Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Strategies Performance management of priority areas section

Audits and Strategies home > Audits and Strategies - Strategies - Performance management of priority areas section 

Here are some suggestions for information that you could include under the heading 'Performance management of priority areas' in your strategy.

Use the 'Performance management of priority areas' section to clarify your priorities.  

Your priorities should focus your thinking and activity and provide others with a clear understanding of what your partnership is trying to achieve. 

Each priority must have:

• an aim

• an objective 

• targets 

• appropriate timescales 

• appropriate performance measures for effective monitoring 

Note 
This section does not apply to drugs. 

For more information about Performance Managing the local priorities negotiated with Government Offices and prioritising the 4 national aims of the draft strategy "Reducing Supply, Communities, Young People and Treatment" see the Performance Management Resource Pack 

Aim

Each priority must have an aim.   

An aim is a simple statement that sets out the purposes of the priority.

Don't confuse aims with objectives - an objective is a specific statement that can be measured.

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Objective

Each priority must have an objective.

An objective is a statement that describes something that you want to achieve, and relates to the overall aim. Put simply, an objective is a statement that describes something you want to achieve - the desired outcome of the priority.

Objectives must be clear, meaningful and measurable - they must be SMART:

• Specific - it must have specific outcomes

• Measurable - you must be able to measure the outcome of an objective 

• Achievable - it must describe something that can be achieved within the timescale and resources available

• Realistic - it must describe something that can be done

• Timebound - a timescale must be set for when the objective is to be achieved
  

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Targets

Each priority must have targets. 

Targets are the measurable parts of objectives.  

You must strike a balance between setting stretching objectives and being realistic about what it is actually possible to achieve in a given time with the available resources.  

Targets do not have to be focused on "reductions" if this is not appropriate. If crime trends are showing an increase across an area, a target to maintain crime rates at current levels may be more appropriate.     

Here is a a  "Target Setting Checklist" to help you.

Crime targets are an important method for Partnerships to manage performance on their key crime priorities. For crimes covered in police recorded crime statistics, partnerships can use iQuanta to monitor their progress. 

iQuanta is an internet-based tool that provides up to date reports of performance compared with peers across time and in relation to targets.   It produces a range of charts to illustrate current performance at force, BCU and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership level.  iQuanta is intended to show performance against the indicators that contribute to the performance indicators. 

To monitor performance through iQuanta, targets must include:

• A baseline period

• A percentage reduction

• The period by which this reduction should be achieved.

You must be a registered user to access iQuanta.  For more information contact your Government Office/National Assembly for Wales.

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Appropriate timescales

Remember to set a timescale for when the objective will be achieved.

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Appropriate performance measures 

Remember to include a performance measure so that you can show whether an objective has been met.

Examples

Priority Aim 1:	To reduce and sustain the reductions for domestic burglary in Anytown
Objective:	To reduce the number of domestic burglaries by 25% by 2008 (in line with local PSA target)
Performance measure:	The rise/fall in the number of reported incidents of domestic burglary
Baseline:	Current figures for last financial year 1471 offences

Priority Aim 2:	To improve public reassurance in Anytown
Objective:	To reduce fear of crime in Anytown To achieve 25% reduction by 2008
Performance measure:	Results from BCS Results from Citizen's Panel Fewer calls to police to attend potential problem situations Local facilities such as libraries and community centres used more often
Baseline:	Local fear of crime study indicates that 60% of residents do not feel safe

You can find more information about performance measures in the Passport to Evaluation

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Last update: Thursday, September 07, 2006