#MakeADifference – investing in Community Safety Partnerships to tackle local problems

Three and a half years ago, you asked us to crack down on anti-social behaviour. We have reduced the number of recorded anti-social behaviour incidents by more than 8,000 (16 per cent). Highlights include:

• investing in council-led Community Safety Partnerships to tackle local problems
• extra enforcement powers extended to 350 people from 40 organisations to crack down on ASB
• making more offenders answerable to their victims through our Restorative Justice programme
• providing the funding for more local policing, more community policing, more Town Centre Teams and more rural policing

We are delivering against our priority in our Police & Crime Plan to crack down on anti-social behaviour. [caption id="attachment_16184" align="alignleft" width="225"] Suzanne Harris, our Community Safety and Reducing Reoffending Manager.[/caption] Here, we speak to Suzanne Harris, our Community Safety and Reducing Reoffending Manager, to find out how we are investing in council-led Community Safety Partnerships to tackle local problems.

She said: “We provide funding to all Community Safety Partnerships. With that funding, they are required to meet the priorities within the Police & Crime Plan, including to crack down on anti-social behaviour.”

The PFCC dedicates £272,000 to the 13 Community Safety Partnerships across the county. Each area uses the funding how the partners see fit to tackle their unique anti-social behaviour issues. In Braintree, for example, the partners have fortnightly meetings to discuss individual cases, which enables them to share information and knowledge about what is happening where and how best to work together to target the problems. In Chelmsford, a dedicated anti-social behaviour officer is employed to give a targeted approach to the issue.

Suzanne said: “We ask for feedback each year on how the money has been spent and what is being achieved by each Community Safety Partnership. “The Community Safety Partnerships bring partners together to provide a really joined-up process. “The value of those partners working together means it is easier to understand what the local problems are and how they affect people. “The money enables the partnerships to be a little bit creative about how they solve those problems.”