Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Curran.

There were no declarations of interest received at the meeting.

To approve the Minutes of the Community Safety Partnership Working Party meeting held on 14 September 2015, copy attached.

Councillor Campbell proposed, Councillor Falcon seconded and Members agreed that the minutes of the Community Safety Partnership Working Party were a correct record of the meeting held on 14 September 2015.

Martyn Cassell, Community Safety and Leisure Manager introduced the report and made the following progress update comments that:

•  Of the 4 priorities the Partnership is focussing on, there were 12 emerging issues with 30 agreed actions;

•  Members have already received a presentation on the Drivers of Crime priority and will hear about Engagement later;

•  In terms of safeguarding people, last summer a Youth Trust from London conducted a training session for the local youth workers that has helped them engage better with young people that may be easily influenced into gang or youth crime;

•  The CSP have targeted domestic abuse. There were more cases going to court and support services were being provided to victims of the crime. An interactive guide had been produced for Magistrates which was funded by Thanet Community Safety Partnership;

•  Kent Police had conducted some drink drive campaigns in the district;

•  Operations have been held and regular patrols to combat street drinking;

•  Folk Week saw agencies working together to combat anti-social drinking.

Members suggested that the Partnership involves Alcohol Anonymous in efforts to reduce drink related crimes. They also encouraged the Partnership to check if the guidance domestics abuse notes produced for Magistrates had also been made available to the Crown Court. Mr Cassell said that he would find out and advise Members. Chief Inspector Sharon Adley reported that the use of body worn video equipment was useful for prosecutions and processing complaints. This initiative has proven to be a big success and would be rolled-out across force.

Martyn Cassell further said that:

•  The Community Pastor Scheme was still in place and weekly activities were still being done to support vulnerable people out in the pubs and clubs. The scheme is supported by the CSP each year;

•  Prolific offenders were getting support through regular meetings in order to help change their life cycle through employment opportunities and better housing. Many agencies in the CSP work together to try and change their behaviour and reduce the number of crimes they commit;

•  KCC youth worker was undertaking diversionary activities with local youth to prevent re-offending;

•  9 Neighbourhood responsibility meetings have been held to engage offenders/re-offenders;

•  Role models are being used to support and motivate young people;

•  Some of the main factors cited for re-offending were unemployment, drugs, mental health and deprivation (in some local areas).

Inspector Pearson said that a Neighbourhood Responsibility Panel (NRP) and Family Support Panel (FSP) approach had been introduced by the Margate Task Force, which utilised several agencies in one meeting. The agencies work collaboratively with clients and where appropriate (family members), to work through issues and agree a joint plan of action in line with the client’s specific needs. This particular approach is the first of its kind in the country. The FSP provides effective early intervention for families with the most complex needs and a key partner within this aspect of working is KCC Early  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99.

Members to receive a PowerPoint presentation.

Chief Inspector Adley gave an update on the crime statistics for the Thanet district. She observed that crime was often seasonal as levels tend to reduce during the winter months increasing through the summer period. She reported that in recent weeks there had been an increase in commercial breaks targeting cash.

Reports of violent crime constituted the biggest crime category within Thanet – it was explained that for recording purposes this encompasses a very broad range of offences and the trend nationally has seen a rise. This category also includes domestic abuse – reports of domestic abuse have increased across the county as a whole.

Chief Inspector Adley stressed that only a very small proportion of violence offences reported within Kent are classed as the most serious. Thanet currently has a police officer and a PCSO who specifically focus on domestic abuse and work closely with our partner agencies to reduce repeat victims and repeat offending.

CI Adley said that the rolling year statistics still showed a reduction in all crime reported – with good reductions in crime categories such as burglary dwelling. Contributing to debate one Member said that an independent audit report had confirmed that Kent Police were the most accurate in recording crime statistics in the country. In response to the presentation made by CI Adley, the Chairman said that the Partnership should be congratulated for the good work they were doing.

Members noted the report.

Mr Cassell made the observation that one of the strengths of the Partnership this year has been getting the message for each of the partner agencies out to the public. The feedback that had been received indicated that members of the public prefer different means of accessing information. These range from web access to paper copies, social media and residents meetings. 9 area community safety meetings had been held and were led by Thanet District Council and Kent Police. These meeting were conducted between April and March of each year so that the voice of residents could be heard and local issues responded to on top of the overarching priorities.

The Partnership had received £33,116 from the Police and Crime Commissioner and part of that fund was being used to buy up advert spaces in local newspapers to put out good messages about the CSP’s achievements. Members suggested that the Partnership ought to look at other options like free advertising in one of the local papers that offers such a facility to enable the Partnership to spread the message more widely as the paper circulation is Thanet wide.

Young People’s Voice: A survey was conducted using youth centres and it was found out that of the 100 respondents, 50% did not report Anti-Social Behaviour Crimes committed against them. The question is where do these crimes take place? Is it at schools or neighbourhood environments? These are the issues that ought to be looked at further and captured in the 2016-17 action plan.

Educational Programmes: Kent Fire Services had conducted education programmes at 18 schools this year on road safety and fire safety. They had also conducted the Licence to Kill Road Safety Event at the Winter Gardens. This was attended by 1,500 school children at a time with 3 showings.

Engaging Partners: Martyn Cassell said that the approach of the partnership this year was to improve information sharing among agencies. Two big changes to how the agencies operate will be completed by the end of the year.

1.  Co-location of the Margate Task Force, TDC community safety department and Police community safety unit was planned in January 2016. This looks to build on the MTF model which had seen a number of partner agencies assigning officers to come and work under one roof and had improved information sharing across agencies about individuals and families. The Kent and Medway data sharing protocol was now in place and has created a framework for sharing information across various agencies.

2.  A Thanet Leadership Group had been set up and it brings together senior managers of the key agencies and leaders from the Thanet Health & Wellbeing Board and Invest Thanet and the Community Safety Partnership with a view to sharing information on priorities for Thanet District.

Members were pleased with the approach which would mean the benefits of good practice will be shared across the key areas of need in the district.

Annual Community Safety Conference: The conference had taken place on 9th  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101.