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News |
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Tackling
Drugs Awards winners
The
overall winners of the 2008 Tackling Drugs Awards have
been announced. Middlesbroughs Families First, a
crisis intervention service, won the team award.
Daniel Smyth, a substance abuse worker in London, won
the individual award.
Tackling Drugs
Changing Lives Awards
Middlesbroughs
Families First Team scoop top
award |
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New
consultation announced
The
Home Secretary will launch a cross-government
consultation on violence against women in 2009,
investigating:
§
what
more can be done to prevent the
violence
§
how
to challenge attitudes that may uphold
it
§
how
to reduce the fear of serious violence that infringes
the right of women to go freely about their daily
lives |
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Closing
time for antisocial
premises
The
new Premises Closure Order enables Police and local
authorities to close privately owned, rented,
commercial and local authority premises.
The
first order was served in East London. Tower Hamlets
Councils antisocial behaviour team, working with
Bromley-by-Bow partners, imposed the order following a
series of complaints about antisocial behaviour at a
Housing Association flat.
New powers to
close problem
buildings |
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Simplifying
Community Safety
The
Home Office has published its latest annual
simplification plan, Better Regulation Embedding our
Achievements. The plan sets out how the Home Office is
making things simpler for business, the voluntary and
charitable sectors, and public services.
Home Office
Simplification Plan
2008 |
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New
Policing and Crime Bill
published
New
measures in the Bill include:
§
obliging
police to reflect community priorities in their
work
§
creating
a new offence of paying for sex with a prostitute
controlled for gain
§
introducing
a mandatory code of practice for alcohol retailers
§
reclassifying
lap dancing clubs
§
widening
the ability to restrict the activities of sex
offenders
Putting people
first
Download
here |
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4.5m
to crackdown on alcohol related
disorder
Crime
and disorder reduction partnerships are being awarded
3m to target enforcement activities on specific
alcohol-related problems in 190 areas across all
police forces. In addition, 1.5m will be given to a
number of priority areas to strengthen their ability
to tackle underage sales, confiscate alcohol from
under-18s and run communications
campaigns.
Times
up for irresponsible drink deals
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Plans
to cut police red tape get national
roll-out
The
Home Office has introduced the national roll-out of
changes to crime recording. Forces will no longer use
forms for less serious crimes to free up more police
officers to be on the beat.
Police will now
only be required to record ethnicity rather than
complete the current lengthy Stop and Account forms.
In one pilot, the time to complete the exercise has
fallen to only 60 seconds.
Cutting police
red tape |
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New
drinking banning orders and new
guidance
New
drinking banning orders will allow police and local
authorities to stop a person entering certain premises
if they have been involved in criminal or disorderly
conduct under the influence of alcohol. Breach of an
order could lead to a fine of up to 2,500.
Also
published is new guidance on obtaining designated
public place orders and establishing alcohol disorder
zones.
New power and
guidance to tackle alcohol-related
crime |
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Knife
sales test results
A
recent test purchasing operation to review the number
of London stores selling knives to under-18s resulted
in sales of just 19%. This suggests that changes in
the law on knife sales are increasingly being heeded
by retailers. The start of a complementary exercise,
on Internet knife sales, has also been
announced.
This operation has been recognised
as national best practice and will be replicated
across the other Home Office Tackling Knives Action
Programme (TKAP) areas.
Knife sales
tackled |
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Cannabis
re-classified
On
Monday 26th January Cannabis was reclassified up from
a Class C to a Class B drug. The Government decided to
reclassify cannabis as a preventative measure rather
than risk the potential impact on health in the
future. The B classification takes into account the
known risks of cannabis and the potential health risks
where conclusive evidence is not yet available.
Reclassification also reinforces the message that
cannabis is harmful and illegal, backed up by a
stronger approach to enforcement. An information and
communications toolkit, will be available to
stakeholders from Wednesday 28th January which
includes posters, a leaflet and a credit card
resource. These are intended for distribution to the
public to inform them of how the law change will be
enforced.
For further information go
here |
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National
Tackling Drugs Week
2009
The
date has changed to 8 12 June 2009
Many
of you may already have National Tackling Drugs Week
(NTDW) 2009 in your diary in May. Unfortunately due to
the purdah restrictions in the run up to local
elections on 4th June, the Home Office is now no
longer able to run NTDW during May. NTDW will now run
from 8th to 12th June. Please make a note of this new
date in your diary and tell all your
colleagues.
As many local agencies as possible
are encouraged to take part in the week, including
DAATs, CDRPs, Neighbourhood Policing Teams and Police
Forces etc, to promote how they are tackling drugs.
During last years NTDW the level of involvement ranged
from high profile and visible police enforcement
activity, to community events where the public engaged
with the Police and local partner agencies to
highlight local issues and concerns, through to
opening a treatment centre for the day / afternoon and
inviting media and the general public.
Further
information will be available shortly
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Home
Office launch anti-knife crime national stakeholder
panel and website
On
20 January, Meg Hiller launched the It Doesn't Have to
Happen (IDHTH) National Stakeholder panel and website.
The panel will provide support to the IDHTH youth
campaign by contributing to the campaign development
and acting as advocates in their areas of influence.
The website provides ideas, advice, support, access to
campaign materials and best practice to national and
local groups on how to engage young people and tackle
knife crime in their communities.
In addition,
toolkits have been developed specially for those
organisations and individuals actively involved in
crime prevention. As well as ordering materials,
website users can also join the discussion forum or
sign up for a regular e-newsletter and an RSS feed to
provide them with up-to-date information on the
issues.
For more information, please visit the
website or send an
email. |
News
in the Regions
Featured
Region
East
|
We are
aiming to feature a news story from the regions
in each edition of this e-Update. If you have a
story you'd like us to feature next time, please
get in
touch. |
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East
Stairway Out of Crime
A
comprehensive study by Broadlands District Council
into the effects of crime and juvenile re-offending
called Stairway Out of Crime has been published. The
Stairway has been recognised with a 10,000 bursary
award from LivCom. Presentations about the Stairway
programme have been given in Verona and in
Australia.
Stairway
out of crime project on
broadland.gov.uk
Stairway
Out of Crime on
www.idea.gov.uk
To read about
news in your region click the relevant link
below. |
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Regional
Links: NW
| NE
| Y&H
| SW
| EM
| WM
| SE
| EAST
| LON
| WALE |
Highlights
Dates for your
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