disorder reduction work has belonged with the local Crime and Disorder Partnerships (CDRP's) since the implementation of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This has meant that the local strategic management, commissioning of the local strategic assessment of crime and disorder, the development of local delivery plans for crime and disorder reduction and the overseeing of performance against crime reduction targets has belonged with the CDRP's.
However, there is a significant regional input into the governance of CDRP's. This is so both in the case of county CDRP's and through the CDRP membership of Police Authorities, Fire Authorities and Police Services at county and district levels and in unitary authorities.
To ensure that there was a consistent basic structure and process for each of the CDRP's, the Home Office set up the CDRP Reform process in 2005; which reviewed the structures and operations of the CDRP's. As a result of the review a set of minimum standards for CDRP's was established and included in the Police and Justice Act 2006 (PJA) and related documents. However, parallel to this work, the Department for Communities and Local Government were reviewing the mechanisms for local community governance and sponsored the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (Local Government and Health Act 2007). There are dignificant similarities and overlaps with the two Acts.
Key parts of the Local Government Act:
1. Provide a statutory basis for Local Area Agreements, a formal framework for co-operation in the development of LAA's with local/regional partners and a formal description of (local improvement) targets
2. Empower councillors to raise issues with overview and scrutiny committees as part of expanding Community Calls for Action to cover all local government services
3. Provide new powers for overview and scrutiny committees to review and scrutinise the actions of key local public service providers. These link to the community safety and police prioritisation of crime and disorder topics, community engagement and local accountability issues.
It is critical to link the local Police and Justice Act implementation programme with the implementation of the Local Government and Health Act. This will enable the local social and economic causes of crime and local community development to be seen as one - a whole community issue - and dealt with in a consistent way instead of within the separated silos of criminal justice or regeneration. It should avoid the anomaly of separate targets or priorities to tackle the same social issues and will strengthen the longer term reduction in crime and disorder.
Community Safety Governance - regional
The role of regional authorities in the governance of CDRP's is complex. The responsibilities vested in regional CDRP's (at county level) within two tier municipal authorities and the statutory responsibilities of Police Authorities, Fire Authorities and Police Services to work within CDRP's at all levels must mean that regional matters will significantly influence CDRP governance.
Additionally, the nature of regional statutory bodies responsibilities at the local CDRP level means that they will most likely have a specific interest in ensuring that their regional targets and objective are supported at a local level through the CDRP's - whether that be the consistent development across a region of ex prisoner resettlement services (in the case of the probation Service) or the delivery of regional crime reduction priorities in the case of the county Constabulary or the regional Police Authority.
A further element of regional influence will come from the role played by regional Government Offices in guiding CDRP's and in adjudicating on the development of Local Area Agreement and their prioritisation by Local Strategic Partnership of crime and disorder priorities originating from CDRP's systematic assessment of crime and disorder issues via their annual development of Crime and Disorder Strategic Assessments.
Strategic Practice
The specific responsibilities for Developing a Strategic Assessment and its implementation are described in SI 2007/1830. The provision of information to undertake the strategic assessments are covered in SI 2007/1831
There are a number of problems in implementing statutory Strategic Assessment - in terms of aggregating the information for the purpose of providing multi agency strategic priorities. A number of areas - to avoid the production of dual assessments where agreement cannot be reached as to what is an acceptable priority CDRP's are adopting the more narrowly focused (but systematic) 'police control strategy' Strategic Assessments.
A useful tool to link the two - and get the best from both - is the Metropolitan Police developed Strategic Prioritisation Matrix. What this seeks to do is to provide a logical process for scanning, analysing and prioritising reported crime and selected crime and disorder related issues. It does not provide the whole picture; as it needs to be integrated with non-police information, community identified priorities and community consultation etc. But it is a help.
Operational Practice
Community Safety practice policy and specific practice examples are more easily found on the Crime Prevention page, the related crime and disorder topic pages - burglary, robbery etc and in the Community Safety Basics page.
However, there have been a couple of useful attempts by the UK government to prescribe good practice topics - translating general practice into systematically analysed and accessible information base. Information for Performance and Knowledge - the IPAK programme - being the most worked at attempt but although there is high quality research on practice available (see the Home Office RDS publications Development and Practice Reports). Guidance for practitioners in specific fields as yet this has not been distilled The regulation of practice has.
What Is Section 17?
Section 17 is a clause within the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 which seeks to get local authorities and other specified authorities to consider crime and disorder reduction and combating drug misuse when developing their general activities. The section places a duty on:
- Local Authorities
- Police Authorities
- Fire Authorities
- National Parks Authorities
- The Broads Authority
"Without prejudice to any other obligation imposed upon it, it shall be the duty of each authority … to exercise its various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all that it reasonably can to prevent, crime and disorder in its area (including anti-social and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment) and the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in its area”
Impact of Section 17
Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (revised) places an obligation on local and other names authorities to consider the crime, disorder, environmental issues affecting the local area and substance misuse of all their activities and to do all they reasonably can to prevent them.
The purpose of the Section is to focus attention on the broader range of issues that these key agencies can contribute to which will enable safere communities. So that for instance, Police Authorities need to consider the inclusion of substance misuse prevention and reduction in their development of their duties or Fire Authorities need to include the prevention of criminal damage in their business plans.
This reflects the reality that there are crime and/or disorder implications in decisions made across the full range of statutory services, and to correct the current situation under which these implications are often not recognised at the time decisions are taken, with expensive consequences.
An example of the application of Section 17 reviewing local authority services to work with the victims of crime.
What Is Section 17?
Section 17 is a clause within the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 which seeks to get local authorities and other specified authorities to consider crime and disorder reduction and combating drug misuse when developing their general activities. The section places a duty on:
- Local Authorities
- Police Authorities
- Fire Authorities
- National Parks Authorities
- The Broads Authority
"Without prejudice to any other obligation imposed upon it, it shall be the duty of each authority … to exercise its various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all that it reasonably can to prevent, crime and disorder in its area (including anti-social and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment) and the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in its area”
Impact of Section 17
Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (revised) places an obligation on local and other names authorities to consider the crime, disorder, environmental issues affecting the local area and substance misuse of all their activities and to do all they reasonably can to prevent them.
The purpose of the Section is to focus attention on the broader range of issues that these key agencies can contribute to which will enable safere communities. So that for instance, Police Authorities need to consider the inclusion of substance misuse prevention and reduction in their development of their duties or Fire Authorities need to include the prevention of criminal damage in their business plans.
This reflects the reality that there are crime and/or disorder implications in decisions made across the full range of statutory services, and to correct the current situation under which these implications are often not recognised at the time decisions are taken, with expensive consequences.
An example of the application of Section 17 reviewing local authority services to work with the victims of crime.
| Education | Housing | Social Services |
Priority Area | Bullied pupils | Victims of ASB | Youth Offenders at 18 years |
Policy/ Strategy/ | Departmental Anti Bullying policy | Working with ASB Victims | YOT/NOMS protocol |
Level of Service | Effective Pastoral Care Service | Effective reporting and Action | Seamless Transition |
Practice | Project, Training, Targets and Monitoring | Service Standards, reporting structure and action | Targeted service with integrated delivery |
A PowerPoint presentation given by Martin Davis to the Local Government Association in November 2007
Section 17 Review and Compliance Audit
A proforma to enable authorities with a duty to apply Section 17 to review compliance and plan for improved compliance
UK Policy Links
Web page with local government policy links, news, consulations etc from the English Local Government Association.
Web pages from the Scottish local authority community safety forum.
Northern Ireland Community Safety Unit
Web pages of the Northern Irish Community Safety Unit incldes information research, training and funding.
Wales - Community Safety - WLGA
Web page from the Welsh Local Government Association
New Public Service Agreements: Stronger communities and a better quality of life
Public Service Agreements (PSAs) 18-26 are the stronger communities and better quality of life PSA's which form part of the suite of 30 new PSA's published by the UK government in mid October 2007.
Performance Framework for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships
The new national indicator for local authorities and local authority partnerships was announced as part of the Chancellor's Comprehensive Spending Review announcement on 9 October 2007.
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