Warwickshire News Mine

The Tilley Awards 2010, which took place on Monday November 8 at the House of Commons in the Palace of Westminster, London rewarded the analytical and preventative work undertaken to reduce distraction burglaries in Warwickshire.
In July this year, Warwickshire Police won the West Midlands Regional stage of the awards for the Community Protection and Harm Analysis & Intelligence Group (HAIG) lead project and was put forward as a finalist in the national competition.
The award was presented to DS Martyn Stephens by Professor Nick Tilley, after whom it is named.
DS Martyn Stephens, Force Crime Reduction Manager said: “This was a true partnership project working closely with Warwickshire Trading standards Service to reduce doorstep crime.
"Whilst Warwickshire Police is proud to be recognised on a national level for this project, it is a wonderful accolade to the hard work put in by the teams towards protecting the elderly and vulnerable communities from the harm and distress caused by distraction burglaries.”
Mark Ryder, Head of Trading Standards, Heritage and Culture said “Partnership working between Warwickshire Trading Standards Service and Warwickshire Police has been integral to the success of this project. The award recognises the joint working between the organisations and I was delighted that our lead officer was able to attend the Home Office Awards Ceremony as part of the Warwickshire team.
DS Martyn Stephens explained "This award recognises the valuable work of many individuals and agencies in Warwickshire who in their day to day working have contact with the elderly and vulnerable in our communities.
“Over 12,000 ‘yellow boxes’ containing valuable crime prevention information have been distributed so far by the statutory, voluntary and charitable sectors. These include such people as home helps, carers, housing associations, hospital discharge units, mobile libraries, Age UK and Carer Groups.

The innovative approach to working in this way and sharing intelligence and expertise has enabled Trading Standards and the Police to further develop the project and set up No Rogue Trader Zones in "hot spot" areas of the county.
The stand-alone category welcomed applications from partnerships that could demonstrate they had successfully embedded problem solving in their area, was introduced for the 2010 awards. More than 110 projects entered this year’s awards.
The main project objectives were to substantially reduce the problem of distraction burglary, reduce the harm (and potential harm) caused, to deal with incidents better and more consistently, and, to empower the elderly and vulnerable.
Problem solving analysis was commissioned to understand exactly where distraction burglary offences were located, to identify susceptible properties and what could be recommended to reduce the levels of offending, and protect vulnerable communities from harm.
The Tilley Awards were set up in 1999 to recognise crime fighting projects where police, community safety groups and the public, work in partnership using innovative and strategic methods to tackle problems identified by their local communities.
Minister for Crime Prevention James Brokenshire said: "Empowering communities to find local solutions to local problems is a key foundation of the Big Society we want to build. These awards recognise where it is already happening and we can all learn lessons from that.
"They show that when police, councils, charities and the public work together they can achieve real results."
The Tilley Award is named after Professor Nick Tilley, who has carried out considerable work in the UK, often commissioned by the Home Office, to develop problem-oriented policing. The awards are funded by the Home Office to encourage and spread best practice in crime fighting approaches across England and Wales.

Link to WCC