Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Moderator

Welcome to today’s online chat. The question today is ‘What approaches could be successful in tackling criminal damage to vehicles?’ The panel will introduce themselves now and feel free to tell us who you are and your areas of interest or experiences.

dave gladden

Good afternoon, I am Dave Gladden the criminal damage coordinator for Gt Yarmouth in Norfolk.

RichW

Hi, I’m Richard Wilkinson, a CDRP analyst from North Yorkshire. My main area of experience is the use of GIS (crime mapping) in helping to understand and prevent criminal damage.

Alan Edmunds

I am currently working with Hampshire Police on violent crime reduction adopting Simple2start process and also act as an advisor with the Police and Partnership Standards Unit in my own capacity.

Matthew S (HO)

Hello, I’m Matthew and I’m the Policy lead on Criminal Damage for the Home Office. I’m particularly interested to hear of problems people have overcome in reducing damage to vehicles.

lumbricus

I am Community Safety Manager for Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead

andyjames1345

Hello all, I am Andrew James, retired Humberside Police Officer currently working with the Safer Neighbourhoods Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership, looking at ways to reduce Criminal Damage, as Criminal Damage in the North Lincolnshire BCU amounts to 25% of all reported crime. Any good practices for reducing criminal damage would be appreciated

dave gladden

Andy there is a great deal going on; the crime reduction site (http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/ ) is a good place to start. Vehicles and dwellings are going to be your biggest problems. In Gt Yarmouth we have two projects one is called "wheels on fire" and the other is called "sticks and stones", the first includes some simple public information around putting in wing mirrors and taking property out of cars this is a joint initiative with the fire services. And the second encourages a multi agency approach to removing potential ammunition from the street with the participation of local residents.

Alan Edmunds

Andy, I suggest you will find that 25% of crime occurs in maybe 30 streets with crime levels sufficient to identify the problems in each street. I recommend you look at the simple2start process. The process allows a vision at Force, CDRP, BCU, Safer Neighbourhood level and drives a problem solving approach using Manageable Intervention Points

Alan Edmunds

Andy, as an example - a long street had lots of damage over a year but in the short view was not noticed. The road came up on the radar with long term issues of car damage. Once the street itself was examined the exact location was found, the cause being young people in a park with alcohol and was immediately tackled by Safer Neighbourhood Teams.

Alan Edmunds

Andy, contact Insp Paul Stubbs (he will kill me). He is in your Force and aware of the approach. Lincoln city have an interest in following it.

andyjames1345

Alan, Thank you for your leads. Are you sure Paul Stubbs is in Humberside or is he in Lincolnshire Police? Do you have a link to your simple2start initiative please? (See later Simple2Start process section)

Matthew S (HO)

Andy, have you looked at the criminal damage web site? www.crimereduction.gov.uk/criminaldamage . There is a page there with lots of good practice examples. Have you read about the Quinton Escape project in Staffordshire? It is an excellent initiative that involved local young people in really improving an area.

Moderator

There is also the Effective Practice Database on the Crime Reduction web site which went live last week. We are looking for people around the country to tell us about projects they have carried out locally and enter details to the database so that these can be shared nationally.

Moderator

The link to the database is http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/epd/ and it would be fantastic if this chat could spur people on to submit some criminal damage projects!

Alan Edmunds

Andy, firstly I apologise for my geographic error. In Humberside I suggest you speak to Ch Insp Mark Johannsen at HQ who is fully briefed. In Lincs Paul Stubbs is at Lincoln city BCU. There has been a link on the GOSE site in the past few weeks but I can provide more details to anyone via email later if you want to follow anything up with me directly.

CSOBABERGH

I am a community safety officer from Babergh District Council in Suffolk - it is largely rural with two main market towns.

Moderator

Welcome - do you have a particular issue with criminal damage to vehicles in your area?

CSOBABERGH

I would like to hear about any best practice models in relation to reducing criminal damage to vehicles caused by young people in particular.

Alan Edmunds

A report titled "Daring to Damage" an investigation of young people’s motivation to commit criminal damage authored by Dr Cheryl Simmill-Binning at Lancaster University provides some excellent guidance.

Matthew S (HO)

CSOBabergh - I think this is going to be a theme for the session - my best practice would be to make sure you do a full problem profile before working out what to do!

Matthew S (HO)

Perhaps more helpful, we are currently running in a few areas, a ‘Forum Theatre’ project aimed at informing young people of the impact of criminal damage. Early feedback is it’s going really well. You could try something similar.

RichW

CSOBABERGH. By identifying vulnerable neighbourhoods, we have targeted and funded diversionary activities for young people.

Moderator

RichW could you give us some more detailed examples? Are these long term projects or after school type events or activities in school holidays for example?

RichW

These are usually implemented during key times, such as school holidays, with the support of the youth service. Targeting activities can follow a number of approaches. The Vulnerable Localities Index, uses police recorded criminal damage and census demographics to identify areas of concern.

dave gladden

We have a Nightsafe set up in Gt Yarmouth; young people are targeted with regard to alcohol related offences. A great deal of criminal damage is alcohol related. Violence is directed at property rather than an individual, so addressing alcohol abuse by young people affects damage. We also have a hand out which we give to young people advising them that vandalism is a crime, and a hand out to parents giving them advice and asking them if they know what their children are up to.

Matthew S (HO)

I agree with Dave, you have to try to work with both the parents and the children, to stand a better chance of having an impact.

RichW

We have also used different educational approaches to engage with young people about damage and anti-social behaviour, such as the use of drama and theatre.

Matthew S (HO)

If you speak to the young people and they say there is ‘nothing to do’ - how about responding with a leaflet (or web site) which lists all the things there are in the area to do - I think somewhere in Thames Valley has tried this.

Matthew S (HO)

But the main lesson from all sorts of initiatives tried with young people, setting up shelters for example, is make sure they are part of deciding what happens and how it works - much more likely to be successful. This was key to Quinton’s ESCAPE project.

RichW

We have a Nightsafe project running in Harrogate which is partly concerned with damage related to night-time environment. However we wish to be sure which hotspots are directly related to this behaviour.

RichW

By examining the temporal trend and understanding the type of damage, has helped to clarify the causes of hotspots.

Alan Edmunds

Breaking damage into its underlying cause helps i.e. youth issues, neighbour disputes, alcohol and night time, domestic abuse, racial, homophobic based, repeat victims / families, bullying all lead to different damage and different problem solving partnerships

RichW

Alan. Yes, we have broken damage down into the categories, such as broken windows, scratched paintwork and slashed tyres.

Matthew S (HO)

That sounds excellent Richard. It’s so important to make sure that solutions are linked to problems rather than perceptions. But I recognise that much criminal damage goes unreported...

RichW

This has helped to identify if events are one-offs or a crime series. It can also help to separate out personal, malicious damage and careless thoughtless damage.

Matthew S (HO)

On your point about causes, and breaking damage down. Any practical tips about how to do this? Talking to known offenders?

Alan Edmunds

Couple of good places to look are Lancashire where they run "Stamp It Out" campaign - also Op breakthrough in Suffolk at Bury St Edmunds. To help the Op Stamp It Out is led by CH Insp James Lee and tackles 43% damage to cars and 26% dwellings. A significant (and in my view essential aspect) is that the media Campaign is targeted correctly.

Alan Edmunds

Matthew, underpinning my process is routine problem solving which is totally reliant on problem solving ANALYSIS. Using the model relies on greater emphasis on who victims have been and exact locations identified. Not an easy task. The process in my view hinges on greater knowledge of all the underlying problems and causes of the last 12 months damage and this leads to focus POP.

Alan Edmunds

Andy, Simple2start is a mnemonic - it has purpose as a message - it takes as a unit of analysis the street - Systematic Innovative Method PROMOTING LOCATION Evaluation 2 Successfully Tackle All Reduction Targets - It leads to Routinisation of POP and Management of the Problems using the Victim, location, Offender aspects and leads to automatic POP projects.

See the link for more details under section 2.

Alan Edmunds

The other message Dave is its SIMPLE. None of this is rocket science but requires us to look at people and their issues and not be totally focused on the crime data itself. Turning up in any street because we have reached a manageable intervention point (another message- it IS manageable) allows the problem to be developed and tackled.

Alan Edmunds

Potential methods of establishing success in simple2start - Crime overall - down; No of streets - down, No of streets with highest crime levels - down; No of streets within a band i.e. that last year had between 10 + crimes - down; No of streets within each manageable intervention point - down; result - Safer Streets delivered

Alan Edmunds

For information the simple2start process (since named that) is recommended in a letter to all Chief Constables 27th March 2007)through ACPO from the Director of the then Police and Crime Standards Unit suggesting there is potential for the system to be adopted by Forces.

Alan Edmunds

If there is any one from a CDRP in the audience the methodology I have discussed promotes partnership and can see CDRPs take the lead in problem solving.

andyjames1345

Can you forward me details as to what the simple2start, wheels on fire and sticks and stones initiatives entail, what costs are involved, how successful they were and any outcomes from them, please.

Moderator

The initiatives that are mentioned by the panel will be followed up with more details when the chat transcripts is emailed to all chattees in a few weeks but please see the end section for panel members’ contact details if you wish to follow up any matters with them directly.

Moderator

David please could you tell us a bit more about the Wheels on Fire and Sticks and Stones campaigns - are they aimed at different groups of people for example?

dave gladden

with regards to "sticks and stones" and "wheels on fire", they are very much about public awareness and engaging with local people, they both show a clear correlation with Crime and Grime, and the publics involvement does have an affect on fear of crime.

Matthew S (HO)

Can you say a bit more about personal, malicious damage? Sounds like mediation-type approaches might be helpful there?

RichW

Matthew. In Harrogate, we have a clear trend of damage to vehicles which are parked on-street. Community consultation has helped to understand that it may not all be down to drunken, night-time users, but may simply be caused by a refuse vehicle.

Matthew S (HO)

Richard, so it sounds like actually they weren’t crimes at all, but accidental damage? Good news for the crime figures?

RichW

I think the malicious kind of damage is often down to domestic relationships. An example of malicious damage is slashed tyres, where the offender needs to be equipped to cause such damage, unlike careless knocking into a door-mirror.

Annie May

Has anyone had any experience of dealing with spates of tyre slashing? How serious do people take this? Is there any link between this and violent offending does anyone know?

Alan Edmunds

Annie, Found in many cases to be domestic abuse ex partners, neighbour disputes and persons known to victim. A clear example of how linking lots of seemingly different crime to a place or family can lead to problem identification and reduction of repeat crime or incidents. Tackling repeat victimisation should be central to crime reduction strategies

Matthew S (HO)

re tyre slashing - the Jill Dando institute looked into this, and they’ve published their work - we should be able to provide a link later. Their analysis enabled them to link a whole spate to a known offender.

Moderator

The link to the JDI report that Matthew referred to is http://www.jdi.ucl.ac.uk/downloads/briefings/tyre_slashing_briefing_note.pdf

andyjames1345

Earlier someone detailed that they break vehicle crime down further to damage to bodywork, stabbed tyres and windows smashed. Can anyone show the connection between these in relation to domestic violence, and vehicles being attacked on council or housing association estates

RichW

I mentioned tyre slashing earlier, in connection with categorising the type of damage. Tyre slashing in my experience is usually related to a personal malicious crime, as the offender is going equipped and putting serious effort into causing the damage. This can often be in relation to domestic violence.

dave gladden

yes I believe this is a serial offence and not usually a one off. I do believe that tyre stabbing/tyre slashing is the result of some deviant behaviour which may reflect on some mental condition. this offence usually occurs in multiples in particular areas and may be instead of some other violent behaviour for instance domestic violence or bullying.

Alan Edmunds

Andy, my answer to Annie indicates that such offences should always lead to the WHY aspect and certainly accepted as a serious potential to people issues - I have previously found bullying at school was the underlying cause - this had the knock on effect of a parent targeting the other party parent.

Alan Edmunds

The joint answer to the tyre slashing question is interesting especially when it is so often written off.

Matthew S (HO)

There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence about damage to vehicles being from revenge or targeted at know victims - the theory being, if A knows where B lives but isn’t going to physically attack him or her, they can easily watch what car they park, and damage it when B is not about. And do quite a lot of damage.

RichW

I would expect that where the incident is related to a domestic issue, it usually goes detected

Alan Edmunds

perhaps the increased level of crime recording and increased use of BCS data will lead to more focus on the problems and people / places than the numbers

Annie May

I have heard of some cases where offenders report gaining enjoyment from the act itself and hence will go down one road slashing all the tyres for the buzz. My concern is that this could lead to violent crime against individuals. Does anyone know of such cases?

Matthew S (HO)

Not that we are aware of from the Home Office.

dave gladden

Alan with your analytical model have you an opinion as to whether Resident Only Parking areas reduce or increase criminal damage? Does any one else wish to comment on this?

Alan Edmunds

I have no analysis on this to base a view sorry Dave. However, the analytical model allows a vision through the analytical process.

Matthew S (HO)

Has anyone lese who is logged in, tried looking at how vehicles are parked, as a solution or contributor to damage?

RichW

I think parking on-street is a key issue, which is difficult to resolve quickly. An example of change that has been suggested is to change parking from both sides to slanted parking on one-side. This way the wing-mirrors are not as exposed. But this solution has its problems.

dave gladden

Herringbone parking is desirable as this cuts down the target area for people, but unfortunately few streets lend themselves to this. There is an opportunity with new builds to influence planners and builders. In my view there is never enough thought given to the number of vehicles per household and parking.

Alan Edmunds

In Portsmouth we had a problem of damage to cars when drunks left a club. However they were all inside a 100 yard area and when parked on opposite side of street no offending - i.e. no cars and offenders not crossing road. Down to analysis again.

dave gladden

Alan, love your example re cars parking on opposite side of street, the solutions are invariably so simple that we ignore the obvious. We have a programme of asking people to bin bricks rubble bottles etc that are outside their properties, because people don’t leave home with pockets full of stones they find them in the street or some ones drive and introduce them to the nearest window.

RichW

Analysis can be very useful. The simple plotting of points in Richmondshire indicated a pathway from the local supermarket to the army barracks, passing the homes of known offenders.

Moderator

Richard can you tell us what happened after you identified this clear route?

RichW

The Police took this forward, by identifying known offenders along the route, who had previous links to damage. I believe the use of footprints helped to the detection and conviction.

Matthew S (HO)

So a good combination of analysis, local knowledge and "good old fashioned policing"? I hope they got good publicity for the conviction!

Alan Edmunds

I would also suggest that anyone looking at criminal damage per se look at the potential for finding "Super Victims". I found 8 organisations with shed loads of crime and the Police were near the top of the list, along with council, transport providers, small shop chain, university. the process was also valuable for use on identifying hot spots (forgive me) calls for Fire Service.

RichW

Analytically, I use repeat victimisation and kernel density hotspots, to identify priority areas. Aoristic analysis can also help indicate temporal trends.

Matthew S (HO)

Can you explain what Aoristic analysis is to non-technical audience?

RichW

Aoristic analysis, looks at both the start and end time for an offence, and allocates a proportion of the crime to each hour between them.

RichW

This works, as often a victim may not identify the damage for several hours, but by overlaying the timing of multiple crimes, certain time periods start to become apparent.

Matthew S (HO)

Sounds like a very helpful way to deal with criminal damage, where often people will only know when it was discovered. Should anyone be able to ask their analyst to do this, or does it need special kit?

RichW

I am fortunate to have the ESRI GIS Crime Analyst extension, which makes this a very easy process. I don’t know if anybody is aware any free software which can provide this analysis?

Alan Edmunds

Rich, for me the value of identifying streets that reach a pre determined crime level through the year allows us to initially focus on victim care, then location analysis and Offender management leading neatly to Problem solving needs.

Alan Edmunds

Rich, to clarify my view - as a person with little analytical skills but knowing what I am looking for I can act 365 days a year in a focused way despite whatever crime type is flavour of the week.

RichW

I have used the free CrimeStat software, which can provide users with the kernel hotspot tool. This may also be able to help with temporal analysis.

Alan Edmunds

Matthew much is mentioned about graffiti walls and whether they should or should not be adopted. Have you a policy view please?

Matthew S (HO)

On graffiti walls - Opinion is divided - some practitioners are supportive, others not. On their own, graffiti walls are unlikely to help, but as part of a joined-up approach, if they are supervised ("carry nothing in, carry nothing out") they may act as a useful diversion for young people.

Matthew S (HO)

On graffiti walls (2) - we suggest that part of the wider approach should be education and rapid removal, to show graffiti is not ‘tolerated’ elsewhere.

Alan Edmunds

Matthew, thanks, in my area the policy is interpreted as a complete no no as they are perceived as promoting crime.

Matthew S (HO)

That sounds like local force policy - graffiti walls aren’t against Home Office policy. If the scheme supplies the paint, then there won’t be the problem of people using them as an excuse to carry spray cans about. Northumbria Uni has evaluated graffiti walls I think.

Matthew S (HO)

Graffiti walls again - I’d suggest that any graffiti scheme also try to get youth workers along, to talk to young people about legal outlets for their talents and energy.

Moderator

David, can you tell us about your experience and success in Great Yarmouth with painting over graffiti?

Moderator

Richard you just mentioned the idea of showing tags to teachers to try and identify graffiti vandals, has this had success in your area?

RichW

We don’t suffer from high levels of graffiti, but every now and then there is a series of incidents. Where specific tags have been used, we have found that taking these to teachers in local schools can help to identify possible offenders.

Alan Edmunds

There is a book written by Ron Glensor Assistant Chief of Reno Police Nevada that is of value on tagging etc

RichW

Teachers can link the street tags to tags that appear in student workbooks and on their belongings.

andyjames1345

Our Anti social behaviour officers in our CDRP regularly go into the schools with graffiti tags and are very successful in identifying the culprits from tags on books etc. Our Police website also contains photos of graffiti tags for identification.

Matthew S (HO)

I think the British Transport Police also have a national database of graffiti tags - anyone had any joy using that?

dave gladden

we photograph and file tags and graffiti on a searchable data base, it’s just a pilot at the moment and there are some hoops to jump through as far as digital imaging and Courts are concerned. we are trialling it with our Safer Neighbourhood Teams and CSI. I also produce a twice a week criminal damage newsletter which contains information about identified and unidentified tags.

RichW

That sounds a good approach. I think an electronic database is always a good thing to have, in an age of digital cameras. Fortunately, we don’t have a big enough problem to need regular newsletters, but this could work well in other areas.

denise

Lancashire is just about to launch a scheme called Name That Tag following on from the success of it in West Yorkshire. Posters promoting Crimestoppers and our LimaCharlie website will ask pupils to visit the website where they will be able to view tags and input any info they have onto the website without having to provide their details or alternatively they can call Crimestoppers. West Yorks have seen a 30% reduction using a similar process.

RichW

Denise. That sounds like a good scheme. I think pupils will have some valuable intelligence and are more likely to reveal this through an anonymous website.

Alan Edmunds

denise, I also mentioned earlier operation Stamp it Out in Lancs

denise

Don’t really know much about the Stamp It Out campaign but can find out, my email address is denise.flitney@lancashire.pnn.police.uk.

Moderator

Denise you might want to speak to Chief Inspector James Lee at Safer Preston.

dave gladden

Some forces have introduced rewards, top up for mobiles, where people are asked to photo graffiti etc and send to a central numbers. mixed response as to worthiness.

Alan Edmunds

Some good ideas - Beat sweeps (especially based on street crime level analysis); Graffiti removal at earliest stage; Stop em and Shop em - tagging hotspots in Southwark - 35% reduction

Alan Edmunds

More ideas - Neighbourhood wardens improving report of damage, Mobile outreach services, school pupils forming crime reduction groups, Bus, phone and street adoption by companies, false reporting identification, Signage at the highest risk area in a street

Alan Edmunds

More general ideas - however my point is - don’t produce wish lists and call them a strategy - focus whatever suits the problem. Mediation for persistent neighbour disputes (see above about car damage - slashing tyres etc - domestic issues); enforcing tenancy rules, promoting safer park mark areas, temporary CCTV, Neighbour hood watch focused in areas; Youth Shelters,

Alan Edmunds

There has also been a Fire initiative in Essex I believe - Firebreak - involves youth no longer in the school system with fire fighters.

Matthew S (HO)

Yes, I think in many areas the Fire Service are well worth talking too - they can have good schemes for young people. In Portsmouth they got wardens involved in identifying risks of arson.

Alan Edmunds

Hampshire has a data base of good practices on our PRIME (Problem Resolution In Multi Agency Environment) system.

Alan Edmunds

Last tip - local press editors will love a focused campaign delivering problem solving routinely - over £250K worth of press coverage Op Cobra.

dave gladden

tip, convince local police that tackling criminal damage is worthwhile and reductions are achievable with some commitment

Moderator

Welcome to people who have joined us recently, would you like to share your experiences of tackling criminal damage to vehicles in your localities or put a question to the panel?

Lewes

We had numerous spates of wing mirrors being kicked off over a wide area in 2 towns. It was too spread out to proactively police so we designed fake parking tickets to put on windscreens warning motorists of the cost of replacing wing mirrors and reminding them to tuck them in. This seems to have had a good effect in one town, thought not the other. I do wonder if the decrease was just coincidental (although many motorists now do tuck wing mirrors in). Has anyone else tried something similar?

Alan Edmunds

lewes, taking the areas distinctly I would have been interested to establish more about the who, what, when etc; leading to WHY. Was one area night time and drunks and the other area potentially neighbours fed up with neighbours parking in their bay?

Matthew S (HO)

I’ve heard about a number of areas that have tried leafleting with regard to wing mirrors. I don’t know which is more effective, just to give this message or combine with others (e.g. items left on view)

dave gladden

wheels on fire with the fire service, we leaflet drop hotspot areas and hand out leaflets to car owners. we enforce a very robust car clear scheme; we display vandals aware notices in hotspot areas. with "sticks and stones" again we leaflet hot spot areas, and challenge builders and DIY enthusiasts to keep tidy sites, we tackle fly tips and fly tippers and the local council visit sites under the Town and Country act and require people to keep tidy sites. we also bring S17 crime and disorder act into play.

RichW

Use of your street model combined with a kernel density approach could identify some interesting trends. The kernel density would pick up clusters along the street and its neighbouring streets.

Moderator

Richard is kernel density the same as hot spot mapping?

RichW

The kernel density is a type of hot spot mapping. It provides a smooth output, indicating areas of relatively higher crime density.

RichW

This approach is good, as it takes into account areas with a small number of crimes per street but where a number of these streets are close together, making the crimes geographically clustered but not linked to a single street.

Alan Edmunds

Often the longest streets are at the worst end of crime reporting, however in each there are potentially two or three hot dots. In one I found a night time issue at one end with theft of alcohol by drunks causing damage, further up there was an afternoon problem with youth annoyance at fast food place and at the other end a school with bullying issues. Previously unseen as we tend to view crime week by week and with an immediacy driving detection.

Matthew S (HO)

Are most areas chiefly concerned about damage to private vehicles - parked around houses - or are there other vehicles, either public transport or commercial, that are often targeted?

RichW

Most of our problems relate to privately owned vehicles. As I mentioned it is usually those parked on-street in areas of terraced housing and on key routes out of town.

Matthew S (HO)

I’ve been asked a few questions recently about what can be done to tackle young people throwing stones, either at buses, or at shops etc? Any suggestions?

Moderator

Operation Bustag was a previous Tilley entry and this project examines reducing criminal damage on buses in London. The case study can be seen on the Effective Practice Database.

Moderator

Also to find out more about this year’s Tilley Awards which close on 25/04/08 see this link http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/tilley/tilleyawards2008.htm .

Matthew S (HO)

What about problems tackling etching on buses and trains? (see section on graffiti tagging above )

Alan Edmunds

I mentioned Lancaster university paper - findings - boredom is often offered as reason - but behind this is a continuum of justification. Incidents range from those on public spaces, private property and property belonging to individual. All considered illegal but public property not considered malicious because NO OWNER perceived

Matthew S (HO)

Yes, this is a really interesting finding. Seems to suggest that if owners of property, including non-domestic property, show they obviously look after their property, it should be less likely to be targeted. And that we should educate young people about the consequences...

JOHN B

Does anyone have any examples of good practice re bin fires?

Moderator

John you can read a previous Tilley entry on this very subject via the Effective Practice Database on the Crime Reduction Website: http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/cgi-bin/epd/index.cgi?action=viewidea&ideaid=431

Matthew S (HO)

John, it depends on the type of bins that are suffering the fires. in some areas where it’s a real problem, I know people have looked at using lockable wheelie-bins. You can probably search for them on-line. Don’t know if they’ve been evaluated though.

Alan Edmunds

We had a spate of bin fires. Identify the underlying causes - youth, neighbours or what. A joint operation led by the Fire Service in a controlled zone ranged from increased surveillance, youth outreach and replacement plastic bins with metal were some of the tactics. The underlying cause however was turf war in opposing gangs

Alan Edmunds

There are many examples of work on gangs and such in the archives on www.popcenter.org where the US database - Herman Goldstein - Problem Oriented Policing Excellence.

JOHN B

Thanks - I will take a look.

Alan Edmunds

Much of this illustrates the difference in my approach - mine is the long term prevention leading to detection approach and onwards to out n out problems identification based on greater crime levels. The action taken is capable of evaluation to establish why it hasn’t worked. On the other hand the more immediate day to day issues often lead to opposing parties (the preventors and the detectors) working against one another because of conflicting needs. Adopting both methods allows them to mutually satisfy all needs.

dave gladden

in some council accommodation areas, usually flat's cages have been introduced where people put their bins, also there are lockable bins.

RichW

We haven’t pushed it too far in our area, but I know Crimestoppers have been used as a tool for getting information on damage and potential offenders. Has this proved successful in other areas?

dave gladden

we have used Crimestopper logos and tel. no on some of publications but have not specifically involved Crimestoppers for criminal damage; we have relied on it as is for all crime.

RichW

We have considered incorporating the Crimestoppers number on ash trays, now that smokers are outside bars and view some of the activity going on.

andyjames1345

In Scunthorpe the police operate two ‘respect cars’ one urban, one rural which are used to deal with ASB and youths drinking alcohol related issues, again this works with good results, regularly confiscating alcohol from kids. The idea of using Crimestoppers seems a good initiative to be used in conjunction with leaflet drops and signs in streets where damage hotspots occur.

Matthew S (HO)

Yes, people may not think Crimestoppers for criminal damage, but it’s certainly something they can help with. I think they’ve worked with Birmingham and a range of other areas on graffiti, tags etc - and I think Surrey Police had a campaign with them on damage to vehicles.

Matthew S (HO)

But as well as using Crimestoppers, and again from the view that local people often know who the offenders are, then getting neighbourhood policing teams, PCSOs, Wardens talking to people and asking them about offenders should really help - isn’t it their core business?

Alan Edmunds

Much of the local work in delivering a pre agreed set of activities in the victim, location and offender bands are delivered by PCSOs

RichW

True, we are supposed to be work closer with the public and making the most of community intelligence.

Alan Edmunds

Much of the work in talking to young people is done by neighbourhood Wardens, the main thing is to point them to a street with a problem

Alan Edmunds

The other consequence of street focused prevention - detection is the level of reassurance provided in streets where it is most needed. In my street I long for the day when I reach the pre determined crime level so a PC will arrive and discover exactly what the problem is, the cause and who is doing it.

Matthew S (HO)

and Alan, yes, the key thing seems to be linking wardens’ work in with the intelligence system...

Matthew S (HO)

Yes it would Alan, but not everyone does it, and I wonder how often it happens in criminal damage cases? Some case studies have shown really good results just by having someone investigate incidents - the resources have more than paid off.

andyjames1345

Our PCSOs do visits to all victims of screened out criminal damages. I believe that damage is a neighbourhood issue and should be investigated as a community neighbourhood issue

andyjames1345

my email addresses are andyjames@saferneighbourhoods.net or andrewjames1345@tiscali.co.uk .

Alan Edmunds

Andy. Agreed

Moderator

Thanks everyone for taking part if there are no more questions we’ll sign out. Look out for the transcript which will be emailed to you in about 3 weeks. The panel will add their email addresses should you wish to follow up on anything after the chat.

Alan Edmunds

I can be contacted on alan.edmunds@hampshire.pnn.police.uk / alanedmunds@btinternet.com

Alan Edmunds

If any of you scribblers out there have any interest in violent crime reduction and are doing great work please let me know outside this forum. Cheers.

dave gladden

dave gladden can be contacted on gladdend@norfolk.pnn.police.uk

RichW

I can be contacted on r.wilkinson@harrogate.gov.uk

Matthew S (HO)

If anyone has any more questions ,ideas etc, they can always forward them to criminal.damage@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Moderator

OK that’s all we have time for - don’t forget that on 4th March we will hold another chat on criminal damage to non-dwellings. Also next Tuesday 5th Feb we will be discussing drafting strategic assessments and partnership plans for CDRP/CSPs and later at 14.15 a police focus examining issues around Citizen Focus.