How welcome is private security in crime and disorder reduction partnerships? asks David Roberts, Community Safety Officer for Shrewsbury Community Safety Partnership.
Areas of service could include providing contracted security to work in a community warden role, access control, CCTV, monitoring and mapping databases and other target hardening paraphernalia. The article introduces the working mechanism of community safety partnerships and questions if private security and associated companies are recognised by such partnerships. Shrewsbury only receives funding from Home Office โ no funding is received by Office for Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). For the purpose of this article crime disorder reduction partnerships (CDRPs) will be identified as the community safety partnerships.
Background
Shrewsbury in Shropshire has an estimated population of 98,000 of which 45,355 are householders. Though much of the town is affluent there are pockets of deprivation and a strong youth following for the English Border Front (EBF) where links are associated to hate crime. Similar to other towns, there is binge drinking, anti-social behaviour and high perception of crime. Shrewsbury is no different to other councils having a duty under section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, to consider community safety in all its work. The council also has a duty under section 6 of the act to make a strategy for reduction of crime and disorder and to act with police, probation or health authorities, county councils and others, such as registered social landlords.
Home Office guidance, funds
To achieve identified targets, resources available have to be identified, and partnership agencies have to be committed. But more importantly to be effective you need funding. Shrewsbury has been successful in securing Building Stronger Safer Communities funding for £143,006, made available to the Community Safety Partnership in 2005-06 from the Home Office. The funding will be used for drug-related capital and revenue initiatives, anti-social behaviour projects and other grants to reduce crime and disorder against residences and businesses. However, from April 2006, it is strongly believed that Shropshire County Council (first tier of a two-tier council) will become the โaccountable bodyโ for the new funding arrangement. The Home Office believes that a single accountable body for the county will reduce complexity, bureaucracy and inflexibility. I seriously believe that, although in principle this would help the funding providers to police the funding more efficiently, it could result in multiple funding mechanisms that causes local agencies and volunteer organisations confusion and the community needs be over-looked. Certainly contradicting the Home Office, Public Service Agreement (PSA) 6 โ to increase local community empowerment, local partnerships are more aware of local issues and concerns and best placed to deliver local interventions. The Home Office has set the national targets to be achieved over a three-year period, which have been base lined on 2004 figures. They include:
l Home Office PSA 1: to reduce crime in Shrewsbury by 14pc by 2007/2008 on 2003/2004 baseline figures (figures based on the British Crime Survey) comparative crimes, which range from vehicle crime to wounding and personal robbery.
l Home Office PSA 2: to reassure the public by reducing the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour.
l Home Office PSA 4: reduce the harm caused by illegal drugs
l Home Office PSA 6: increase โcommunity engagementโ, by improving the quality of life for most disadvantaged neighbourhoods and ensure services providers are more responsive to neighbourhood needs and improve their delivery.
Shrewsburyโs three-year Community Safety Strategy 2005-2008
To achieve the national and local target during the next three years, a strategy was developed. The strategy sets out our aims to deliver community safety across Shrewsbury. In short the strategy has been developed to deter, prevent and deal with those who commit crime; and to develop interventions to tackle the underlying causes of crime, such as social and physical deprivation, family breakdowns, truancy and social exclusion. The strategy document has been developed to evolve with changing physical and social disorder, by building into the document intervention mechanisms to address and deter unforeseen issues.
More private security input into partnerships?
I have concerns about the effectiveness of some community safety partnerships in delivering the strategy and the role of its member organisations, especially the Community Safety Partnerships in smaller towns (Shrewsbury included) working in partnership with the private and voluntary sector. I strongly believe that protocol sharing of information should be extended to the โpolice wider familyโ. I know that there are many best practises around the country of security working in partnership with the community safety partnerships, but it is not standardised and you rarely hear about private security being a member of the community safety steering group or having a link into the group. I understand that most private security companies would be applying to secure contracts to provide services and would have to declare interests in any funding tenders. However, a lot of the work associated with the community safety partnerships is identifying resources and working in partnerships to deliver interventions that reduce crime, disorder and address the perception of crime.
Where private security could assist
Quality of life issues of social and physical disorder cause concern to residents and businesses. Community safety partnerships aims are to help improve the physical ambience of the borough by reducing dog fouling, introducing โthe friendly neighbourhoodโ scheme, to help empower the local community in addressing graffiti, abandoned vehicles and general community housekeeping. With police accreditation for individual persons and decriminalisation, local security officers, traffic wardens, car park attendants etc are being given enforcement power for environmental crime, this is one of the major priorities for Councils who may decide to contract out to security companies.
Anti-social behaviour
The safety partnership is an active partner in anti-social behaviour (ASB) putting together interventions to have an impact on reducing the number of people causing a nuisance to others, by identifying and stopping this kind of behaviour before it goes to court. Security officers are interacting with perpetrators and victims of ASB on a daily basis. Private security should be involved in case conferencing, have knowledge of local interventions and what funding is provided for partnership interventions โ such as target hardening, out reach intervention to divert young peoples energies to more sociable activities.
Pub and Shop watch
Like most Pub watch schemes around the country they are and continue to have an unquestionable impact. Pub and shop watch (including nightclubs) have a zero-tolerance policy on drugs, drug dealing and violent crime. It has also had positive effects on venues that have turned people down without proof of age and known shop thieves excluded from retail premises. Shrewsburyโs Pub and Shop watch scheme is increasing its membership to include taxi firms and encouraging off licences and convenient stores that sell alcohol beverages to join the scheme helping to make Shrewsbury nightlife safer and tying in with the Drug Action Teamโs โSafer Nightlife for Shropshireโ scheme. Pub and shop watch is one of the most productive interventions that local security staff and door supervisors are the vanguard of its success. The Pub and Shop Watch group should be represented on the community safety steering group, deciding where funding should be channelled to make the town a safe and vibrant community for evening and daytime economy. Shrewsbury have addressed the issue of representation by inviting the Pub and Shop watch co-ordinator onto the steering group.
Consultants
Knowledge from security consultants and security providers would be priceless helping to build community capacity and empowerment. By having input into partnership interventions to improve community cohesion.
Town centre CCTV
Shrewsbury safety partnership oversees the town centre CCTV and out sources the contracts for monitoring operators. Although there is still work to be delivered early feedback from residents is very encouraging. The CCTV has been at the forefront in helping to make Shrewsbury town centre safe and secure; with little appreciation of the utter professionalism of the dedicated staff who work tirelessly to support the police and other front-line agencies working in partnership. To make the CCTV more open to scrutiny and deliver a more effective guardianship it is planned to present a public report showing all collective data that CCTV has dealt with and to build in an open policy for the public to have a dialogue with their CCTV. To support private businesses and residents the borough has invested in response CCTV system, the system will be operated in partnership with the borough council and the police, The system will help to reassure people who are blighted by unacceptable behaviour and areas where physical disorder is high.
Conclusion
All community safety partnerships should be dedicated towards working with the public, private and volunteer sectors to make their resident and business communities safer and the better the environment the more people will want to come to visit or reside in their boroughs. The partnershipโs reputation can be affected by drug dealers, violent street crime or anti social behaviour in the area. They need to take a holistic approach to improving their communities and tackling crime. The success of any partnership will depend on private, public, voluntary groups supporting the police and borough councils. I strongly believe that private security is an important partner to achieve Home Office public service agreements and should have a dialogue with partnerships. I am pleased to report that during the last six months sub tasking groups have been set up in Shrewsbury with representation from business, retail and security providers. p
About the author: Served over 23 years in the RAF Police, whilst serving on NATO duties received Commander in Chief commendation in association with the Queensโ Birthday Honours List 1996, for Police and Charity in addition to two campaign medals and a good conduct medal. More recently worked in supervisory and management positions in private security, civil service security, including regional manager for a manned guarding company. Experience gained in helping to introduce a team of neighbourhood wardens in Walsall and a team of street crime wardens in Birmingham city centre. Presently community safety officer for Shrewsbury, the role includes partnership working, monitoring the Safer Stronger Communities Fund (SSCF). Identifying Interventions by supporting and helping partnerships to develop and co-ordinate implementations identified in the community strategy, developing action plans, collating anti-social behaviour and nominated officer for town centre CCTV.
