Active Active Communities
Auditing Crime and Disorder: Guidance for local partnerships
The Crime & Disorder Act 1998 places obligations on local authorities, the police, police authorities, health authorities and probation committees (amongst others) to co-operate in the development and implementation of a strategy for tackling crime and disorder in their area. These organisations have to consider changed working practices, internal priorities and their relationships both with other agencies and with the wider community.
“Auditing Crime and Disorder: Guidance for local partnerships ” (Home Office 1998) includes the following advice on working with the voluntary sector and communities as follows:
Involving the voluntary sector
Groups representing ethnic minorities
Neighbourhood Watch will have a very important role in the process of developing and implementing the crime and disorder strategies. We certainly expect the movement locally to be involved in the process of gathering the views of the community on issues of local concern: in some areas, this may be fairly low key involvement – eg by inviting some watch members to participate in surveys, focus groups or whatever other methods have been developed for this purpose. In other areas, where the movement is sufficiently well organised, Neighbourhood Watch may be able to undertake more formal research into the views of its own membership and feed the results into the wider audit process.
Once the audit has been conducted and the strategy developed, Neighbourhood Watch should be regarded as a key agent for implementation. The precise contribution which it will be able to make will vary from one district to the next, depending on a wide variety of factors including the strength of the movement locally, how well organised it is, and the nature of the problems to be targeted via the strategy. But there is potential for Neighbourhood Watch to undertake any of the following:
information gathering, either generally or in response to specific circumstances;
promotion of crime and disorder prevention messages;
involving young people in local crime prevention or Youth Action Groups
youth diversion work;
burglary reduction;
community development work – for example helping to reduce the fear of crime (and the consequences of such fear) by providing escort/taxi services to help the elderly or vulnerable get out.
This list is not exhaustive, but does illustrate the potential for the movement to be involved across the board. Clearly any such involvement would need to be undertaken in keeping with the aims of the strategy, and would have to be managed in the same way as other agencies’ contributions. This, in turn, points to the need for Neighbourhood Watch to be sufficiently well organised to ensure that just one or two key people have authority locally to speak on behalf of the movement, and take responsibility for co-ordinating its input. Where county, district or town-based local associations do not exist, the partners might want to suggest to Neighbourhood Watch groups locally that they probably offer the best way to maximise the movement's input.
As mentioned earlier, there is a potential for much greater Neighbourhood Watch involvement with young people. For a variety of reasons, the movement has not, in the past, been noted for its successful engagement with this particular group. We strongly urge partners locally to regard the movement against this background.
Harnessing the involvement and resources of the voluntary sector can make a significant contribution to achieving the goals of a crime prevention strategy. The sector includes a very diverse range of groups and organisations, and you will need to plan its involvement by making a clear assessment about the purposes of involving different voluntary groups, and taking account of their capacities and support needs.
(a) Tenants’ and residents’ groups/associations can be key to the implementation of neighbourhood crime reduction and community safety measures, and the active involvement of local communities can help address feelings of fear about crime and nuisance. Residents’ groups can provide the foundation for community-based crime prevention measures, particularly in areas where more traditional forms of police/community liaison, such as Neighbourhood Watch, may be difficult to implement.
(b) Voluntary organisations with particular knowledge and expertise. There is a range of local and national organisations with particular knowledge and expertise relevant to crime and disorder, concerned with particular issues (eg drugs) or groups (eg elderly people, victims of domestic violence), who are concerned with these matters more broadly or who provide support to relevant interest groups (eg Tenants Participation Advisory Service). Such organisations have particular perspectives and experience relevant to the planning, design and delivery of crime prevention measures related to their interests.
(c) Victim Support is the national charity for victims of crime. Staff and trained volunteers based in local schemes offer support, information and practical help to people who have suffered crimes ranging from burglary to the murder of a relative. Victim Support’s Witness Service, based in the Crown Courts, helps victims, witnesses and their families before, during and after the trial. The service is free, confidential and available to all sections of the community.
(d) Volunteers are an active expression of community involvement, and a number of services relevant to reducing crime and disorder may be provided by volunteers (eg neighbour disputes, mediation services, services providing opportunities and diversion from criminal involvement for young people). It should be borne in mind however that volunteers need training and support; it should not be seen as a cheap option, and the cost-benefits need to be compared with other options.
(e) Black and ethnic minority community and voluntary organisations will be important partners in initiatives which aim towards reducing the victimisation of black and ethnic minority people and communities, as well as in auditing and consultation processes. Consultation with black and ethnic minority groups will be as important in areas where the ethnic minority population is comparatively small as in other areas.
(f ) Councils of Voluntary Services (CVS) provide umbrella support services to voluntary organisations in their areas, but not all voluntary groups are involved with CVS. Other organisations such as Voluntary Action may provide similar services and some offer support to community groups, in particular neighbourhoods or within regeneration partnerships. It will be important to map these different services in approaching consultation and planning with the voluntary sector.
Involving the Voluntary Sector
Generally, steps should be taken to consult with groups during the planning of crime reduction and community safety measures related to their interests. This is particularly so in the case of crime prevention initiatives in specific neighbourhoods, where residents’ groups should generally be involved, or measures for particular communities (eg black and racial minority groups, the elderly). It may be particularly important to engage voluntary organisations providing for or run by young people in many strategies.
Consideration should be given to involving relevant groups in evaluation, as this will help to give a measure of the impact of crime reduction programmes in quality of life terms, to sit alongside other criteria such as changes in relative crime rates.
Community and voluntary groups should be involved in the delivery of crime reduction measures. This is particularly important in the case of measures targeted on specific neighbourhoods or communities.
In general, the presumption should be towards the involvement of community and voluntary groups in these ways except where confidentiality is necessary for a specific measure or where community involvement might expose residents to risk of intimidation.
It is open to each police/local authority partnership to decide how best to involve such groups (such as through existing consultation/community involvement arrangements, or through arrangements specifically introduced for the purposes of the strategy on crime and disorder) and the test must be the effectiveness of the consultation and involvement. The police and local authorities will be expected to listen to the views of the voluntary sector.
Police/local authority partnerships are encouraged to consult and harness the involvement of established local or national voluntary organisations which have particular knowledge and expertise relevant to the emerging local strategy on crime and disorder.
Careful consideration will need to be given to the involvement of the voluntary sector in any wider partnership group, given the diversity of the sector and the number of tenants’/residents’ groups which may be present in the district. Although CVS representation may well be appropriate, other umbrella groups should also be borne in mind, alongside groups with particular knowledge and perspectives. Partnerships may consider that some mix of representation involving CVS, target groups and target areas for the strategy, might be appropriate; however, it should be borne in mind that target priorities may need to change over time, and that the size of the partnership group should not become too unwieldy. Some crime prevention partnerships have addressed these issues by maintaining a network of community groups who send some representatives to the formal partnership.
Groups representing ethnic minorities
Members of ethnic minorities are more likely to suffer crime (whether racially motivated or not) and surveys show their fear of crime is greater. They have a major interest in crime reduction, and should be actively encouraged to participate in all stages of the audit and consultation process and in the planning of crime and disorder strategies. Racial Equality Councils (RECs) should be invited to put forward views on crime issues generally, as well as on racial crime. Many will also be able to provide practical assistance in tackling racial harassment. Partnerships should be prepared to look beyond RECs, and involve other community and faith groups where appropriate. In some cases no representative organisations will exist, and ethnic minority populations may be small or concentrated in a particular area or estate. In such circumstances it may be that they will have very specific concerns about crime and disorder and it will be vital that consultation mechanisms which engage them are delivered.
Town and parish councils (and community councils in Wales) will be key partners. By definition they are very close to the communities they serve and have a good understanding of the range of issues of concern to local people. They may be able to provide a valuable local dimension when it comes to both taking the community's views on crime and disorder problems in the area and implementing the subsequent strategy.
Getting a copy
The complete document is available at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/prgpdfs/fcdps91.pdf
Last update: Tuesday, July 22, 2008