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Community Safety Officers Team
Jannine Clark - December 2010
jannine.clark@kirklees.gov.uk
The Community Safety Team co-ordinates partnership working between the Council,
Police, Probation, Health Service, private businesses and community and voluntary
groups. The aim of the team is to make communities safer by reducing crime,
anti social behaviour, misuse of drugs and alcohol, fear of crime and death
and injuries from fire and road accidents.
Within the new locality based model of working with partner agencies and communities, the community safety team work with local communities to ensure local views are considered and action taken to resolve areas of concern. Although Community Safety Officers are primarily responsible for one particular locality they also provide support to any of the localities within Kirklees depending on particular issues. One of the key methods of addressing community safety issues is through the well established Neighbourhood Management Groups which put into operation the priorities that emerge from contact with residents, elected members and staff working at a neighbourhood level. Community Safety Officers are able to provide specialist advice from a community safety perspective and either signpost residents to appropriate front-line workers or co-ordinate a multi-agency response where an issue is more complex.
These multi-agency groups bring together front line workers to collectively
tackle problems either reported by residents or encountered by staff in
the course of service delivery. These issues primarily relate to crime,
fear of crime, community tensions, substance misuse and anti-social
behaviour which have not been addressed through an individual agency
working in isolation on a problem in the course of their day to day work.
Through intelligence sharing and local problem solving, NMGs have addressed a range of longstanding crime and anti-social behaviour issues plaguing local communities. The Dewsbury West NMG recently won the regional "What it Takes" award in recognition of effective partnership work at a neighbourhood level.
Multi-agency data was analysed to provide a problem profile which
informed the development of a package of measures including Taxi
Marshals, Street Angels, Cycle Responders, increased police presence
and support/enforcement work with licensed premises to ensure good
working practices.
As a result of this work, violent crime reduced by 37% in target areas and other agencies reported similar reductions in calls for service. When questioned, businesses (taxi drivers / licensed premises) and members of the public reported higher levels of safety during the evening as a result of the town centre action plan.
Analysis of Criminal Damage data set against calls for service
from a range of partner agencies such as the Fire Service and
various services within the Council highlighted the significant
draw on and around the bonfire night.
A "pinchpoints" campaign involved partner agencies sharing information to identify collective problems which could be addressed through more effective partnership working. Some examples of these activities included taking action against retailers supplying of fireworks to underage children, speedy removal of litter and other debris which could be burned, reassurance patrols in target areas and diversionary activities to deflect young people from trouble. As a direct result of this work, recorded offences of criminal damage reduced by 21% compared with the previous year and moreover, calls for services relating to crime and anti-social behaviour to the police and partners fell by over 34% in the target period.
Chris Walsh
Principal Community Safety Officer 01484 226933 07973 540217 chris.walsh@kirklees.gov.uk
Zak Lunat
Officer for Batley, Birstall & Birkenshaw 01484 414934 07812 580204 zak.lunat@kirklees.gov.uk
Simon Whitworth
Officer for Dewsbury & Mirfield 01484 226930 07970 786165 simon.whitworth@kirklees.gov.uk
Helen Simpson
Officer for Denby Dale & Kirkburton 01484 226931 07816 940846 helen.simpson@kirklees.gov.uk
Shirley Stankiewicz
Officer for Huddersfield North (Job Share) 01484 226931 07971 677482 shirley.stankiewicz@kirklees.gov.uk
Shirley Stankiewicz
Officer for Spen Valley (Job Share) 01484 414934 07966 343129 shirley.stankiewicz@kirklees.gov.uk |