Warwickshire News Mine

A recent Safer Communities Partnership meeting reported a number of positive trends. Warwickshire Police confirmed that serious violence is down by 17 per cent and crime in the county has reduced by 8.8 per cent in the past year.

This sustained decrease over the past three years equates to a reduction of almost 10000 offences, achieved through enhanced policing and awareness raising by partnership agencies.

The county’s intervention work with drug and alcohol abusers is also paying dividends as people are continuing to access and remain in effective treatment programmes. The next few months will see Warwickshire’s Drug and Alcohol Action Team directing extra focus to tackling alcohol related harm and hospital admissions.

District and borough Safer Neighbourhood Teams have been engaging with residents in the county’s boroughs and districts with some positive results. More people are finding out how to safeguard themselves and their property at local advice sessions, and projects to reduce anti-social behaviour and violent crime are taking place around the county.

To make it easier for residents to find out more about public sector collaborations such as the Safer Communities Partnership, a new website Oneplace has been developed and is available online at http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/oneplace.  Launched in December 2009, Oneplace holds comprehensive information on how local public services are working together – and how well they are tackling problems.

Results of the county’s first ever Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) are also featured on the website. The CAA is a new way of assessing and reporting on public services as a whole in England and is a combination of assessments by specialist independent watchdogs. Warwickshire is currently performing well.

Councillor Richard Hobbs, Portfolio Holder for Community Protection and Chair of Warwickshire Safer Communities Partnership said: “The impressive results reported to the group yet again prove the great success of the partnership’s work to promote a shared vision to tackle crime and disorder in the county.

“It’s reassuring for all agencies involved to know that people are getting the support they need, that information is readily available to them, and most importantly that our approach is working.”

The Safer Communities Partnership includes membership from Warwickshire County Council, Warwickshire Police, the district and borough councils, NHS Warwickshire, Warwickshire Probation, and the Crown Prosecution Service. 

Each represented agency is committed to protecting communities by fighting crime, providing treatment and support services and issuing relevant safety information to residents.

For more information please visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/communitysafety.

Link to WCC