Agenda item

To consider a report from the Community Safety Manager (copy attached) which seeks the Committee’s observations on the Joint Community Safety Partnership’s activity in 2018-19 and the local and regional activity plan 2019-20

10.05am – 10.45am

The Lead Member for Planning, Public Protection and Safer Communities, Councillor Mark Young, introduced the report (previously circulated) to seek the Committee’s observations on the Joint Community Safety Partnership’s (CSP) activity in 2018-19 and the Local and Regional Activity Plan 2019-20.  Councillor Young was also the Chair of the regional North Wales Safer Communities Board (NWSCB).

The Community Safety Partnership Manager (CSPM) reported that Conwy County Borough Council (CCBC) and Denbighshire County Council (DCC) merged their CSP teams into a single team 12 years ago, with CCBC being the main employer.  Business Improvement and Modernisation took the lead for managing the CSP in Denbighshire. 

The CSPM gave an explanation of the statistics throughout the report.

The CSP meeting regime consisted of:

·         Strategic Steering Group – meet three times a year

·         Anti-social Behaviour Tasking Group – held monthly

·         Task and Finish Groups – held as and when required

The three CSP priorities for 2018-2019 were as follows:

·         Priority 1 – reduce crime and disorder in the local and regional area

·         Priority 2 – reduce reoffending – national/regional priority

·         Priority 3 – local priorities

Each priority had a number of performance indicators assigned to it to monitor progress and crime trends.  The statistics were reviewed on a quarterly basis at the Strategic Steering Group to act on emerging issues.

During discussion, the following issues were raised:

·         Repeat victims of crime – was there a particular trend?  The CSPM confirmed she would collate a breakdown and circulate to members, but new methods of reporting and counting incidents had had an impact on these figures.

·         Were statistics available for rural crime – The CSPM stated she did not have the statistics to hand but had been working with the rural crime team.  She would obtain the information and circulate to members.

·         There was a slight criticism concerning the police and their non-investigation of residential burglaries.  A crime number for insurance purposes was given out but not usually investigated.  However, they were operating a number of initiatives aimed at helping residents to reduce the risk of becoming crime targets i.e. the ‘Nudge’ initiative which utilised social media for the purpose of reminding people to close and lock all doors and windows in a bid to avoid opportunist burglaries. 

·         A problem of young people being without parental supervision between the hours of 3.00 p.m. (end of school day) and return of parents from work usually around 5.00 p.m.  This could cause issues.

·         It was confirmed that the Lead Member, Councillor Mark Young was to meet with the Chief Inspector and would raise concerns with him and ask him to highlight these areas in his presentation to Council Briefing session in November 2019.

·         It was clarified that a large number of partners, including the police, attended the CSP meetings and were extremely pro-active. 

·         County lines was a major concern and the CSPM confirmed all agencies across North Wales were working together to alleviate this issue.

·         Cuckooing was also mentioned as being on the rise and again, all agencies were working together in relation to this issue.

·         Hate crime had increased during the year but seemed to be concentrated in specific locations i.e. hospitals, police stations and the Cultural Centre in Rhyl.  The proposed new regional co-ordinators would focus a lot of their work around this particular aspect of anti-social behaviour

·         People were being encouraged to report any suspicious activities as the more reported, the more positive outcomes would be reported.

·         The sale of Morfa Hall building in Rhyl which housed voluntary services was raised as a possible future concern.  Were voluntary services to be relocated?  The Strategic Planning Team Manager confirmed she would raise the issue with the Chief Executive of Denbighshire Voluntary Services Council (DVSC) and report back to members via the Scrutiny Co-ordinator.

Following in-depth discussions, it was:

RESOLVED that the Committee, subject to the above observations and the provision of the requested information, either in written format or as part of North Wales Police’s Chief Inspector for Denbighshire’s presentation to the Council Briefing session in November 2019, endorse the Community Safety Partnership’s performance during 2018-19 and its proposed activity plan for 2019-20.