Creating the Strategy

The information from the Audit and post Audit consultation should be used as the basis for setting the priorities for action within the strategy. The Audit should inform decision making in relation to the formulation of the strategy. It should determine Actions and Targets.

The audit will have identified priority crimes, priority areas, themes and groups. The strategy should tackle these areas.

A major problem with existing strategies is that they are seldom explicitly based upon the results of the audit, which preceded them. Actions, which form part of the strategy, should be tailored precisely to the problems identified in the Audit. For example if a certain crime occurs in a specific area, limit action to that area or to areas to which the crime may be dispersed. If crime occurs throughout the partnership area, introduce action which will be widely implemented.

Too often analysis is set aside in the process of drafting a strategy. Too often actions are determined by what agencies want to do (for their own reasons) rather than what the audit data indicates should be done. Alternatively what is held up nationally as 'good practice' is frequently blindly followed, regardless of what the local Audit indicates the optimal actions should be.

These are serious pitfalls which must be avoided if a strategy is to have any chance of success.

The Audit therefore should be the key tool with which targets are set for the strategy. For example if the Audit revealed a specific category of crime to be well above the national average then targets should be set in the strategy appropriately. If the Audit reveals a statistically significant fear of a particular type of crime among an areas population then an action should be formulated which will reduce the level of this concern.

However, another weakness of existing practice is to attempt to set targets for an area e.g. for reducing racial crime, repeat victimisation etc, for which no baseline data is available. If the Audit has been unable to generate such data, target setting in the strategy is pointless. By extension, however, areas which the Audit has revealed as deficient in baseline data, can become a focus for the strategy. Actions can be formulated in the strategy in order to generate such data, which in turn, can result in more accurate and realistic targets being set for these areas.

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