The Incorporation of Hounslow Community Safety Partnership Policy in Crime Prevention and Control - Essay Example

IMPLICATIONS OF POLICY CHANGE Name Class Professor School City Date The Incorporation of Hounslow Community Safety Partnership Policy in Crime Prevention and Control - UK Partnership approaches are mainly built on the premise that there is no single agency that can be responsible for dealing with complex safety and crime problems that exist in the communities. There are many ways that can be used to describe what constitutes a partnership approach, however, in this context it has been described simply as the co-operative relationship existing between two or more organizations with the aim of achieving a common goal (O'brien, 2002). This paper will examine a strategic paper relating to a major change in policy from a community safety partnership member. The paper chosen is the community safety strategy 2014- 2017 by the Hounslow Community Safety Partnership. The Hounslow Community Safety Partnership (CSP) is composed of a number of authorities as well as agencies that must work together by law as partners so as to reduce disorder, crime, reoffending and substance misuse. The partners constitute the Metropolitan Police, Fire and rescue authorities, the Council, Probation, Health and Care services, among others. The purpose of the Hounslow Community Safety Partnership is to work together in partnership to make Hounslow a safer place to live, work and visit (Rogers, 2000). Before the policy change that is described in the strategy for 2014- 2017, there were number of problems that were being experienced in Hounslow that needed to be addressed. Though the Partnership was doing all it could to ensure safer neighborhoods and town centers, there were still cases of crime in Hounslow. The priority crime types identified by the Mayor’s office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) included burglary, robbery, theft of motor vehicle, violence with injury and criminal damage. There were also cases of anti-social behavior, arson and deliberate fires and issues of road safety. There were a lot of young people engaged in crime, as well as cases of re offending in the area. Finally, the usage of drugs and alcohol had resulted in the increase in the incidence of crime (Metropolitan Police Service, 2000). As part of the new policy strategy for 2014- 2017, the Hounslow Community Safety Partnership identified five priority areas. These included safer neighborhoods and town centers, protecting young people from offending, safer, cohesive communities and safeguarding adults at risk, reduction in reoffending and reducing the effect on crime and harm caused by drugs and alcohol (Gielen et. al, 2013). Each of these priority areas are discussed below. To ensure safer neighborhoods and town centers, the Partnership will engage in activities such as proactive joint operations between council officers and police in town centers, open spaces and in local residential areas to help reduce the incidences of these crimes (Ellis & Thiara, 2014). This is an ongoing priority and is the main focus of the council as well as the Hounslow Police. The Mayor’s office jointly with the council will fund a team of police consisting of one sergeant and nine police constables to be able to assist the council teams with the activities and the operations. Also, there will be four police constables that who will be dedicated to working in the housing estates located across the borough. A joint tasking process will be formulated which will take into consideration the priorities as well as the outcomes required and will appropriately task the teams. There will be a campaign that will include various public events throughout the borough where residents will be provided with advice on crime prevention and given contacts of the people that they should report the incidences to. One of the drivers of crime is the effectiveness of the policing system as well as the criminal justice system. If the police are not effective in their work, individuals see this as an opportunity to commit crimes. This means that to prevent such incidences of crime from happening, there should be police present on the ground (O'Brien, 2002). This will scare off any individuals who might be wanting to engage in crime. Therefore, the provision of the team of police to assist in operations as well as police constables to be working in the housing estates will greatly reduce the crime rate in the area. The provision of contacts to which people can report incidences to will also greatly aid in the reduction of crime as the people will be able to readily report any incidences that may occur in their localities (Boura, 1998). It should also be noted that to further scale down the rate of crime, the criminal justice system should also be effective. This means that any suspects brought before courts should be charged and jailed instead of being left to go scot free. Once individuals know that there is danger of imprisonment, they will not take part in criminal activities. The Hounslow Community safety coordinators Team based at the three police stations present in the borough will work with partner agencies as well as residents to deal with issues of anti-social behavior and incidences of crime in local town centers and neighborhoods (Ellis & Thiara, 2014). The Hounslow Community Safety coordinators will be working closely with police teams as well as other agencies so as to ensure that local priorities such as crime related themes such as theft of pedal cycles, motor vehicle crime, are addressed through the raising of awareness (Sanders, 1975). This will include publicity campaigns, dissemination of crime prevention materials as well as publicity items at local events. There are many enforcement powers that the council as well as the police have at their disposal to enable them tackle anti-social behavior and other nuisances. They include closure as well as dispersal orders which have been very efficient in the past in reducing incidences and tackling hot spots of anti-social behavior (Ellis & Thiara, 2014). In some of these cases, fines as well as penalty notices can be issued to people to deter occurrence of repeat offences. Character can be identified as one of the major drivers of crime. Given a tempting target and a small chance of being caught, some individuals will commit a crime, and some will do so over and over again. These character traits should be identified at a young age and preventive measures taken to prevent such individuals from taking part in crime. The raising of awareness by the Hounslow Community Safety Partnership will go a long way in reducing the crime rate in the community. This will include publicity campaigns, dissemination of crime prevention materials as well as publicity items at local events. The campaigns should also be extended to schools so that young people are aware of the dangers of committing crime from a very young age (Camden Community Safety Partnership, 2006). To prevent arson and deliberate fires, the annual Fireworks project will be constituted (Ellis & Thiara, 2014). The project is aimed at reducing the illegal sale as well as the use of fireworks. All holders of licenses will be visited by London Fire Brigade teams to ensure that license conditions are being met. There will be visual audits by the firefighters to ensure that potential arson sites are reported and cleared (Meldrum, 1997). There will be officers who will be inspecting shops selling fireworks in the area in the lead up to local celebrations. All these measures will enable the prevention of arson and deliberate fires. These measures are put in place to ensure that the fireworks do not land in the wrong hands (Blagg & Valuri, 2004). This is because malignant people may use the opportunity to set property on fire. To prevent violence against women and girls, the Hounslow MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference) will meet monthly to discuss the safety plans that they have for women, including any children, who have been experiencing high risk levels of domestic violence (Ellis & Thiara, 2014). The agencies will work together to ensure that survivors risk levels are reduced. There is a need to strengthen partnership working and work on issues that relate to adults at risk who are affected by disorder, crime and other community safety issues (Edinburgh CSP, 1997). Throughout Hounslow, there will be many initiatives to educate householders, particularly the elderly in the society, to change their ways of doing things and especially not keeping large sums of cash in the house, how to deal with uninvited doorstep sellers and a doorstep crime pack which is distributed to households identified by intelligence from partners (Espejo, 2014). There is a lot that can be learned from the experience of Hounslow to date in terms of cohesion practices and understanding the triggers that might improve the behavior of residents towards each other. The ambition for a community that is cohesive means broadening horizons beyond traditional gender, racial, disability and sexual orientation grounds, to an approach that actively seeks to build communities that are stronger and more united (Ellis & Thiara, 2014). This is pursued through nurturing collective social responsibility between the various groups making Hounslow a better place for all. This will involve the provision of professional leadership and policy advice by the council, while working locally with communities and groups (including newly arrived) to respond to community tensions that may be present and foster a sense of cohesion at neighborhood level (Falkner et. al, 1998). A number of measures will be put in place to reduce the effect of crime and harm caused by drugs and alcohol. These include developing an alcohol strategic plan in partnership with Community Safety, which will outline the strategic actions needed to be done by the range of partners in order to be able to reduce the impact of abuse of alcohol in Hounslow (Ellis & Thiara, 2014). There will also be initiatives to raise awareness of harmful drinking and help the locals to cut down on their intake of alcohol. There Hounslow Community Safety Partnership will also explore commissioning further alcohol prevention projects with a strong evidence base that will include alcohol ‘scratch cards’ in pharmacies, and a program of alcohol identification and brief advice training for professionals (Halas, 1994). The partnership will also continue to be actively involved in the alcohol licensing process, where they will challenge applicants to consider the health and community impacts of their licenses. This policy will have some impacts on the community. Due to the sensitization programs done on the community, the community will be more aware on what to do to prevent crimes in the area. The crime rate in the area will drop due to the measures that have been put in place to prevent crime in the area. Thus, the area will be safer to live and work in (Hughes et. al, 2002). The number of people taking drugs and alcohol in the community will drop due to the initiatives taken. Consequently, drug related crimes will also drop in the area. The community will be more cohesive and there will be no discrimination on the basis of gender, race, disability or sexual orientation. Also, domestic violence, especially against girls and women in the community, will reduce (Newburn, 2002). There will be increased reporting of crime incidences by the community members due to the sensitization The policy will also have an impact on partnership working, policing and businesses in the area. Since the policy has identified the tasks to be carried out by each of the partners, they will have to make sure that they do their part to ensure the success of the policy. For instance, the metropolitan police will be engaged in policing activities while the fire and rescue authorities will be concerned with putting out fires and rescue operations during incidences of fire (Jere at. Al, 2012). This means that each of the partners in the Hounslow Community Safety Partnership will have to carry out their duties effectively so as to ensure success of the partnership. The police will have to provide the necessary personnel for deployment into the housing estates to provide security. Due to the reduced level of crime in the area, it will be safer to conduct business in the area. This will lead to flourishing of the business sector in the area with many new businesses expected to be set up (Tregunna, 2007). The partnership strategy is very effective in the reduction of crime rate in the area. This is because there is no agency that can single handedly deal with the crime in the area. Reduction of the crime rate in the area will require a multi-faceted approach (Squires, 2006). It requires many agencies to come together and put individual efforts to achieve the common goal of crime reduction. The partnership strategy involves having the right people around the table. This was done by first having the necessary agencies to constitute the Hounslow Community Safety Partnership. Each of the agencies was selected as they could provide a unique service to the partnership. A three year partnership plan is prepared which is to be refreshed annually. There are performance frameworks set within the plan as well as consideration of resources for delivering within the partnership. The role of the strategic planning in the delivery of partnership working is that it sets the organizational direction to be followed. It also leads to concentration of effort so that effort is not concentrated on activities that do not contribute to the goal of crime reduction (Tilley, 2005). One of the positive outcomes that is expected from the implementation of this policy is that the crime rate in the area will reduce. This is due to various factors such as improved policing and reduced intake of drugs and alcohol that lead to drug related crimes. Thus, the area will be safer to live and work in. The number of people taking drugs and alcohol in the community will drop due to the initiatives taken. Consequently, drug related crimes will also drop in the area. The community will be more cohesive and there will be no discrimination on the basis of gender, race, disability or sexual orientation (Conwy CSP, 2010). Also, domestic violence, especially against women and girls in the community, will reduce. There will be increased reporting of crime incidences by the community members due to the sensitization. The negative outcome that can be expected from the implementation of the policy is that the initiatives will require additional funds. References Blagg, H. and Valuri, G., 2004. Self-policing and community safety: the work of Aboriginal Community Patrols in Australia. Current Issues Crim. Just., 15, p.205. Boura, J., 1998. Community Fireguard: creating partnerships with the community to minimise the impact of bushfire. Camden Community Safety Partnership, 2006. Safer Camden strategy: 2005-2008. [Great Britain], Camden Community Safety Partnership. Conwy Community Safety Partnership, 2010. Conwy Community Safety Partnership strategic assessment. [Conwy], Conwy Community Safety Partnership Edinburgh Community Safety Partnership, 1997. 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