Agenda item

That the work of the Community Safety Partnership be commended.

The Public Protection Manager (Community) presented an overview of the Community Safety Partnership’s activities and progress over the past 12 months, as reported to the Committee on an annual basis.  She spoke about the effectiveness of the partnership, the role of the People Are Safe Board in overseeing operational activities and links with the Public Service Board.  Details of work undertaken during 2015/16 were set out in the local activity plan.

A summary was given of crime and disorder statistics for 2015/16 and it was reported that the slight increase in victim-based crime in the county so far in 2016/17 mirrored the regional position.  The focus on intelligence-led incidents would continue, making greater use of Statistical Process Control (SPC) charts to monitor performance.

The effectiveness of this multi-agency approach was praised by Councillor Paul Cunningham.

Councillor Richard Jones asked whether the reduction in anti-social behaviour figures was due to fewer reports.  Whilst he had received feedback to issues raised with the Council, he was aware of frustrations amongst some members of the public who had been given no responses, which affected their willingness to report further incidents.

Chief Inspector Sharon McCairn pointed out the rise in anti-social behaviour figures since April 2016 following a change in the recording process.  She said that calls logged with the Control Room were allocated an incident number which should be routinely given to the caller.  She would look into why this was not the case but would encourage individuals to ask for the incident number.  On reported drug-related incidents, assurance was given that the reliability and content of all intelligence was assessed to help build up a picture and decide on the appropriate course of action, however it was not feasible to act on every report.

The Public Protection Manager explained that the Council’s Community Safety team had clear procedures in place to share intelligence with Police colleagues.  Councillor Jones said that Members could liaise with the team on behalf of residents who had not received feedback.  The Public Protection Manager said that officers were expected to respond to those reporting incidents and would reinforce this message with the team.  She agreed to speak to Councillor Jones following the meeting about the issues he had raised.

Following a request by Councillor Robin Guest, Chief Inspector McCairn agreed to provide the latest trend data on hate-crime incidents which had increased across the whole region.

Councillor Paul Shotton thanked the Anti-Social Behaviour Co-ordinator and his team for their help in resolving a recent incident alongside the Police.  He spoke about the involvement of Streetscene officers in sharing intelligence on crimes and referred to the ‘Phoenix’ initiative which helped young offenders to re-focus their lives in a positive way.

In respect of Councillor Jones’ comments, Councillor Arnold Woolley was also aware of similar instances where outcomes had not been reported to complainants.  The officers responded to queries on arrangements for Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO) and the centralised approach for tackling serious and organised crimes through multi-agency links.  The Anti-Social Behaviour Co-ordinator agreed to provide details of the ‘yellow card’ scheme for juvenile anti-social behaviour and crime offenders, including how many had been issued.  Mr. Mike White agreed to pursue a response to Councillor Woolley’s enquiry submitted on the North Wales Fire & Rescue Service website over a week earlier.

Following concerns raised by Councillor Marion Bateman, the Domestic Abuse Co-ordinator agreed to provide local and regional data on domestic violence incidents against men.  Flintshire was one of the first Authorities in the UK to highlight this problem, resulting in the opening of the first refuge in North Wales specifically for men.  The team was working with the Welsh Government and Home Office on publicity campaigns to highlight this important topic and encourage more individuals to come forward and report incidents.

Councillor Brian Lloyd thanked the partnership for their work on a gang-related issue in his ward.  Chief Inspector McCairn referred to the monitoring role of the local ‘Safer Neighbourhoods’ teams.

Councillor Andy Dunbobbin asked if the Armed Forces community were represented on the multi-agency board.  The Public Protection Manager advised that whilst this was not the case with the People Are Safe Board, there were powers to co-opted additional members from the voluntary sector in addition to the statutory members required by legislation.  Councillor Dunbobbin referred to Armed Forces representation on a North Wales group with the local Health Board.  The Public Protection Manager agreed to meet with the Council’s representative and would advise Councillor Dunbobbin of the outcome.  She went on to speak about the sharing of information with Social Services.

Councillor Ron Hampson sought progress on tackling dog fouling in the county, making reference to Wrexham’s success with prosecutions.  The Anti-Social Behaviour Co-ordinator agreed to liaise with the relevant Streetscene officer.

In response to comments from Councillor Jones about the approach to joint enforcement of PSPO and Community Protection Notices, it was explained that this would form part of the consultation process.  Councillor Jones also felt it important that any limitations on enforcement due to a lack of Police resources should be documented and reported to the Committee.

Councillor Paul Shotton commented on the need to raise awareness of gang and drug-related incidents with schools and through the work of the Police & Crime Commissioner who was due to attend the November meeting.

The Chairman said that some members of the public may opt not to verbally report issues for fear of retribution.  Chief Inspector McCairn detailed a range of alternative communications for lower-level issues.  For enquiries submitted on the website, the Chairman suggested it might be helpful for the person to receive an automatic acknowledgement.  Chief Inspector McCairn also asked for data requests to be notified in advance, to enable responses to be provided.

RESOLVED:

That the work of the Community Safety Partnership be commended.