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St Albans Community Safety Partnership Plan 2010/11

Introduction:

This Partnership Plan outlines the key priorities for the Community Safety Partnership for 2010/11 it is based on an assessment of crime, anti social behaviour and drug and alcohol misuse in the district.

The Community Safety Plan for 2010-11 aims to build a safer St Albans through addressing these four aims;

• Preventing and reducing crime, in particular dwelling burglary, theft of and from motor vehicle, theft from person, theft from shop, robbery and drug dealing.
• Preventing and reducing anti social behaviour
• Protecting vulnerable people
• Managing offenders
• Promoting the work of the partnership and increasing public confidence.

Underpinning all of the above is the Partnership’s ability to respond to emerging issues quickly.

Members of the Community Safety Partnership are;

St Albans City and District Hertfordshire County Council
Hertfordshire Constabulary Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service
Hertfordshire Police Authority Primary Care Trust
Hertfordshire Probation Service Hertfordshire Youth Offending Team.

In addition the Partnership will occasionally work with other agencies such as British Transport Police, First Capital Connect, Central Herts Magistrates Bench, Crown Prosecution Service, Trading Standards and Housing Associations.

The Community Safety Plan needs to contribute to local and county strategies to have maximum effect. For this reason it not only contributes to but also reflects the priorities of the Local Strategic Partnership’s Sustainable Community Strategy, the wider Hertfordshire Community Strategy, the Police Authority Plan and all of the plans of the Partnership member agencies. Full details of these plans are available on request from the Community Safety Team 01727 819305 or at www.stalbanscsp.org.uk.

Preventing and reducing crime.

The Partnership will concentrate on reducing the crimes highlighted above by continuing with initiatives and activity aimed at deterring and detecting criminals such as Operation Guardian, Operation Sentinel and Operation Crystal. The Partnership will continue to focus on targeting a small majority of offenders who carry out a large proportion of all crime. It will also continue to target resources at providing information on how to reduce the chances of becoming a victim of crime.

Preventing and reducing anti social behaviour (ASB)

St Albans City and District has some of the lowest levels of anti- social behaviour in the County and the Country. The Partnership realises that where this behaviour does occur it is very distressing for the victims. Actions to prevent ASB escalating include education, mediation and family based support and projects such as Onside football schemes and outreach projects such as the Fire Services LIFE Project. However where necessary, the Partnership will not hesitate to use enforcement measures and apply for Court Orders, injunctions and Anti Social Behaviour Orders.

A number of measures have been undertaken in previous years by the Partnership to tackle alcohol related anti social behaviour. As a result incidents of this nature are quite low in the district; however there are some pockets that require further attention and action. The Partnership will continue to target these locations to do more to reduce and prevent further incidents.

Protecting vulnerable people

The Partnership strives to protect the most vulnerable people in its communities. As part of this it will undertake activity to help a wide range of vulnerable people including victims of domestic violence, the elderly and communities at risk of becoming targeted by radical or extremist activity. The Partnership will continue to monitor any hate crimes and incidents taking swift action.

Managing Offenders

Drug misusers often turn to committing crimes acquisitive crime like shoplifting, and theft to fund their drug habit. The Partnership will continue to focus on Prolific and Other Priority Offenders (PPO’s); they have been indentified as the small minority of offenders that carry out the large proportion of crime. The Partnership will ensure that the PPO’s in the district are managed in line with the Hertfordshire PPO Strategy, including continuing to work with the County C2 project. The project targets the most persistent offenders by offering training and work to break the cycle of offending.

The Partnership will continue to educate people about drugs and alcohol in line with national campaigns and the Hertfordshire Drugs Strategy. It will continue to engage the local media and undertake work in schools and colleges. It will continue to work to share information and eliminate the supply of drugs as well as ensuring that information about help and treatment services is available to those who need it.

Promoting the work of the partnership and increasing feelings of public confidence

Hertfordshire is one of the safest counties in England and St Albans is one of the safest districts in the County. The Partnership will continue to promote public awareness of the range of activities which are being carried out to tackle crime, anti social behaviour and drug and alcohol misuse. It will engage with the public by publishing its quarterly newsletter in the local newspaper, keeping its website up to date and undertaking regular press releases about success stories and how to get involved.

The Partnership will give local communities the opportunity to indentify projects where offenders can pay back their debt to society by improving the environment through visible Community Payback Projects.

The Partnership’s Performance in 2009/10

For the period April 2008 - March 2009 crime fell by 6% or 570 fewer crimes compared with the previous year. The table below shows the performance of the Partnership against key crime types from April – Dec 09 and compares it with the same period the previous year showing that all crime is down 8.8%.

[Table not reproduced on this website]

Planning ahead

The Partnership is keen that any projects undertaken are sustainable and produce long term effects wherever possible. In addition Equality Impact Assessments will be conducted on all implemented projects which will consider all six strands of the Equalities agenda.

Sent out on behalf of Hertfordshire Police Authority

Dear Colleague

As is usual for this time of year, the Police Authority has started to review its policing priorities and to consider the level of Council Tax that it will set next year in order to deliver them.

However, this year, the decisions and choices that we face are such that we have decided to consult more widely and using an online survey to make it easier to give feedback.

The Policing Pledge will continue to feature in the Plan and initial considerations indicate that we need to continue our focus on the six ‘Red Lines’:

· Reduce the most serious violent, organised and acquisitive crimes

· Protect vulnerable people, including victims of sexual offences

· Bring more serious offenders to justice

· Improve public confidence and satisfaction in the police services

· Increase people’s feelings of safety

· Reduce anti-social behaviour, including alcohol-related disorder

However, it has become clear from calls made to the police (about 60,000 a year) and from feedback we receive direct from the public, that anti-social behaviour is taking on greater prominence across the county. The same is true of inconsiderate motoring, including dangerous or obstructive parking, speeding, particularly in residential areas, and other inconsiderate or dangerous practices, such as the use of mobile phones whilst driving.

Concerns about the levels of rural crime have also been raised, although this is more particularly related to North and East Herts.

We, therefore, need to consider whether these issues should be given a higher priority in the Policing Plan and, if they are, how best to ensure that the Constabulary are able to meet the challenges they will present. Particularly since our current thinking is to retain and, as far as possible, avoid increasing the total number of targets and measures set in the Plan for 31 March 2011, unless there is significant evidence to support a revision.

We shall, therefore, be consulting on three alternative levels of Council Tax increase – 1.5%, 5% and 15%. The 15% option may surprise some partners given the current economic conditions.

The Authority believes that Hertfordshire currently receives a good standard of policing from, what is, one of the top performing forces in the country. This has been delivered through effective and efficient management of the Force and the availability of the necessary resources to deliver a good service.

Over the past few years, we have been using our reserves to cushion the blow caused by funding formula restrictions imposed on our Home Office grants. This year, Hertfordshire Police Authority had £3.7m of its Government grant withheld and it has just been informed that this shortfall is likely to increase to £4.1m next year, with the real possibility of this getting worse in future years.

The Authority and the Force have responded with increased efficiency savings - £17.5m over the last five years - enabling the Authority to keep the annual increase in Council Tax to below five per cent. Hertfordshire now has a Band D precept level that is 12% below the average for shire forces. For example a Band D council tax payer in the county currently pays £142.82 a year for policing whilst in Surrey a Band D resident would pay an extra £55.

We now face the certain prospect of central funding being reduced, bringing with it the real possibility of significant cuts to police services over the next three years.

The Audit Commission awarded the Authority the highest grade for efficiency and Value for Money in each of the last three years and, this year, it was one of only two forces in the country to achieve this grade.

The Authority wishes to gauge the opinion of the public about their willingness to pay more for their local policing. Clearly, any outcome will be an important part of the Authority’s final considerations along with issues such as capping risks and any improved indication regarding Government’s intention for police funding over the next few years.

A link to our online survey will be distributed to around 20,000 Hertfordshire residents via e-mail. We shall also be publicising the consultation through the local media. We would be grateful if you would complete the survey and circulate it to all your members and staff within your organisations. It can be accessed via the home page of our website – www.hertspa.org – or via the following direct link:

https://www.hertsdirect.org/websurveys/surveys/RWUHVQ

Also, if any partner organisations would be willing to allow the Police Authority to have a front page link from their own websites this would be very much appreciated. If so, could partners please contact Emily Anderson (01992 55562, emily.anderson.hpa@herts.pnn.police.uk) who will make arrangements for a link to be provided.

A copy of our current Policing Plan is also available on our website.

Thank you for your continued support in making Hertfordshire one of the safest counties in England and Wales.

Stuart Nagler DL JP
Chair
Hertfordshire Police Authority

Yet again Herts Highways has managed to mess up what should have been a good news story - the fixing of the pavements in Bedford Road.

They did leaflet Bedford Road (I reproduced their letter) but FAILED to leaflet the neighbouring streets - even though everyone knows that in close terraces like these people will always be forced to park in a neighbouring street.

They also FAILED to tell the District Council even though it is the district council which runs parking.

Result? One perfectly innocent driver did not know what was being planned - and there were no notices up to warn him. So your lovely County Council got the police to tow his car away - giving him a bill of £150 as well as huge anxiety.

 I am fighting to get this man compensation for his loss.

 SHAME ON THE COUNTY COUNCIL AND THE POLICE FOR THEIR BULLY BOY TACTICS.

The current priorities for St Peter’s ward are:

Carlisle Avenue and Palfrey Close: anti-social behaviour and criminal damage

Rough drinkers

Underage drinkers: the number of youths being stopped with alcohol has decreased a lot. Local off-licences and food stores are working very closely with the police and council to enable them to not serve underage youths.

There are many other matters of concern: please let us know if there is something your police or councillors should be attending to.

Your councillors have asked the police to pay particular attention to:
- disorder and drunkenness in St Peter’s church yard
- reports of anti-social behaviour and possible drug taking in the Hatfield Road area

In addition we have regular meetings with the police to discuss actions on a wide range of issues, including criminal damage, anti-social behaviour (especially licensed premises) and thefts.

If you have a particular set of concerns then please let us know.