Customer and Community Scrutiny Committee Report

Report of Head of Corporate Services

Author: Marie Clarke

Tel: 01483 444510

Email: marie.clarke@guildford.gov.uk

Relevant Lead Councillor(s): Councillor Graham Ellwood

Tel: 07899846626

Email: graham.ellwood@guildford.gov.uk

Date: 1 December 2015

Safer Guildford Partnership Annual Report 2015

Officer recommendation: That the Committee considers and comments on the Safer Guildford Partnership Annual Report for 2015 and notes the progress made in response to the Customer and Community Scrutiny Committee’s Review of Closed Circuit Television. Reason(s) for Recommendation: To inform the Committee of progress against the Safer Guildford Partnership’s priorities and to enable it to review progress on the implementation of recommendations following the review of CCTV as set out in Appendix A.

1.	Executive Summary

1.1	The purpose of this report is to outline the progress against the existing priorities of the Safer Guildford Partnership and to highlight the new priorities under the Crime, Policing and Antisocial Behaviour Act 2014 and in relation to child sexual exploitation.

1.2	The report also sets out progress made following the review of closed circuit television initiated by this committee in 2013.

2.	Strategic Priorities

2.1	The work of the Safer Guildford Partnership supports the Our Society theme of the Corporate Plan, particularly the priority of continuing to reduce our low levels of crime. It also contributes to improving the health and wellbeing of our residents.

3.	Background

3.1	The 1998 Crime and Disorder Act gave local agencies a shared responsibility for developing and introducing strategies to reduce crime and disorder in their area. The agencies came together as a Community Safety Partnership (CSP), known in Guildford as the Safer Guildford Partnership (SGP). Statutory members are:

Surrey Police

Guildford Borough Council

Surrey County Council

Surrey Fire & Rescue Service

Surrey & Sussex Probation Trust

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Strategic Assessment

3.2	The Safer Guildford Partnership is required to carry out an annual partnership strategic assessment. The purpose of this is to assist in producing the priorities for the annual three year rolling partnership plan. The data, which forms the basis of this analysis, is drawn from a variety of sources and partner agencies across Guildford and Surrey.

3.3	Surrey County Council produces a county strategic assessment and local area assessment for Guildford. This provides community safety partnerships with a clear picture of key community safety issues that will enable partners to set appropriate and robust priorities for their area. It enables us to develop activities based on reliable evidence, which meet the needs of our communities and assist us to deploy resourses effectively.

Priorities

3.4	A summary of the priorities from the countywide strategic assessment 2014-2017 and Guildford strategic assessments for 2014 are listed below:

County Priorities:

Antisocial Behaviour

Domestic Abuse

Drugs

Alcohol

Burglary

Mental Health

Guildford Priorities from 2014 Strategic Assessment

Burglary – Dwelling (Rural East)

Burglary – Non Dwelling (Rural East)

Alcohol Related Violence (Guildford Town Centre)

3.5	The assessments do have their limitations. The latest information provided in these assessments is from the strategic assessment for 2014 that covers the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013. The 2015 strategic assessment will be released before the end of the year.

3.6	On the basis of these assessments and more up-to-date information available at a local level, the Safer Guildford Partnership adopted the following over-arching priorities for 2015-16;

Identifying and tackling antisocial behaviour hotspots

Maintaining a reduction in crime

Building confidence in our communities

3.7	These encompass a focus on public place violence and burglary (dwelling) identified by the Police to ensure that we are focussing on current crime trends and issues.

3.8	The priorities and action plan set out in Annex A details the Partnership’s key priorities for 2015-16 and progress in quarter one and two.

3.9	For the information of the Committee, the following table provides crime breakdown for Guildford for Quarter one and two of 2015 to demonstrate the most recent statistics available.

Crime type	Total April/May/June 2015	Total July/Aug/Sept 2015
Burglary Dwelling	44	68
Violence with injury	188	216
Total Notifiable Offences	1983	2110
Antisocial Behaviour	1383	1390
Violent Domestic	120	126
Public Place Violence	121	192
Licensed Premises (involving violence)	15	33
Licensed premises Town Centre (All crime)	59	82
Intoxicated Violence	19	49
Violence- town centre crime between 8pm-4am	46	65

New Priorities for the Safer Guildford Partnership

3.10	In addition to the priorities given by the Borough Inspector, two new areas of work will require the attention of partners, as discussed in the following paragraphs;

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014

3.11	The 2014 act brings in new provisions and powers relating to anti-social behaviour. The Act, implements measures that aim to:

focus the response to anti-social behaviour on the needs of victims;

empower communities to get involved in tackling anti-social behaviour;

ensure professionals have access to fast, effective powers to protect the public; and

speed up the eviction of the most anti-social tenants.

3.12	The provisions in the Act consolidate nineteen existing anti-social behaviour powers into six more flexible powers. Two new measures, the community trigger and community remedy, have been introduced to help focus the response to such behaviour on the needs of victims. The new powers came into effect on 20 October 2014.

3.13	Most new powers are delegated to a specific organisation particularly the Police and Borough Council. However, the community trigger gives victims and communities the right to require agencies through the Safer Guildford Partnership to deal with persistent anti-social behaviour that they feel has previously been ignored. The process starts with a review of their case where the defined threshold is met. A victim or third party acting on behalf of the victim can activate this process.

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)

3.14	The Children, Schools & Families directorate of Surrey County Council and the Surrey Safeguarding Children Board have the lead role with regard to CSE. However, community safety partnerships have a role to play.

3.15	Sexual exploitation of children and young people under eighteen involves exploitative situations, contexts and relationships where the young person (or third person/s) receive ‘something’ (eg, food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, affection, gifts, money) as a result of them performing, and/or another or others performing on them, sexual activities.

3.16	Staff of partner agencies, including those who visit residents homes, may encounter signs of CSE. The Safer Guildford Partnership can help raise awareness amongst staff to ensure that they have the information required to spot the signs and sign post people at risk appropriately.

Monitoring and Performance Management

3.17	The Partnership Plan for 2014-17 is monitored by the Safer Guilford Partnership’s Co-ordination Group (COG). This group is responsible for providing the Executive of the Partnership with regular reports on progress. The Executive is responsible for the overall delivery of the Partnership Plan. The groups and mechanisms used to deliver against the Partnerships priorities are set out in full in Appendix B.

4.	Review of Closed Circuit Television

4.1	Surrey Police approached partners in 1992 to look at ways of reducing criminal and anti-social behaviour in Guildford town centre. As part of the solution, we agreed that a CCTV system should be installed.

4.2	We installed the system in 1995 after three years of planning. Approximately 20 cameras were included, located mainly in High Street and North Street. The control room was based at Guildford Police Station, as it is now. The system had an immediate impact and 220 arrests had been initiated by the end of its first year of operation.

4.3	Since its launch, there have been several additions and enhancements to the system. These were funded through various sources, including the Council’s capital programme, central government and Section 106 planning agreements. We now have 48 PTZ (pan, tilt and zoom) cameras and seven fixed cameras (in subways near the University). As well as the town centre, cameras are also located on the main approaches and exit roads to the town and in Ash.

4.4	The operation of CCTV continues to be a partnership between Surrey Police and ourselves. We own the system and are responsible for maintenance and organising improvements and enhancements. The Police are responsible for its day-to-day operation and the control room is manned 24/7 by their staff. Surrey Police fund the operational element, whilst we fund the infrastructure.

4.5	A review of CCTV was undertaken at the request of this Committee in October 2013. The principal objectives of the review were to:

investigate the strategic aims of CCTV;

investigate the overall effectiveness of CCTV;

understand how the system operates and how decisions regarding future use are informed; and

investigate the limitations of the physical system and to what extent these limitations are being addressed.

4.6	The review highlighted the important role of CCTV in preventing and detecting crime and anti-social behaviour, protecting vulnerable people and making people feel safer. A number of actions were proposed to improve the effectiveness, technological advancements and future development of CCTV in Guildford. These include developing a strategic vision and action plan for CCTV and improved strategic and operational management arrangements. In addition, a proposal was made to undertake an audit of CCTV cameras to ensure that they are located most effectively.

4.7	Two groups have been set up to ensure the actions are progressed. The CCTV Project Board to address the strategic issues and future of the system and the CCTV Operations Group to ensure the system is fit for purpose. A monitoring form is attached, detailing the approved recommendations and relevant progress.

5.	Financial Implications

5.1	The Safer Guildford Partnership Budget for 2015-2016 is £68,995 which	includes a carry forward of £50,658, £15,000 from Guildford Borough Council and £3,337 from Surrey County Council. There is no central government funding available for Community Safety Partnerships in this financial year.

5.2	We currently have £180,000 of funding available through Section 106 planning agreements to invest in new CCTV cameras for specific locations. This funding has to be spent within a timeframe agreed with the developer. A number of sites are currently being assessed and design work needs to be completed.

5.3	The annual CCTV maintenance budget is £40,000 and there is £11,000 in the general fund.

6.	Legal Implications

6.1	The Borough Council has a statutory obligation under Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to work with its partners to consider crime reduction and community safety when undertaking all of its duties and do all that it reasonably can to prevent crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour.

7.	Human Resource Implications

7.1	There are no direct human resource implications arising from this report

8.	Key Risks

The partnership continues to perform its statutory role, but this is in the context of reduced resources from partners and the removal of previous central government funding.

9.	Consultation

9.1	This report has been prepared in consultation with partners from the Safer Guildford Partnership

10.	Suggested issues for overview and scrutiny

The committee is invited to

comment on the priorities for the Safer Guildford Partnership for 2015-16, together with the associated delivery arrangements.

review progress on the implementation of the CCTV Action Plan.

11.	Conclusion

11.1	This item presents the annual report on crime and disorder scheduled for this Committee. It details the Partnership’s priorities and the actions being taken to deliver against them.

11.2	The Partnership has also developed an action plan to implement the recommendations arising from the Committee’s review of CCTV. A monitoring form setting out progress with its implementation is attached.

12.	Background Papers

Surrey Single Strategic Assessment 2014-2017

Guildford Strategic Assessment 2014

Safer Guildford Partnership Community Safety Plan 2014-2017

13.	Appendices

Safer Guildford Partnership – Priorities 2015/16

Safer Guildford Partnership Groups and Delivery Mechanisms

Safer Guildford Partnership - CCTV Review Action Plan 2015/16