COMMUNITY SAFETY STRATEGY

2020-2023

VERSION	Refresh
AUTHOR	Head of Community Safety CYC
DATE PRODUCED/UPDATED	02/03/21

Making York a Safer City

Introduction

This is the 8^th Community Safety Strategy produced by Safer York Partnership since it was established in 1998 under the Crime and Disorder Act. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 states that Community Safety Partnerships are required to work together in formulating and implementing strategies to tackle local crime and disorder and to have in place partnership plans setting out their priorities.

The priorities contained within this strategy have been drawn from a well of strategic intelligence assessments, problem profiles, needs assessments and also take into account community intelligence and information. Some of these priorities are delivered though joint structures with our Neighbouring Local Authority, North Yorkshire County Council recognising that one police force (North Yorkshire) covers both the City and County.

Throughout its existence, the partnership has developed and changed to ensure that it is addressing those issues of community safety which impact most significantly on quality of life for those who live in, work in or visit the City of York. Each year the strategy will be refreshed to ensure that it has the flexibility to address new and emerging trends, ensuring that we are continuing to use local resource to best effect in addressing local needs

Sharon Houlden, Chair Safer York Partnership

Our partners

City of York Council

North Yorkshire Police

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

Probation

Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner

Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group

Make It York

York BID

Our priorities

City Centre Crime and Anti-social Behaviour

Counter Terrorism: Protect, Prepare, Prevent

Domestic Abuse

High Risk Anti-social Behaviour

Serious Organised Crime: County Lines, Modern Slavery, Exploitation

CITY CENTRE CRIME AND ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

My City Centre is a project being delivered through City of York Council to engage the public and stakeholders to develop a long term social, environmental and economic strategic vision for a sustainable future for York City Centre. Safer York Partnership recognises that City Centre infrastructure forms the basis for specific types of crime and anti-social behaviour is committed to ensuring that partners work together to continue to keep crime levels in the city low.

Positive perceptions of the city are important to York’s status as a major tourist destination. The unique layout of the city with its compact mix of residential, commercial and licensed premises makes it difficult to avoid conflict between different user groups. This often results in perceptions of the city being a safe place being more negative than the actual crime figures would suggest.

Aims:

· To ensure that Community Safety is considered in plans to re-open the City Centre following restrictions implemented as part of the response to COVID-19.

· To contribute to the Board and Working Groups of My City Centre to ensure that Community Safety is considered within future planning and development

· Work in partnership with the BID & Make It York to ensure that the City Centre remains an attractive and prosperous location for visitors

· Contribute to delivery of the York Homelessness Strategy by tackling the community safety aspects of begging and rough sleeping

· Contribute to the work of the River Safety Forum to prevent fatalities associated with York’s rivers

· Develop York Business Against Crime to harness a wider sharing of information and intelligence that will assist in reducing crime, anti-social behaviour and contributing to the delivery of Counter Terrorism Aims

How will success be measured?

· North Yorkshire Police recorded crime and anti-social behaviour within the City Centre

· Measurement of perception through surveys and consultation

· Counts of rough sleepers

· Qualitative feedback from the community and partners

COUNTER TERRORISM: PROTECT, PREPARE, PREVENT

Protect & Prepare

In 2017, Safer York Partnership established a multi agency Counter Terrorism Task group in response to the terrorist attacks that had taken place on the UK mainland. The group is now well established and recognised at Regional and National Level by Counter Terrorism professionals as an example of good practice. The task group has its own annual action plan which is revised and refreshed to reflect the changing international, national and regional advice on counter terrorism.

Prevent

The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 placed a duty on the Local Authority play a wider role in the Prevent agenda, leading on the Channel Process to assess the risk associated with radicalisation and put in place measures to mitigate that risk. Prevent is strategically managed at a sub-regional level through a York and North Yorkshire Prevent Partnership Board whose agenda is led by the Counter Terrorism Local Profile (CTLP). Recommendations contained in the CTLP are delivered locally through the Prevent Local Delivery Group which has an established annual action plan.

Aims

· Work with all locations (venues and spaces) across the city that attract large crowds to ensure that they have considered and mitigated risk from terrorism and have adequate emergency plans in place

· Utilise CCTV capacity across all sites in the city to support CT

· Regular delivery of ACT Training and other relevant training and awareness events to ensure that all partners, agencies and stakeholders across the city are able to access this training on a regular basis.

· Ensure CT Arrangements are in place for all major Events in the city

· Oversee the delivery of a programme of counter terrorism security measures aimed at hostile vehicle mitigation for the city

· Undertake an audit of policies which could be challenged in the event of a CT attack and resulting legal challenge

· Adopt the National Prevent Referral form

· Develop a new local programme of Prevent Training to be delivered across the Local Authority and shared with Partners

· Develop local Prevent Champions to engage with communities in order to promote a better understanding of the Prevent agenda and what it means locally

· Ensure that York is prepared to meet the requirements of the Protect Duty and in particular has plans in place to mitigate risk in relation to Publicly Accessible Locations

How will success be measured?

· Delivery of the Counter Terrorism Task Group and Prevent Local Delivery Group Action Plans

· Number of Prevent Champions engaged across the city

· Number of referrals to Channel Panel

· Number of cases adopted and dealt with through Channel

· Case studies on outcome of Channel cases

DOMESTIC ABUSE

Safer York Partnership and North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnership hold the responsibility for Strategic Governance of Domestic Abuse across the City and County. Through their membership of the Systems Leadership Group, they link to the Childrens Safeguarding Partnerships and Adult Safeguarding Boards for both areas. This joint work reflects the need to re-locate both perpetrators and victims between the two Local Authorities and also more effective and efficient ways of working through a single structure involving partners who contribute to both the City and the County.

Operational Delivery is overseen by a Joint Co-ordinating Group co-chaired by the Head of Community Safety City of York Council and Head of Safer Communities, North Yorkshire County Council. This group writes a Domestic Abuse Strategy for York and North Yorkshire and oversees the commissioning of services and operational delivery of the Action Plan associated with the Strategy

Aims

· Contribute to the refresh and implementation of the Domestic Abuse Strategy for York and North Yorkshire

· Ensure that within York, partners are contributing to the local delivery structure and implementation of the Action Plan

· Ensure that within York partners are engaged with the Domestic Abuse Forum, York & Selby to upskill front line workers and benefit from the sharing of information and good practice

· Ensure that York is able to meet the requirements of the Domestic Abuse Bill and in particular the duty to be placed on the Local Authority

How will success be measured?

· Increased reporting of domestic abuse

· Numbers of MARAC referrals

· Performance Framework to support the Domestic Abuse Action Plan

High Risk Anti-Social Behaviour

The Joint Community Safety Hub was established by North Yorkshire Police and City of York Council to deal with cases of Anti-social Behaviour which posed the greatest risk to individuals or communities in the City. The Hub is well established but continues to develop to reflect need and changes in the legislative tools and powers that are available to deal with those who persistently offend.

The Hub incorporates City of York Council Neighbourhood Enforcement Officers who focus on environmental Anti-social behaviour but also contribute considerably to wider work to disrupt organised crime groups and also to wider complex anti-social behaviour cases which include elements of environmental crime or noise nuisance. The anti-social behaviour team is comprised of City of York Council officers and police officers who deal with the most complex and high risk cases of anti-social behaviour. The anti-social behaviour team also contributes to the delivery of work to tackle Serious Organised Crime by dealing with the anti-social behaviour often associated with local offenders linked to Organised Crime Groups

Aims

· Rebrand the Hub to take into account its wider remit beyond dealing with anti-social behaviour

· Increase the profile of the Hub to ensure that services within City of York Council, partners and the community understand the remit and work that is delivered

· Engage with the Voluntary Sector to allow the hub to access Social Prescribing to assist with cases where individuals are most vulnerable

· Identify other partners who could contribute to the overall remit of the hub and improve service delivery

· Develop a focus on early intervention and prevention

· Work with partners to support communities affected by serious anti-social behaviour

How will success be measured?

· Number of cases dealt with by the hub

· Outcomes of cases

· Number of prosecutions where enforcement action is taken

· Feedback from communities affected by serious anti-social behaviour

SERIOUS ORGANISED CRIME INCLUDING COUNTY LINES, EXPLOITATION AND MODERN SLAVERY

Serious Organised Crime (SOC) whilst often associated with regional, national or international criminals impacts most within local communities. Organised Crime Groups will deploy intimidation tactics, exploit individuals and use violence for unlawful gain. A Serious Organised Crime Board for York and North Yorkshire focuses on how the National Serious Organised Crime Strategy is delivered across the City and County. It is supported by a multi-agency Disruption Panel which brings together intelligence from a range of partners to disrupt the most profilic groups operating locally.

Within York, the City has seen an increase in Exploitation of both children and adults, examples of Modern Slavery and the impact of County Lines activity. In 2019, the Violence and Vulnerability Unit of the Home Office carried out a locality review which has identified a more joined up approach to the work which takes place to deal with both offenders and victims of serious organised crime.

Aims

· Develop a local overarching Serious Organised Crime Strategy that ensures that existing multi-agency groups and services within the Council understand respective remits and are linked to each other and the York & North Yorkshire Serious Organised Crime Board

· Ensure that within City of York Council, all front line officers are trained to be able to identify the signs of serious organised crime activity and are confident to report concerns.

· Continue to improve intelligence and information sharing to disrupt organised crime groups operating in the city

· Engage with communities affected by serious organised crime to provide timely information and reassurance

· Raise awareness of signs and behaviour associated with organised crime and promote national and local reporting mechanisms

How will success be measured?

· Number of training and awareness sessions delivered within the local authority and to partners

· Case studies detailing the success achieved through joint activity aligned to serious organised crime

· Feedback from communities affected by serious organised crime

Further Information and Contact Details:

Further information on the work of Safer York Partnership and to obtain advice on aspects of Community Safety can be obtained from the website:

www.saferyorkpartnership.co.uk

We can be contacted at:

Safer York Partnership

West Offices

Station Rise

York

YO1 6GA

Email: info@saferyorkpartnership.co.uk