Agenda item

To submit a report by the Community Safety Senior Operational Officer for Gwynedd and Anglesey.

Submitted – a report by the Community Safety Senior Operational Officer for Gwynedd and Anglesey.

The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer for Gwynedd and

Anglesey reported that it is a statutory duty on Local Authorities, in accordance with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and subsequent amendments of the Police and Criminal Justice Act 2002 and 2006, to work in partnership with the Police, the Health Service, the Probation Service and the Fire and Rescue Service to address the local community safety agenda.   The Partnership has a duty to deal with:-

• Crime and Disorder
• Substance Misuse
• Reducing re-offending
• Delivering a strategic assessment to identify priorities (work that is now undertaken on a regional basis)
• Putting plans in place to deal with these priorities (a plan now exists on a regional and local basis)

It was noted that the Community Safety Partnership works to an annual plan which is based on a three year regional plan (the 2018/19 end of year performance report and the 2019/20 plan were attached to the report).  The following seven priorities were identified by the Partnership which are based on a regional strategic assessment, Police and Crime Commissioner’s plan, and the regional Safety Communities Board plan :-

·      Reducing victim based crimes (acquisitive crimes only)

·      Reducing Antisocial Behaviour

·      Supporting vulnerable people to prevent them becoming victims of crime

·      Raising confidence to report incidents of domestic abuse

·      Raising confidence to report sexual abuse

·      Addressing substance misuse in the area

·      Reducing re-offending

The main messages deriving from the activities of the Community Safety Partnership for 2018 were included within the report. 

The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer for Gwynedd and Anglesey referred to crime statistics within the report.  She noted that the Home Office compares the offences within areas that are similar; Anglesey crime statistics is viewed with seven similar areas within the UK.  There has been a change during this year with recording practice of the Police with one incident can now lead to more than one crime being recorded.  The Portfolio Holder for Housing & Supporting Communities) referred that when a person break into a dwelling, outbuildings or shed it is now categorised as domestic burglary within Police statistics.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer for Gwynedd and Anglesey said that burglary incidents is low on Anglesey.

The Committee considered the report and the scrutiny questions within the report and raised the following matters:-

·      Clarification was sought as to whether there is adequate resource within the Community Safety Team to carry out the work the Community Safety Partnership has identified.  The Chief Executive responded that at present there is only one Officer working within the Community Safety Team but discussions are ongoing in terms of replacing the project and monitoring role within the team following the departure of the post holder in December 2018.  The Chair questioned as to whom will be deciding whether project and monitoring role will be replaced.  The Chief Executive responded that Gwynedd Council leads on the Community Safety Team but both Anglesey and Gwynedd Councils provide a financial contribution towards the Team; however this authority must secure value for money.   The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer for Gwynedd and Anglesey said that the Community Safety Team has been reduced from 7 members in 2014 but whilst further resources toward the Community Safety Team would be welcomed, however it was noted that some of the work had been transferred to the regional structures;

·      Clarification was sought whether all the partner organisations had equal priorities within the Community Safety Partnership.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer responded that the partner organisation have agreed to the work plan and priorities of the Community Safety Partnership. Questions were raised as to whether the partner organisations have themselves the resource to carry out the priorities of the Partnership.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer responded that the partner organisations within the Community Safety Partnership work closely to achieve the priorities of the Partnership and the attendance levels is high from all the partner organisations;

·      Reference was made that the statistics for Antisocial Behaviour seems to be relatively low within the report; it was considered that Antisocial Behaviour is increasing within communities.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer noted that there has been a notable reduction in Antisocial Behaviour, particularly personal Antisocial Behaviour over the last ten years, and that the multi-agency framework for responding to Antisocial Behaviour was well established, which contributed to the number of incidents reducing.  However, it was also noted that any incident should be reported to the Police.  This opened up a debate on the effectiveness of the 101 system, which it was suggested might be an issue to discuss with the Police and Crime Commissioner;

·      Clarification was sought that information gathering had been identified as a ‘red indicator’ within the report.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer responded that the ‘red indicator’ referred to an action not completed within the year, which related to a Public Spaces Protection Orders. This action has been carried forward to this year and is progressing;

·      The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Supporting Communities said that he considered that there is no avenue as a representative on Community Safety Partnership and other organisations to report back to a Committee on the discussions and priorities within these partnerships.  The Scrutiny Manager responded that this Committee has agreed to invited relevant Elected Member representatives on partner organisations to address this meeting in due course.

It was RESOLVED to note the report and attached documents and to support the priorities and future directions of work within the Community Safety Partnership.

ACTION: As noted above.