Review of Manchester Crime Reduction Strategy 2008-2011 - Research Paper Example

Review of Manchester Crime Reduction Strategy (2008 Crime reduction in a community is everybody’s affair as it calls for people’s responsibility. Everyone has a role to play and an obligation to contribute towards crime reduction in any given community. The success of Manchester Crime Reduction Strategy sets out a plan for reducing crime within the community hence improving the quality of life for Manchester residents. Crime reduction is one important strand of a much wider vision to improve the lives of Manchester residents. The Manchester Community Strategy sets out a vision for improving the life of residents in key areas by 2015. For instance, for crime and disorder, the strategy supports a number of other partnerships that aim to drive improvements in employment, health, transport, the environment and outcomes for young people. The main significant strategy aims to have a city of successful neighborhoods and for people feel secure and enjoy their living. Young people should be in a position to make real choices about their future. To accomplish this, children must stay safe and be protected from crime. Therefore there’s need to provide young people with opportunities and activities that can both raise their aspirations and divert them away from the risk of committing crime. Reducing crime is an essential part in regenerating the city and improving our transport system, that is, reducing crime is a key feature of all our strategic objectives to improve the overall quality of life of the residents. From 2005 to 2008, a target was set by the Manchester Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy to reduce the overall level of crime as measured by the British Crime Survey. This was measured against ten key crime types that included burglary, robbery, vehicle crime and violent crime. The strategy has been successful in tackling antisocial behavior. Better interventions with families have seen the number of young people who comply with their Antisocial Behavior Order (ASBO) increase. An essential result relates to a reprimand, final warning, or a court disposal. Also, drug users seeking for treatment services in the city continue to increase and the average waiting time for access to treatment continues to reduce. The Government and Manchester have designed a new strategy, the Local Area Agreement to accomplish the wider aims and objectives and to give local agencies more ease in setting the main concern. This agreement has goals against each of the precedence areas that are exclusive to Manchester. This local emphasis will enable us to prioritize what is essential in Manchester. This gives a greater choice to consolidate and align more funding streams. However, this may decline both bureaucracy and permits funding to be directed to the main areas of preference. Resident involvement in the Crime Reduction Strategy cannot succeed with no the active involvement and support of residents. This has been crucial in identifying the crime and antisocial behavior concerns of high importance to local residents, which is one of the main priorities of this strategy. Nonetheless, the residents input should not be a one-off event to ensure effective communication. These concerns residents as well as neighborhood partnerships and using surveys, through regular meetings between the local agencies and representatives of resident groups. Each ward is set to have a regular meeting chaired by the local police inspector. In each meeting, the residents will have an opportunity to raise the issues that are important to them and question partner agencies on the work they are doing. By the use of crime and other data to inform the Strategy each year, the crime agency compiles a multi-agency strategic assessment to identify the times when crimes are most likely to occur, and geographical crime hot spots across the city, where and when crime occurs. The assessment pulls together data from sources beyond police crime data. Dealing with crime involves both violent and most harmful crimes in which people are killed or seriously injured. The strategy must therefore begin by addressing the most serious offences and, in particular, those that impact disproportionately on certain members of our community. However, while organized criminals tend to be older, some young people in Manchester are disproportion and this helps us find out the concerns of residents. Although violent extremism only makes up a very small proportion of overall crime in Manchester, Crime intelligence unit points out that there are precise vicinities that pose a higher risk of nurturing such criminal activity. Manchester crime agency has been working closely with partners to develop effective methods for preventing violent extremism. The final Strategy must reflect these different concern profiles in different parts of the city. Both Manchester and Trafford face challenges around young people’s involvement with gangs, and in view of that they have formed a joint board to tackle this issue. It will also demonstrate good governance and integrity in the delivery of the Strategy and the commissioning of services and new ways of preventing and tackling these issues i.e. serious acquisitive crime. The second part of the Strategy for reducing crimes involves tackling the most harmful of acquisitive crimes that include burglary, robbery and vehicle crime (both theft of and theft from a vehicle). Furthermore, there is one principal target in the Local Area Agreement that seeks to reduce all these crimes. Acquisitive crime in Manchester is not evenly distributed across the city and responses will therefore be locally driven by the local tasking meetings. Intelligence and analysis on acquisitive crime provided for the authorities on a fortnightly basis. Using that information, all agencies given tasks that will relate to activity around enforcement, prevention or gathering intelligence in the local area. Preventative work aimed at deterring acquisitive crime will also be coordinated across the city to ensure that resources are directed where they are needed. Minimizing reoffending refers to stopping and/or changing the damaging behavior of known offenders. While offenders are a small proportion of the city’s overall population, they cause disproportionate damage to our communities. Owing to their behavior, they can also be some of the most hard to reach of our citizens. The aim of the crime agency is to stop this damaging behavior and to protect the public. Therefore the challenge is to ensure that services deliver a balance between enforcement and support for offenders. Every offender under the supervision of Manchester Probation Service is assessed and clear objectives set to reduce their risk of reoffending and reduce the risk of them causing harm to the public. Each will have a planned package of interventions from a range of partners. The highest priority is given to offenders who present a high risk of harm to others, and those who have been identified as Creative and Priority Offenders. Priority status is reflected in a continued commitment to multi-agency working arrangements that bolster management of these offenders. Rigorous enforcement applies to all offenders who have been sentenced to community orders and those released on license following a custodial sentence. If an offender breaches the terms of his/ her supervision (for example by reoffending or by failing to attend appointments), in the case of community orders, they are brought back before the court within specified timescales, and in the case of licenses they swiftly returned to custody. Studies and confirmations from Government research shows that ten per cent of offenders commit 50 per cent of crime. A specific strategy is in place to tackle the disproportionate harm this small proportion of known offenders causes to our communities. The Reducing Reoffending Strategy and the Strategies overlap so that the pathways and the services within them will prioritize as appropriate. Public protection is essential in the community. The Probation Service and Housing Services prioritize working closely together to manage the risks presented by offenders who pose a high risk of harm. Availing pathways out of offending while offenders’ needs tend to be complex and interrelated, they often fall into the gaps between services delivered to meet those needs. The CDRP will seek to direct and performance- manage services that rehabilitate offenders, addressing need and resulting in them being less likely to commit crime again. Through effective offender management and the provision of coordinated services, the root causes of offending is addressed. In addition, mainstream services, such as drug and substance misuse interventions, planned and delivered so that they can meet the needs of young offenders. There is an action plan in the Reducing Reoffending Strategy, which is published as a distinct document aimed at quelling the crime rates. The impact of alcohol on communities in Manchester is a vibrant city and its regeneration has seen a significant increase in the number of licensed premises and related employment opportunities. Majority of people in Manchester take alcohol and most experience no problems when drinking responsibly and sensibly. However, there are those who do experience problems as a result of their own or someone else’s irresponsible drinking. Tackling alcohol-related crime and referring to the earlier section dealing with violent crime describes how alcohol-related crime is dealt with. Most importantly, the night-time economy is managed in a way that uses an entire range of powers and approaches to tackle alcohol- related crime and disorder. This will include utilizing licensing laws, antisocial behavior powers and industry self-regulation codes of practice. In addition to violent crime, alcohol can be a major contributing factor in other concerns to residents, such as antisocial behavior and youth nuisance. Trading Standards and the Police will ensure that alcohol is not sold to young people under 18 through test purchasing and surveillance operations. This will build upon the successful work of the Respect Action Weeks where enforcement operations in public places confiscated alcohol from young people while additional activities on Friday and Saturday nights provided an alternative to drinking. The offenders may be offered help to address their alcohol use. Conditional cautioning is also used for relatively low-level incidents. Where an offender agrees in of the guilt, they may be dealt with by way of a police caution on the condition that they attend a treatment programme. An arrest referral is issued for more serious crimes that result in a court appearance. Under this scheme, part of the court sentence is to order the defendant to attend a treatment programme on a compulsory basis. Witness Care Units were also established as a response to the view that victims and witnesses were treated unfairly and that the criminal justice process was always in favor of the defendant. The aim of these Units was to give support for victims and witnesses from the point of charge through to the conclusion of a case. Provision of support for victims and witnesses by Court Service comes from agencies mentioned earlier. Nevertheless, the court staff has an important role not only in directly assisting of victims and witnesses, but also in availing information available for other agencies as so that they can pursue the objectives in the code of practice for justice. References Mooney, G & Neal, S 2009. Community: Welfare, Crime and Society. McGraw-Hill Education, New York Manchester Community Safety Partnership, 2008. Available from . [8 February 2011].] Read More