Download as PDF: Making sense of Comprehensive Area Assessment Green Flags: Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour

Comprehensive Area Assessment green flags show outstanding achievements or improvements, or an innovation that is likely to be successful within a local area. In the first round of CAA assessments several areas received green flags for their approach to crime and anti-social behaviour. This case study covers the innovative work of Trafford in tackling gun crime and gang violence, Liverpool’s work to tackle city centre violence, and Camden’s and Kensington and Chelsea’s approach to crime and anti-social behaviour.

Essential knowledge

Comprehensive Area Assessment, or CAA, is an assessment of local public services in England. It examines how well councils are working together with other public bodies to meet the needs of the people they serve. It’s a joint assessment made by a group of six independent watchdogs. Assessments provide a snapshot of each area, and act as a catalyst for improvement by identifying where more effort is needed or where exceptional improvement may help others learn. CAA reports performance against the national indicator set and focuses on indicators that areas have selected as priorities, making an assessment of current delivery and future prospects against those priorities.

Each area across England has been independently assessed by six inspectorates, who say how well local public services are delivering results for local people and how likely these are to improve in future. Area assessments do not have an overall score or rating, but green flags show outstanding achievements or improvements, or an innovation that is likely to be successful.

Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour can help address the following national indicators:

• NI 15 Serious violent crime PSA 23
• NI 16 Serious acquisitive crime
• NI 17 Perceptions of anti-social behaviour
• NI 18 Adult re-offending rates for those under probation supervision
• NI 19 Rate of proven re-offending by young offenders
• NI 20 Assault with injury crime rate
• NI 21 Dealing with local concerns about anti-social behaviour and crime issues by the local council and police
• NI 22 Perceptions of parents taking responsibility for the behaviour of their children in the area
• NI 23 Perceptions that people in the area treat one another with respect and consideration
• NI 27 Understanding of local concerns about anti-social behaviour and crime issues by the local council and police
• NI 28 Serious knife crime rate
• NI 29 Gun crime rate
• NI 30 Re-offending rate of prolific and priority offenders
• NI 33 Arson incidents
• NI 37 Awareness of civil protection arrangements in the local area CO DSO
• NI 38 Drug-related (Class A) offending rate
• NI 39 Rate of Hospital Admissions per 100,000 for Alcohol Related Harm
• NI 40 Number of drug users recorded as being in effective treatment
• NI 41 Perceptions of drunk or rowdy behaviour as a problem
• NI 42 Perceptions of drug use or drug dealing as a problem

What works?

Trafford: Tackling gun crime and gang violence

Trafford has experienced gang-related problems for a number of years along the north border areas of Old Trafford and Stretford, with strong links to problems across the border in Manchester. About 400 people, many of them under 18, were thought to be involved. Competition between drug dealers was part of the driving force. Since 2007 Trafford and Manchester councils and Greater Manchester Police have run a major joint project to tackle the problem.

The partnership has focused on developing a clear governance structure bringing together local partners with suitable levels of responsibility. The Most Serious Violent Crime (MSVC) Group developed a partnership plan. This group evolved from the Violent Gangs Strategic Group into the MSVC Group so that violent gang activity is now viewed within a broader serious youth violence context and the learning to date used effectively to tackle knife crime, violent extremism and serious sexual violence. A strategic co-ordinator was appointed to kick start the partnership approach to this issue. This specialist resource was vital while the work was starting, but has now been mainstreamed into a core funded Strategic Co-ordinator for Community Safety role.

The scheme has improved joint working between partners. For example, the council are now involved in a range of settings which were previously police exclusive, including risk management meetings following serious incidents, tasking and co-ordination groups and operations. Some police operations have been in partnership with council staff such as social workers and the youth offending service to ensure they address safeguarding needs and engage prevention services as early on as possible.

Workforce development is also a vital part of the project. At the start of this work, there was anxiety and fear among practitioners and managers whose services came into contact with this client group and this contributed to poor decision-making and reluctance amongst services to take ownership and responsibility. More than 200 staff within core services have now received training in tackling violent gangs and a developmental workshop now runs four times a year as part of the mainstream Children and Young People’s Service (CYPS) training programme. This has ensured that violent gang work is now viewed by core staff as part of their day to day business.

Working with the local community has been a key aspect of the project. Examples of this include:

• There was funding and practical support to a group of local community members to launch Peace Week 2009 in Old Trafford. Through a series of events and a local peace march / lantern parade, it engaged residents in challenging gang culture and violence. It ran in conjunction with an event in Manchester and is due to run again during 2010.
• The Living to Die film was made in partnership with a group of local young people and Mothers Against Violence, a local group of women whose children have been involved in gang violence. The film explores the consequences and emotions of a gang following the stabbing and murder of one of its members.
• There has also been funding and practical support to a group of local parents in Old Trafford to set up their own peer-led parent support project.
• The Old Trafford Inspiring Leaders project, designed to build local leadership, has led to a number of residents getting involved in activities directly tackling gang violence.
• An Independent Advisory Group in the Old Trafford area has been working alongside the police to tackle gang violence effectively while minimising the potential negative impact of targeted policing activity. This has included meetings following serious incidents and ahead of high profile police raids.
• Older ex-gang members have been able to speak to young people in youth club settings to give advice and guidance on making better decisions and choosing positive lifestyles.
• Funding has supported a group of local young adult musicians to attend a series of assemblies within schools across Trafford and Manchester as positive role models with a positive message about peace.
• A specific mentoring project is being developed with Trafford Youth Offending Service to develop a cohort of their existing mentors to be specialist mentors working with young people at risk of, or involved in, violent gang activity.

Over the past two years, the Trafford Partnership has had significant success in tackling violent gang activity. Gun crime has fallen by 40 per cent in the past three years, confirmed firearm discharges also reduced by 54 per cent compared to 2007/08, and were at their lowest since 2004/05. There were no gang-related firearms discharges at all during 2008/09. This trend has continued into 2009/10 were there has been only one confirmed discharge in the first four months of the year. The findings of the 2008 MORI Residents Survey compared to the 2007 results also show improvements in key perception indicators within particular wards in Trafford where the bulk of the work around violent gangs has been undertaken.

From the onset the partnership has also focused on ensuring sustainability for the project. Initially all of the funding for tackling violent gangs came from external grant funding but by April 2009 all funding was from internal sources, with the required funding being reduced from nearly £200,000 per year to £46,000 per year, provided by the Safer Trafford Partnership Board.

Liverpool: promoting a safer night-time economy

Promotion of a safer night-time economy is a key component of the overarching regeneration strategy for Liverpool and is a key consideration in the reputation and image of Liverpool. Liverpool’s City Centre Joint Agency Group (JAG) – a sub-group of Citysafe, Liverpool’s Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership, serviced by the City Council – was established in 2004, and incorporates all of the main agencies and stakeholders in the city centre. It meets regularly to promote the city centre as a safe place to visit, invest and live in, and it has put in place a number of activities to address particular challenges and issues highlighted as a result of its proactive environmental scanning. The aim of the JAG is to work together in partnership to promote a safer night time economy whilst managing all of the issues in a proactive and integrated manner.

The JAG supports the strategic and operational activity of all partners and uses analytical data and information from a range of surveys, partnership data and knowledge. Partners recognise the importance of public perceptions and communication, so the JAG routinely collects data through an Annual City Centre Feelings of Safety Survey, to bring a clearer understanding of the city centre, its market and consumers. The JAG can then target its pooled and aligned resources to identified needs, shared priorities and outcome targets.

It delivers a number of projects and partnership activities to address these shared priorities and outcome targets:

• Goldzone – enhancing partnership resources in the city centre through a dedicated team agreed by the City Council and Merseyside Police. The team of one sergeant and 12 constables has been in place for several years and contributes to crime reductions and community safety initiatives. To reassure and support people enjoying a night out, a taxi rank marshalling initiative has targeted potential trouble makers and stopped taxi drivers from ‘cherry picking’ fares. Dedicated partnership patrols work closely with the Security Industry Authority accredited taxi marshals in key locations. The scheme has proved popular with residents and visitors and has helped reduce incidents of violent crime and other crime. A nine week taxi rank marshalling partnership operation held in 2007/08 resulted in a 55 per cent reduction of total crimes. In particular, there was a 34 per cent reduction in violent offences.
• Liverpool’s city centre Pubwatch scheme has 110 pubs, bars and clubs on its membership list. Pubwatch activities include radio alert communications – sharing information among premises; distribution of photographs and details of offenders and criminal activity, a Best Bar None Scheme – a scheme that provides an incentive for the operators of licensed premises to improve their standards of operation to the level of a commonly agreed national benchmark, Smoke Free schemes, conflict resolution training, and use of Banning Orders.
• Seasonal alcohol awareness campaigns have also been in place.
• Youth diversionary activities to divert up to 200 youths from causing anti-social behaviour in the city centre, for example a live music event for the young people resulting in high attendances and correspondingly low levels of anti-social behaviour.
• Targeted work with students has included marketing campaigns linked to safer alcohol consumption, and a new Students Health and Wellbeing Group led by the Primary Care Trust (PCT) which will take forward actions on this issue.
• Predictive crime pattern analysis provided evidence of an increase in street crime in the city centre during the Christmas shopping period. A street crime reduction plan was therefore developed and the main hotspot areas targeted by partners including a multi-agency robbery reduction team supported by neighbourhood policing with support from the Council’s CCTV and Street Crime Wardens to gather intelligence and identify potential offenders.
• Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) have been used successfully against prolific offenders. A quarter of all ASBOs in Liverpool have related to the city centre.

The City Centre JAG has pre-empted huge changes to the city which have an impact on the night time economy and have delivered key outcomes including:

• Levels of recorded crime in the city centre encompassing all crime categories have fallen in the last year by 23 per cent (2,760 offences) and by 40 per cent (6,187 offences) since 2005/06.
• Year on year, anti-social behaviour incidents have reduced in the city centre. There has been a two per cent reduction (72 offences) since 2006 despite a booming and revitalising city centre economy.
• Injury violence offences have reduced every year since 2004/05 with a 20 per cent reduction (287 fewer offences) in 2008 compared to 2007, and a reduction of 39 per cent (722 offences) since 2004/05.
• Results from the Public Perception Survey in 2007 also show a great success in the improvement of safety feelings in the city centre, including feelings of safety in the night time. There has been an increase of two per cent in feelings of safety for women (43 per cent) during the night time in the City Centre, from 2006. For the same period, men have shown an increase of twelve per cent in their feeling of safety during the night time (four per cent).[?]
• The fear of becoming a victim of crime in the City Centre has reduced as well. This has fallen from 34 per cent of people questioned in 2006 to 24 per cent in 2007.
• The Public Perception Survey has also shown that those interviewed had witnessed fewer incidents of disorder at taxi ranks at night. This has fallen from 40 per cent of people questioned in 2006, to 26 per cent of people in 2007.

Camden – tackling crime and anti-social behaviour

In Camden significant and innovative partnership working has focused on tackling crime among the most vulnerable people in the area. In 2008/09, crime reduced by 18 per cent compared to the previous year. There have been significant reductions in theft from motor vehicles (down 32 per cent), robbery (down 25 per cent) and burglary (down 22 per cent). Camden has performed particularly well at reducing theft from the person, and assault without injury. Public confidence in Camden’s police is 78.24 per cent.

The Youth Disorder Engagement Team (YDET) was introduced in 2007/08 and expanded in 2008. The YDET work with the police Youth Engagement Team and Safer Schools Officers, carrying out regular patrols, for example at lunch times, after school and other peak times, to stop young people from causing and getting into trouble and diverting them into support services. As trained mediators, the YDET also mediates between young people to ease hostilities, and to build trust. Five Youth Inclusion and Support Panels have provided further focussed support and monitoring to more than 190 young people in the last year and more than 3,000 Camden school pupils have taken part in “Prison Me? No Way!” and “It’s no Joke” programmes, to educate them about the consequences of getting involved in ASB and crime.

A new reparation scheme has also been introduced to reduce the number of first time entrants to the youth justice system. Under the scheme, when a young person is arrested for the first time for a low level offence, there is an assessment of their suitability for the scheme and rather than entering the criminal justice system, the young person would be given a ‘one time deal’ to complete a set amount of reparation and be referred to relevant services, such as YISPs, for ongoing intervention and support. Serious youth violence in Camden is rare and the approach taken has led to reductions in serious youth violence (21 per cent) and knife-enabled crime (34 per cent).

Innovative and strong partnership work by the safer streets team and local communities has contributed to a 92 per cent reduction in rough sleeping. The Safer Streets team has a key role in reducing levels of street activity such as rough sleeping and begging, street drinking, sex working, and drug related activity. The team monitors the levels of this activity, putting people in touch with support services. It has a key role in the on-going implementation of the approach, which is managed at a case-work level through the borough-wide Tasking and Targeting (T and T) model. Key to the approach is the geographically specific multi-agency meetings, which bring together all agencies working with members of the street population, and agree an intervention package.

In 2007 an extra 18 Police and Community Support Officers (PCSOs), alongside 10 borough police constables formed an enhanced team to tackle drug dealing and crime in the Camden Town area. Funding for the PCSOs came from the council and the Metropolitan Police Service. The team has contributed to a sustained decrease in crime with local analysis showing a bigger reduction in Camden Town than in the borough as a whole. To tackle drug dealing in the area there have been two major police-led operations resulting in over 60 drug related arrests over recent months. In addition, antisocial behaviour legislation was used to address gang-related crime in the Camden Town area, with twelve members of the TMS gang being given full ASBOs.

Tackling antisocial behaviour continues to be a top concern for Camden residents. The introduction of Antisocial Behaviour Coordinators in each District Housing Office led to increased reports of antisocial behaviour on housing estates. The new Casework system, which records and maps cases of housing related antisocial behaviour, allows more accurate targeting of resources to support this. The Housing Patrol Service has merged with Parks Patrol and the new structure has improved the response to low-level crime and antisocial behaviour. The areas covered by the street warden team also changed so that wardens patrol areas of the borough with the highest levels of antisocial behaviour. Wardens now cover areas identified through analysis as having significant levels of antisocial behaviour and higher levels of need.

To tackle and prevent burglary, there have been extra police patrols in hotspot areas and more than 500 older and disabled people had home security checks in the last year through the Safe as Houses scheme. In addition, to reduce the likelihood of re-offending, work is ongoing to ensure all prolific and priority offenders (PPOs) receive a post conviction ASBO with a condition not to associate with other PPOs. Together with other work these actions have helped reduce the number of burglary victims by 20 per cent. The skills and experience of private businesses’ security staff are also successfully used in partnership – such as the night time economy or the radio scheme, which expanded during 2008, to address shoplifting and other crimes against businesses.

Kensington and Chelsea – tackling crime and anti-social behaviour

As a result of local services working together and the effective use of uniformed officers there are significant and lasting falls in crime in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Most types of crimes are reducing in the area including burglary , theft from cars, violence and knife crimes.

Joint working with the police has included:

• funding to enable the number of PCSOs in every ward in the borough to be, at least doubled to six – in some wards there are ten, with very positive feedback from residents
• appointing four council Safer Neighbourhood Managers to work alongside Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs) and make sure that issues needing council attention got a quick response
• council funding for; motorbikes to help catch criminals on scooters or motorbikes who snatch valuables from passers-by
• council funding for; forensic equipment to increase the chances of capturing useful information at a crime scene to help identify and successfully prosecute criminals
• council funding for; buttonhole cameras for use in covert operations to catch drug dealers
• a joint police and council target hardening service that secures the homes of vulnerable residents.

Enforcement campaigns and measures to reduce reoffending include:

• multi-agency joint enforcement operations where an area is filled for a day or two at a time with enforcement staff from as many different agencies as possible working together to tackle offending behaviour.
• Making intensive efforts to make Community Payback work in the borough. One of the SNOs has a team of offenders doing clear ups across the borough. Most recently they cleared snow from the homes of vulnerable people.
• a multi-agency protocol for dealing with street drinkers that doesn’t just move drinkers on or focus on arrest. Outreach services are available to help tackle the problems street drinkers have. Areas are made less ‘attractive’ to street drinkers, for example taking away walls for them to sit on. Work is contiuning with local off licences to discourage them from selling strong alcohol to known street drinkers. A borough wide controlled drinking zone has also been introduced, making it an offence to continue drinking when told to stop by a police officer or PCSO.
• a multi-agency protocol for closing down crack houses. This has proved very successful and enabled public landlords to move swiftly and close down such establishments at the same time as supporting what is usually a very vulnerable tenant being preyed on by unscrupulous drug dealers.
• the introduction of the Drug Intervention Programme (DIP). DIP offenders are those caught up in a vicious cycle of drug taking and criminal activity. By motivating and preparing them for the challenge of treatment DIP offers them the opportunity to kick the habit and rebuild their lives.

Preventative measures are also in place such as:

• securing vulnerable properties to prevent burglaries. This usually involves improving locks on doors and windows and, where necessary, replacing weak doors. The service, which uses trusted private contractors, also works with public and private landlords to secure the front entrance doors to properties in multiple occupation. The team also provide enhanced security for vulnerable members of the community, for example victims of domestic violence or race or homophobic crime.
• drawing attention to the dangers of using cannabis. A particularly effective initiative was a competition for schools (including the Pupil Referral Unit) and youth groups to develop a poster for a major anti-cannabis campaign and to produce a play or film on the same subject. The quality of the posters produced was very high and the winning entry formed an important part of the campaign.
• The Information Exchange Scheme (IES), a groundbreaking initiative in partnership with the London Borough of Camden and the Greater London Authority, draws together information about crime and antisocial behaviour from a wide range of different agencies and enables the results to be analysed and mapped so that complete profiles of hotspot areas can be developed. This, in turn, enables the police and other agencies to focus their efforts on these hotspot areas. The council is now looking at the second stage of this initiative to make information available to local residents on what is happening in their area.

Why it works

The following are key success factors identified within the case study examples:

• Strong partnerships incorporating a range of partners with a shared vision at both the strategic and operational level
• The willingness of a range of partners to share responsibility for the agenda
• Workforce development so that the approaches to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour are mainstreamed throughout all partners and service areas.
• Incorporation of crime and disorder into wider issues such as regeneration and safeguarding
• Horizon scanning so that partners can target their limited pooled / aligned resources towards identified needs (including communities’ issues)
• Community engagement including involvement in identifying the problem and developing the solution
• Evaluation of activity to see what works and whether plans need to change
• The ability to deal with real-time issues alongside strategic planning
• Showing communities the results and showing that all partners are engaged in dealing with their problems
• Building relationships between staff in different agencies that continue after short-term project work has finished

References and further reading

• Audit Commission CAA information
• Oneplace – The site includes CAA results for each area, of different local public services and a wide range of information on how these public services are performing.
• Trafford Community Safety
• Liverpool Citysafe
• Camden Community Safety
• Kensington and Chelsea Community Safety

The work undertaken by the Gipton Community Cohesion Group to tackle hate crime and build community cohesion. The multi-agency group, which included Community Champions, developed and implemented an action plan to address these issues. Whilst the objectives are long-term, there has been positive impact in relation to:

• community perceptions
• reduced anti-social behaviour
• reduced voids
• improved partnership working.

Effective community engagement was seen as critical and a ‘Team Gipton’ approach by local agencies has meant that lessons have been embedded and solutions are more sustainable.

The issue

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) defines hate crime as “any crime where the perpetrator’s prejudice against any identifiable group of people is a factor in determining who is victimised”. The working definition of hate crime used is “any incident which is perceived to be a hate incident by the victim or any other person. It is motivated wholly or in part by prejudice on the grounds of race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religious belief or similar philosophical belief, sexual orientation, or against disabled people”.

Hate crimes based on visible differences between people are of particular concern and the Government introduced specific legislation and increased penalties for hate crime.

The Leeds Hate Crime Strategy

Leeds is a thriving, multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-faith city, yet, as in other cities and towns, hate motivated crime is a problem that blights the lives of individuals and communities.

In Leeds three organisations are responsible for recording and monitoring racist incidents city-wide:

• Leeds City Council
• Leeds Racial Harassment Project
• West Yorkshire Police.

In 2006/07, West Yorkshire Police recorded 1,340 race-hate crime incidents and in almost one in five of these incidents the victim had reported at least one other incident to West Yorkshire Police in the preceding year. Reports to Leeds City Council also showed that in 40 per cent of incidents, the victim stated they had been the victim of at least one other incident. So reducing repeat victimisation is a key element of hate crime strategies.

Safer Leeds was one of the first community safety partnerships in the country to publish a ‘Hate Crime’ strategy. Its overall aim is to ‘reduce the level of impact of hate incidents in Leeds’ by:

• increasing awareness, reporting and recording of hate crime incidents
• improving service responses to victims
• improving responses to deal with perpetrators of hate crime, and
• developing preventative and educational activity to address hate crime.

The Safer Leeds Partnership Plan for 2008/11 aims to develop and deliver activities to support the city-wide hate crime strategy.

The Leeds Initiative local area agreement (LAA) for 2006/09 includes a target to reduce repeat victimisation in hate crime to help achieve its outcome of promoting a sense of pride in local communities, and building cohesive communities.

Increasing reporting of a hate crime is also a target in the Inner East Area Delivery Plan, which covers the Gipton area.

Building community cohesion

The development of community cohesion is the attempt to build communities with four key characteristics:

• a common vision and a sense of belonging for all communities
• valuing diversity
• similar life opportunities for all, and
• strong and positive relationships are being developed between people from different backgrounds and circumstances in the workplace, in the school and within neighbourhoods.

Thus, building community cohesion is an important aspect of tackling hate crime.

Tackling hate crime and building community cohesion can help address the following national indicators:

• NI 1 percentage of people who believe people from different backgrounds get on well together in their local area
• NI 2 percentage of people who feel that they belong to their neighbourhood
• NI 3 civic participation in the local area
• NI 4 percentage of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality
• NI 5 overall/general satisfaction with local area.

Given the work needed to tackle hate crime and build cohesive communities, it is also likely to impact on indicators relating to anti-social behaviour:

• NI 21 dealing with local concerns about anti-social behaviour and crime by the local council and police
• NI 23 perceptions that people in the area treat one another with respect and consideration
• NI 25 satisfaction of different groups with the way the police and local council dealt with anti-social behaviour
• NI 27 understanding of local concerns about anti-social behaviour

Hate crime and community cohesion in Gipton

Gipton is an area in Leeds with a population of 15,947, with 19 per cent of the population aged between five and 15 . In 2007, West Yorkshire Police recorded a crime rate of 138.4 crimes per 1,000 people in the area. In the 2001 census, Gipton and the neighbouring area of Harehills have 16 SOAs in the top 10 per cent nationally in relation to overall levels of deprivation, and in 2007 43 per cent of households received council administered benefits. However the area has seen large scale regeneration activity, intensive neighbourhood management, and focussed neighbourhood policing. In 2007 the Gipton and South Seacroft Intensive Neighbourhood Management Area found that there were signs of improvement in terms of the index of multiple deprivation rankings.

Gipton was historically a ‘white working class’ area, but change over the last 10 years means that approximately 14 per cent of the population are now from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. Local 2007 statistics show that 86 per cent of the population is White, seven per cent Asian or British Asian, and 3.55 per cent Black or Black British.

In recent years community consultation and engagement work identified some rising tensions in the area. Analysis of local crime data identified that a number of offences had an underlying link to hate crime, and intelligence suggested that neighbours often sided with the perpetrators, rather than the victims, of hate crime. To address these problems, concerned local agencies got together to establish the Gipton Cohesion Group with the aims:

• to reduce racially aggravated offences in the area
• to increase community cohesion.

What they did

The Gipton Dispersal Order

In August 2008 part of Gipton was subjected to a dispersal order to address a 35 per cent increase in anti-social behaviour by youths. Some of these incidents included elements of hate crime such as racist abuse. This was prior to the establishment of the Gipton Community Cohesion group, but it gives background and context to the issues developing in the area.

The order achieved a 15 per cent reduction in calls to the police in a two month period, and was then extended for a further two months, to January 2009. In the initial period, more than 70 families had follow-up visits by the police, housing and Leeds City Council anti-social behaviour officers – a joint approach to ensure that young people and parents and carers were fully aware of the potential consequences of breaking the restrictions of the order.

Tenancy reviews were undertaken with those who repeatedly did not comply, with two tenants being given final warnings about their young people’s behaviour. Five adults became the subject of civil injunctions banning them from a particular area and one full ASBO was granted during the initial period. Acceptable Behaviour contracts and warnings were also issued.

Residents were kept informed of progress through 3,000 leaflets. One resident told the police that during the order the estate “has been like another world. It’s making a big difference”.

Community engagement: I love Gipton – the ‘all new’ Gipton forum

The Inner East Area Committee agreed a community event engagement approach to complement the annual Area Delivery Planning cycle. One of the first of these events in the new cycle took place in Gipton in March 2009.

The event was branded ‘I love Gipton’ and introduced the concept of ‘Team Gipton’. Team Gipton’ is part of the Intensive Neighbourhood Management approach (INM) governed by the Inner East Area Committee to deliver the priorities agreed in the Inner East Leeds Area Delivery Plan, a local version of Leeds Strategic Plan.

The event took place at the Gipton Working Men’s Club. Historically, engagement events had drawn a limited audience and they therefore decided to attract parents and adults by getting local children interested in an ‘open day’. It was held between 3.30 pm and 6.30 pm to maximise after school and work attendance.

The event was an open door ‘market-place’ style event including:

• Leeds City Council’s Area Management Team
• Local elected members
• The local Neighbourhood Policing Team
• East North East Homes Leeds
• Recycling and Education
• Jobs and Skills
• GIPSIL, Gipton Supported Independent Living
• Action for Gipton Elderly
• Youth Services
• Gipton Together
• West Yorkshire Fire Service
• Parks and Countryside
• Leeds NHS
• Learning Partnerships
• EASEL, the East and South East Leeds Regeneration Initiative

The event was publicised widely throughout the community, using notice boards and displaying posters. Residents were sent leaflets and children at the six local primary schools were given flyers. All local agencies were tasked with promoting and publicising the event, and did so with gusto.

Agencies set out actions planned for the year ahead to enable the community to give feedback.

Other attractions included:

• a wall of action, where local people were asked to identify areas where they thought there were problems with crime or anti-social behaviour on a large scale map
• face painting
• competitions and prizes
• a fire engine, and
• an old and a new style police car.

Part of the event included debating sessions where people could discuss local issues. The key service providers attended the debates which ward members ‘chaired’. The format encouraged extensive participation and the topics covered included ‘hate crime – what is it and how can we stop it?’

Approximately 250 people attended the event with a range of ages and backgrounds. Analysis of 70 questionnaires completed at the event showed that:

• 64 per cent of people were now aware of what is happening to tackle anti-social behaviour
• 64 per cent of people were now aware of what Children’s Services and activities were available
• 79 per cent of people enjoyed the event, and said that they would come again.

The event kick-started a more effective engagement process and local people were assured that they would get feedback on actions taken to address the concerns they raised. There are plans to hold similar events three times a year, to feed back on action, identify new issues, and build community cohesion.

Gipton Community Cohesion Group

The Gipton Community Cohesion Group was established at the end of 2008 and hence was able to build on the positive impact the community felt that the dispersal order was having. It meets monthly and comprises representatives of:

• West Yorkshire Police
• Leeds City Council Neighbourhood Manager, Regeneration Team, Safer Leeds, Anti-social Behaviour Unit
• East Partnership Community Safety Co-ordinator
• East North East Homes Leeds
• Extended Services
• Stop hate UK
• Victim Support
• Youth Service
• Gipton Together
• Church and community representatives
• Signpost
• Together Women’s Project
• Family Intervention Programme
• Local elected members

The group drew on previous experience of successful ongoing work to address hate crime in the Halton Moor area, a previously identified hot spot for hate crime where multi-agency action had seen a positive impact. They were clear that to address hate crime in the longer-term they needed to strengthen community cohesion in Gipton.

Gipton Community Cohesion Action Plan

Determined to build on the success of the open day, Gipton Community Cohesion Group have developed, and are currently implementing, an action plan to reduce hate crime in the area, strengthen community cohesion, and build confidence in local service providers.

The actions included in the plan are set out below.

To increase hate crime reporting:

• They have trained neighbourhood wardens in ‘tension report training’. This covers what hate crime is and how they can help ensure it is reported. Local support and project workers, school staff, anti-social behaviour unit staff and housing officers will now be offered similar training.
• Neighbourhood wardens delivered 4,000 leaflets from Stop Hate UK, written in multiple languages, in Gipton, and posters are displayed in key locations.
• A neighbourhood policing team newsletter is regularly hand delivered to all homes in Gipton.

To reduce hate crime and offending:

• Police data and intelligence are helping to create a profile of offenders
• Positive legal or civil action is taken against perpetrators.

Experience has shown that fear of eviction can have a positive impact on perpetrators. In Halton Moor they used professional witnesses, and while this is a relatively costly measure, it could be used when appropriate in Gipton. However to date the police and ENE Housing, the arms length housing organisation in Leeds, have used covert and mobile CCTV to gather evidence. They are also establishing a police base in a disused flat in the area.

To increase the number of people engaged and empowered:

• They have invited community representatives to attend the group to help identify community-based solutions. These Community Champions will have a clear job description to act as ‘local linkers’ for the Community Cohesion Group.
• The ‘Team Gipton’ approach is a key element of the strategy and team members staffed stalls publicising action on hate crime at local fora and galas.
• The question ‘Do you think that people from different backgrounds get on well together in Gipton?’ has been included in a household survey to provide a baseline measure for the work.
• Regular feedback to the community through tenants and residents and PACT meetings.

To increase confidence in local service providers:

• Victims of hate crime are fully supported by relevant partner agencies. Victims have been referred to Victim Support, Stop Hate UK and Sanctuary Housing, and the group are planning to develop a protocol to streamline the referral and support process
• In addition, victim research is being carried out to help improve the support offered.

To increase cultural awareness in schools and reduce bullying and harassment:

• A ‘Show racism the red card’ initiative has been run in local schools involving 300 and 10 classes of key stage 2, children within Gipton.
• Five of the six local primary schools are working towards the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard
• Data on racially aggravated incidents in local schools is being collated – again this will provide baseline data.

To increase public satisfaction in dealing with ASB:

• A dispersal order was granted and then extended to January 2009. This is discussed in more detail above
• Ongoing mapping of youth provision to identify gaps
• Distribution of an activity guide for young people in Gipton
• Use of ‘the pod’, an equipped mobile facility used to deliver youth provision to address hot spots.

In addition, local churches held ‘Sharing Cultures’ events and the police used billboards to highlight their commitment to act on local concerns. Highly visible neighbourhood policing and neighbourhood warden activity sought to increase public reassurance.

The Community Cohesion Group is currently planning further youth activities and cultural events to bring the local community together and increase understanding of cultural differences and similarities.

The impact

The group is currently still implementing aspects of the action plan and so it is too early to talk about specific impact in relation to tackling hate crime and building community cohesion, both of which are ongoing and longer-term goals.

However, local partners were able to identify some early impacts of the Cohesion Group’s work and the Team Gipton approach:

• the dispersal order had a clear impact on anti-social behaviour in the area, with a 15 per cent reduction in calls to the police in the initial two month period
• community perceptions that ASB was worsening have reduced from 46 per cent to 25 per cent
• more families with children at risk of becoming involved in offending are now actively engaging with agencies, hopefully leading to reduced offending
• void properties have reduced from 200 to 40, and there is now a waiting list for the area
• there has been positive feedback from residents
• the ‘Team Gipton’ approach has resulted in increased joint delivery of action.

Significant work has been done with young people and their families, with increased agency support, additional activities, and better communication and publicity. The Cohesion group are therefore confident that they will be able to sustain the Dispersal Order’s impact on anti-social behaviour without the need for a new order in this year’s summer school holiday period.

The ‘Team Gipton’ approach has been important and group members believe that there had been a cultural change in agencies and that they now saw the value of the approach and its potential impact, not least in relation to their priorities and targets.

The group are currently collecting baseline data which will allow them to measure longer-term impact on community cohesion and hate crime more rigorously. The measures will include:

• local crime data, including racially aggravated crime
• hate crime reporting statistics for the area
• community perceptions on cohesion. The question ‘Do you think that people from different backgrounds get on well together in Gipton?’ has been included in a household survey which has been carried out and is currently being analysed
• data on hate crime incidents from primary schools in the area.

Gipton Cohesion Group has focused on sustainable solutions, and hence they have delivered much of the work outlined in this case study through the mainstream service delivery of partner agencies and in kind support.

Where additional funding has been needed, for example to fund additional youth activities or events, the group has successfully bid into a range of local funding pots including:

• local partnership funding available to support multi-agency tasking
• the SSCF which is available through Intensive Neighbourhood Management to support the key priorities identified by local residents, and
• the East Area Partnership’s Inner East Area Committee’s Wellbeing Fund.

The Local Councillor for Gipton and Harehills said that:

“Working for community cohesion in the present climate is as difficult as it is vital. Anything that can be done to do it successfully should be given whatever resources are necessary”.

Lessons

The work to tackle hate crime and develop community cohesion in Gipton has resulted in significant learning:

• Gipton Community Cohesion Group used learning from previous work in the Halton Moor area, but was clear that their approach had to be refined to meet the needs of the local community. They constantly challenged plans in relation to “Will it work in Gipton?”
• The ‘Team Gipton’ approach, developed through the Intensive Neighbourhood Management approach, is seen as key to their success. Many of the local agency staff have long term professional or personal connection to Gipton and want to see it improve. Their experience has provided understanding of what will work in Gipton.
• The community cohesion group has drawn together the key agencies which can impact on the issues. However, they see community involvement as critical and so plan to have Community Champions involved in the group to ensure that their plans are ‘community tested’
• The dispersal order helped increase the community’s confidence that agencies were listening and prepared to act on their concerns. It provided an opportunity to build on its impact and engage local people in identifying and tackling Gipton’s problems. However, local agencies saw it as a short-term solution and recognised that they needed to put effort into addressing root causes of the issues so that impact could be sustained without further extensions of the order
• Local partners acknowledged the importance of community engagement in tackling hate crime and building community cohesion. However, they recognised that traditional engagement mechanisms such as public meetings had not worked. They therefore thought creatively, targeting local children to get them to encourage their parents and carers to come to the open day
• They consider effective community feedback and communication as critical to success. They have used billboards, posters, hand-delivered leaflets and newsletters and an activities guide to do so. In addition ‘Team Gipton’ has attended local meetings and events to tell the community what they are doing. The ‘I Love Gipton’ branding has helped highlight that things are changing
• Local partners think that perceptions indicators, based on the community’s views on how well agencies such as the police and council are working together, actually help foster partnership working
• The group wanted long term solutions, embedded in local service delivery, and hence have implemented most of them without additional funding.

Further information

Racist incidents and harassment toolkit

Tackling hate crime: homophobic crime toolkit

To view this video you will need to have Flash Player installed on your computer: install flash player.

This video podcast (length: 3 minutes 32 seconds) includes interviews with:

• Shazia Hussain, Director of Partnerships, Tower Hamlets
• Gavin Dooley, Area Director, Tower Hamplets Partnership
• Chris Ley, Neighbourhood Manager
• Helal Ahmed, Youth Service Manager, Poplar HARCA

The video shows how different public agencies have come together to tackle incidence of crime and anti-social behaviour in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The interviews with key members of the team show the positive impacts they have found as a result of co-location and working closer together towards the same goals.

Transcript

(Time: 00:00 – 00:24) Opening sequence.

Crime is a major concern in Tower Hamlets and the public agencies responsible for community safety saw an opportunity for different bodies to work together in partnership to reduce crime.

(Time: 00:30 – 00:50) Shazia Hussain outlines why partnership working has become important in Tower Hamlets. There’s high levels of deprivation, a mixed community and economic challenges. The partnership is about bringing agencies together to accelerate the rate of improvement. And to make sure they’re listening to the community they serve.

(Time: 01:05 – 01:20) Gavin Dooley, who stated working on the project as a Police Sergeant, says he was initially reluctant to engage in a multi-agency team led by the local authority, but quickly saw the benefits.

The narrative then moves on to the shared office space on Chrisp Street.

(Time: 01:32 – 01:49) Chris Ley talks about how the Chrisp Street location acts as a ‘hub’ for dealing with crime, anti-social behaviour, youth work and youth problems in the borough. The agencies based in the building are the Police, the Youth Service, the local RSLs (registered social landlords) and the Community Safety Team.

(Time: 02:00 – 02:41) Helal Ahmed believes that engaging the young people in the borough has brough about positive results. It allows people to be taught about citizenship and respect. This includes respect for the area, place and environment and respect for other people in the area. He believes it has been good to work in the partnership because he is able to liaise and seek the advice of other professionals, such as the police, and the other agencies come to him for advice too.

(Time: 02:43 – 03:10) Shazia gives a specific example of where the partnership has had a positive impact in dealing with anti-social behaviour in the Roman Road market area of the borough.

The police patrol the area, but also the LETS Local Enforcement Officers and local youth workers are there on different days. This brings different approaches to dealing with the anti-social behaviour and through a series of joint initiatives the area has started to improve.

(Time: 03:12 – 03:32) Helal finishes the case study by advocating joined up services for other areas nationally.

“It may not work always in all places, but you’ve got to take the opportunity and give it a go.”