Purpose of Report
1. The
purpose of this report is to update the scrutiny committee on the
progress that the South and Vale Community Safety Partnership (CSP)
is making to reduce crime and the fear of crime, focusing on the
benefits it generates for residents, businesses, and partner
agencies in the two districts.
Strategic Objectives
2. The
CSP was formed in April 2011, bringing together the two existing
district CSPs that were created in accordance with the requirements
of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This was done so that the
partnership was coterminous with the local police area and mirrored
the shared working across the district councils.
3.
Under the umbrella of the CSP, a wide
variety of local agencies work together to maintain low levels of
crime and protect vulnerable people in both districts to ensure
residents feel safe and stay safe.
4. The
CSP involves the community safety portfolio holders from both
district councils and officers representing:
·
South Oxfordshire District Council
·
Vale of White Horse District Council
·
Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire Integrated Care
Board
·
Oxfordshire County Council (OCC)
·
Thames Valley Police (TVP)
·
Thames Valley Probation Service
·
Sovereign Housing Association
·
Soha Housing
·
Office of the Police Crime Commissioner
·
Oxfordshire County Council Fire & Rescue Service
5. The CSP
has a statutory duty to develop and publish a plan which sets out
its priorities, actions and measures. To align with the
Police and Crime Commissioner’s Police and Criminal Justice
Plan we have introduced a three-year plan. The 2022-25 plan
is attached as Appendix A. When drafting the plan and to meet
our statutory duties, we review
information from the Oxfordshire Strategic Intelligence Assessment
along with the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner’s
(PCC) plan. The Oxfordshire Strategic Intelligence Assessment
2023 is attached as Appendix B.
6. The CSP
has a statutory duty to monitor the effectiveness of its plan which
is does through quarterly performance reports that are reviewed at
quarterly meetings.
7. The
Community Safety Fund is a grant provided by the PCC to upper tier
local authorities to help CSPs deliver their priorities and
statutory duties. We are able
to apply for
community safety funding via Oxfordshire County Council which is
allocated to each agency based on evidential need.
8. The CSP
financial summary for 2022-23 can be found in Appendix C.
Delivering the community safety
partnership’s Four key priorities – summary of key
areas of work in 2022-23
Anti-social
behaviour
New partnership
agreement for tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB)
9. In
2022/23, the community safety team worked with the police, Soha,
Sovereign and colleagues from other district council teams to
produce a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding ASB. The MoU
clarifies how key partners will work together to respond to reports
of ASB from residents. A copy can be found on the district
councils’ websites, as part of our own ASB case management
policy. In accordance with this MoU, the councils’
community safety team always encourages residents to report ASB
directly to the police and/or their housing provider (if
appropriate). However, we also provide an alternative
reporting option if people don’t feel comfortable doing so.
In 2022/23, the team investigated 122 reports of ASB across
the two districts. The graph below shows the range of ASB
issues that residents reported to the community safety team between
April 2022 and March 2023:
When the
community safety team investigates these reports, we always work
very closely with members of the CSP to ensure that all appropriate
action is being taken to try and resolve the problem(s).
Community
triggers/ASB cases reviews
10. Partners of the CSP aim to respond
to and resolve ASB cases at the earliest possible stage before the
issues escalate. However, there are times when residents
report ASB to agencies on numerous occasions and do not feel
satisfied with the response they’ve received. When this
happens, they can request a community trigger/ASB case review (in
accordance with the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act
2014).
11. On behalf of the CSP, the community
safety team manages this process, which includes:
·
taking receipt of requests for triggers/case reviews;
·
checking that requests meet the threshold for a trigger to be
carried out (a person needs to have reported the same ASB issue on
three or more occasions to a relevant authority within a six-month
period);
·
arranging case review meetings for those requests that have met the
threshold, where an independent chair discusses the case with
relevant agencies to review what has been done and what else needs
to be done to tackle the reported ASB;
·
taking the draft action plans to South and Vale Joint Tasking
Meetings (JTM) for consideration and sign-off;
·
monitoring delivery of the action plans and keeping both the
requester and JTM informed of progress;
·
publishing key data about community triggers on the councils’
websites.
12. In 2022/23, we received five
trigger requests.
Two of these
requests met the threshold (both related to neighbour ASB) and case
review meetings were held. Although the actions already taken
by the agencies involved were considered to have been reasonable,
the case reviews did identify additional actions to help address
the persistent ASB. These included:
·
improving security measures to help
victims of ASB feel safer in their homes;
·
identifying opportunities for joint
agency visits to help provide more comprehensive support and/or
enforcement action to those involved in ASB;
·
signposting people to free
mediation;
·
improving the sharing of information
between agencies to avoid duplication of work and secure the best
outcome for those involved in ASB.
The three Trigger
requests that did not meet the threshold were still investigated by
the community safety team who provided appropriate advice.
Mediation service to
tackle ASB
13. In 2022/23, the CSP funded Mediation
Bucks to provide a mediation service to help agencies including the
councils, the police and housing providers tackle neighbour related
ASB. Any resident who was in dispute with their neighbour and
struggling to resolve the issue could access the service, free of
charge. Mediation brings both parties together with an
independent person to listen to everyone involved in the dispute
and help them to find a solution. If either party is
reluctant to meet with the other party, Mediation Bucks can provide
‘shuttle mediation’ as an alternative where information
is relayed via the mediator. In total, the service received
and managed 16 referrals, with the average cost per referral being
£250. Parties that accessed mediation to address
neighbour related ASB were much less likely to report further
incidents to relevant agencies (88% of the cases which were
referred to the mediation service did not generate any further
repeat reports of the neighbour related ASB to the referring
agency). This may be because the mediation had resolved the
conflict, or the complainant has realised that the issues do not
warrant agency intervention. We also identified that even
just offering mediation to parties involved in cases of neighbour
ASB helps to reduce the number of repeat reports made to relevant
agencies. This may be because it provides those involved with
the opportunity to reflect on their role in the conflict and puts
some onus on them to try and proactively resolve the issues.
This may, in turn, provide them with a different perspective in
terms of the significance of their neighbours’ behaviour on
their quality of life.
Mediation case study (2022/23)
Two women live in adjacent properties owned by a
Housing Association. The ongoing dispute between them had arisen
from complaints on both sides about noise nuisance and property
damage. For example, one neighbour had accused the other of
cutting holes in the hedge dividing their properties at the rear
which had resulted in their dogs escaping from the back
garden.
Both parties had complained to the Housing
Association, whose housing officers then visited each in turn but
this did not seem to help the situation. To begin the
mediation process, mediators visited both parties separately to
understand the neighbour dispute from their own individual
perspectives.
Following this, both neighbours agreed to a joint
meeting which was held in the local village hall. During this
meeting:
·
one of the women explained that her dogs
were her life and helped balance the other pressures she was
experiencing due to her caring needs. She had the dogs
insured but the insurance company would not pay out if the dogs
escaped and caused harm or damage. She admitted to coming
across as aggressive when she was upset.
·
The other neighbour explained that she
suffered from depression but now had a new partner and was going
out more. She had genuinely heard noise from her
neighbour’s property but had accepted that its cause would
remain unexplained. She said that she understood the problem with
the hedge and apologised.
·
There was more general talk about issues
that had arisen in the past and more understanding of how these had
affected each other.
An agreement was reached whereby one neighbour would
put up a temporary fence until the damaged hedge had grown back and
the other party would not touch the laurel. If they needed to
speak to each other then it would be done by telephone in the first
instance and if the timing was not right to talk then, they would
arrange to speak later.
They parted on good terms and no further reports of
ASB have been made.
Domestic Abuse
Supporting victims of
domestic abuse
14. The CSP provides funding to the
Oxfordshire Domestic Abuse Service (ODAS) to deliver outreach and
support for women, men, and children whose lives have been
disrupted by domestic abuse in South and Vale. In 2022, A2
Dominion and Reducing the Risk were awarded the contract to deliver
this service for the whole county. In addition to outreach,
they set up and run support groups and enable those in need to draw
upon a range of resources, for example, providing a local help-line
service (0800 731 0055) and refuge accommodation. Every
helpline call receives safety planning, emotional support, help to
access emergency orders and signposting to relevant services
(housing, legal support, counselling). In 2022-2023 the service
received a total of 4,730 calls to helpline. Individual cases
totalled 1,665 of which 386 were from residents of South and Vale
which equates to 23 percent. This compares to 1,535 in
2021-2022 where 341 were from residents in South and Vale equating
to 22 per cent and 1,757 in 2020-2021 where 406 referrals were from
residents in South and Vale equating to 23 per cent.
15. The main objective of
outreach is to support people to reduce the risk towards them and
to help them achieve independence, either through orders or going
to refuge/places of safety. The total number of referrals for
outreach support was 192, of those 102 were from South and Vale
equating to 53 percent. This compares to 249 referrals in
2021-22 of which 90 were from South and Vale (36 per cent) and 232
in 2020-21 where 85 were from South and Vale equating to 37 per
cent. Outreach support is provided by the clients preferred
method of contact, such as Zoom, Teams, telephone and in
person.
16. A further 57 clients
were supported by Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVA) who
support high risk victims of domestic abuse. Most of these
referrals came from victims themselves, which highlights the
importance of the continued need to raise awareness of domestic
abuse services to ensure victims and families know who to contact
for help and support. The community safety team promote the
helpline number on the district councils’ webpages and
through social media. The young person’s IDVA (YPIDVA)
appointed in June 2021 to work with clients aged 16-25 for all risk
levels received 78 referrals in 2022-23. Of those 41 were
from South and Vale equating to 53 per cent. YPIDVA left ODAS
in January 2023 and referrals were taken by the IDVA service at
Reducing the Risk
|
South and Vale Case
Study from YPIDVA
Background/Risks
- Client self-referred into ODAS
helpline
- Client was previously supported to flee to
refuge however returned following a non-related traumatic
incident
- Client perpetrator had found out that she had
returned home
- Extreme escalation in physical incidents
following their relationship resuming
- Client wanting to flee relationship
again
Interventions
- Supported client with presenting homeless to
local council
- Liaised with professionals within the council to
help client flee to emergency accommodation
- Safety Planning completed
- Communication with TVP’s Domestic Abuse
Investigation Unit for support with managing risk
- Communication with all professionals
involved
- Referral completed to Oxford Mutual
Aid
- DV Assist referral completed
- Supported client in Family Court
- Signal flags placed on address’ client was
staying at to make police officers aware of DA if attendance at the
premise is required
- Emotional support around the DA
experienced
- Weekly telephone sessions and on demand when
required by the client
- Face-to-face appointments provided upon
client’s request
- Provided client with £100 shopping
vouchers
Outcomes
- Client engages well with telephone and
face-to-face sessions
- Client was moved into emergency accommodation on
the same day as presenting as homeless
- Client was placed onto band 1 priority for 2
councils
- Client has obtained a non-molestation
order
- Client has received a food parcel from Oxford
Mutual Aid
- Client has bid on a property and is hoping to
move soon
- Client has not had any contact with the
perpetrator since moving
·
Client is feeling
safer
|
Domestic Abuse Sanctuary
Scheme
17. The community safety
team continue to provide support to victims of domestic abuse by
co-ordinating sanctuary scheme works to help vulnerable victims of
crime stay and feel safe in their own homes. In 2022-23 the
community safety team co-ordinated 75 referrals compared to 97 in
2021-22 and 60 in 2020-21.
18. The CSP also fund
small repairs/security works under the sanctuary scheme to help
private tenants/owner occupiers at risk of domestic abuse stay and
feel safe in their own home. 11
properties received security works in 2022-23 compared to 24
properties in 2021-22 and 11 properties in 2020-21. The
total cost of sanctuary works provided by Mears in 2022-23 was
£1,835 compared to £3,900 in 2021-22 and £985 in
2020/21. The average cost per job is £167. Security
works can include a change of locks, bolts and chains, fire-proof
letter boxes, and covert cameras. Please note this sum does
not include the cost of purchasing, installing, or removing covert
cameras/devices. The
community
safety team co-ordinate referrals for guard-cams and digital door
views (covert cameras) in response to not only domestic abuse but
other crimes such as burglary, ASB and exploitation.
The
device is normally put in place for up to six months to capture
future incidents and provide additional security and
reassurance. After six months the situation is reviewed with
the referring agency and resident. Unless there is a
particular need to keep the camera in place, the resident can
purchase the device from the CSP, or it will be removed for use at
another property. A total of 85 cameras (60
guard cams and 25 digital door viewers) were installed in 2022-23
compared to 115 cameras in 2021-22 and 72 in 2020-21. 10 people
chose to retain their cameras and purchased them from the
CSP in 2022-23. In relation to domestic
abuse, 57 cameras were installed in 2022-23 compared to 63 in
2021-22 and 35 in 2020-21. Feedback from one of the
residents who purchased a camera described how she was grateful for
the support and felt safe knowing the camera was there.
Domestic Homicide
Reviews
19. The CSP has a
statutory duty to conduct Domestic Homicide Reviews under the
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. A Domestic
Homicide Review (DHR) is a multi-agency review of the circumstances
in which the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to
have, resulted from violence, abuse, or neglect by a person to whom
they were related or with whom they were, or had been, in an
intimate personal relationship, or a member of the same household
as themselves. The main aim of a review is to establish what
lessons can be learned regarding the way in which local
professionals and organisations work individually and together to
safeguard victims. The community safety team is responsible
for managing the DHR process and providing administrative
support.
Summary of Domestic Homicide
Review’s in South and Vale:
|
DHR
|
Date
|
Update
|
|
Thame (two murders, one attempted murder)
|
2012/13
|
Review approved by Home Office. Action plan completed
|
|
Joint Serious Case Review (SCR) and Domestic Homicide Review (DHR)
Didcot
|
2013/14
|
Review approved by Home Office. Action plan completed
|
|
Hales Meadow (manslaughter)
|
2014
|
Home Office requested further amendments to this review.
Report resubmitted to Home Office in August 2020
|
|
Didcot (three murders)
|
2015
|
Review approved by Home Office. Action plan completed
|
|
Watchfield (suicide)
|
2017
|
Review approved by Home Office. Action plan completed
|
|
Kennington (suicide)
|
2021
|
In progress
|
|
Drayton (suicide)
|
2022
|
In progress
|
|
Wallingford (murder)
|
2022
|
In progress
|
20. Since their
introduction in 2011, there have been 16 DHRs in Oxfordshire, five
of these have taken place in South Oxfordshire and three in Vale of
White Horse. Oxford City has carried out four reviews, one
has taken place in West Oxfordshire and three in Cherwell.
Raising
awareness of domestic abuse
21. The community safety
team continue to promote domestic abuse messages to raise awareness
of local support available, for example White Ribbon Day on 25
November which aims to engage men and boys to end violence against
women and girls. This day fell on the same week as the launch of
the FIFA Men’s World Cup and South and Vale followed the lead
of the White Ribbon charity by linking the two together.
Statistics show domestic abuse and violence tend to rise when large
football tournaments occur, and social media posts were launched on
25 November (White Ribbon Day) and 29 November (when England were
playing Wales). The community safety team worked with
Reducing the Risk on a domestic abuse awareness campaign called
‘Striding out for Survivors’. Members of the
public, staff and partners were encouraged to walk and post their
pictures on Reducing the Risk social media platforms to show their
support for survivors of domestic abuse. 175 high risk domestic
abuse victims were supported by the charity across Oxfordshire in
2021-22 and this campaign was an opportunity to promote support
available to anyone who may need it across South and Vale.
22. The community safety
team promote domestic abuse training courses provided by
Oxfordshire safeguarding boards throughout the year to staff to
support them when dealing with victims and perpetrators of domestic
abuse. This year the team worked with Oxfordshire Sexual and
Rape Crisis Centre to promote sexual awareness and training was
delivered to seven staff members in November 2022.
Exploitation/Modern Slavery
Multi-agency approach to
tackling exploitation/modern slavery
23. Specific public authorities, including partners
of the CSP have a duty to notify the Secretary of State of any
person identified in England and Wales as a suspected victim of
slavery or human trafficking. An Oxfordshire Anti-Slavery
Coordinator has been appointed as a central point for all agencies
dealing with adult victims of exploitation, modern slavery, and
trafficking. There were 91 cases of exploitation recorded
across Oxfordshire from Jan – Dec 2022 of which 13 were
recorded in South and Vale. The below graphs show the type of
exploitation, where it was recorded and victim profiles.
This data reflects
where the exploitation occurred. Sometimes the victim is
identified in an area but was not necessarily exploited
there. For example, a victim who lives in South Oxfordshire
or Vale of White Horse was exploited in High Wycombe, hence why
Bucks Council is on the graph.
Blanks refer to
alerts to businesses and premises, so we do not have victim
demographics.
N/A relates to a
business/premises so not applicable to log age.
Blank refers to
age unknown and N/A relates to a business
24. All modern
slavery/exploitation concerns are reported to and recorded by the
Oxfordshire Anti-Slavery Coordinator who will assess each case and
co-ordinate an effective response. This involves a
multi-agency approach and referral pathway that supports
victims and disrupts activities.
Raising awareness of
child sexual exploitation
25. The community safety team
have been working on projects to prevent children from being
exploited. They co-ordinated performances of
“Chelsea’s Story” and ‘Crashing’,
hard-hitting plays over the school academic year to show how young
people can be groomed by adults for the purposes of sexual
exploitation using various methods, ensnaring young people, and
eventually taking complete control and dominating their whole
lives. Chelsea’s Story focusses on sexual exploitation
from a female perspective and Crashing from a male viewpoint. These
plays were offered to 17 secondary schools across South and
Vale. Eight schools participated in the project and paid a
contribution towards the cost of each performance. Seven
‘Chelsea Story’ performances were delivered, and three
‘Crashing’ performances. Two performances of
‘Crashing’ were cancelled due to teacher strikes and a
further two performances were cancelled due to a family bereavement
in the Alter Ego theatre company.
Feedback received from
students:
·
‘I think it’s very good that they did this
performance because it gave me a lot of further knowledge on the
subject’
·
‘I think the performance was very informative. I found out
more on how CSE could happen and how you can recognise it if it
happens to someone else’
·
The play was great to watch, and I saw the signs of sexual
exploitation and even their behaviour
·
I thought it was good and it showed what to do if you were in a
situation like that as well as showing how bad it is
·
I learned about a lot of things I probably wouldn’t have
thought of beforehand. This was helpful and will allow me to be
careful in the future.
Other feedback
received:
·
What a powerful message for the young people, a professional
performance that I have no doubt will have an impact on the young
people. – Thame Youth Café
·
I have just returned home from the performance, and it
was excellent with such an important message. – Local
Councillor
·
We found the performance amazing, it was very hard hitting and
factual, the way in which it was performed was fantastic, acting
and then summarising through the 'teacher' in the play. The staff
that were in attendance with their classes thought it was a
brilliant performance, that it was factual, thought provoking and
kept the attention of both year groups, not a mean feat!
Alter Ego were very professional and enthralling, they spoke
brilliantly at the beginning and end when summarising the play and
taking questions – Teacher
Preventing and protecting
those vulnerable to extremism
26. Under Section 26 of
the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 local authorities have
a duty to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. The
Licensing and Community Safety Manager attends the Oxfordshire
Channel Panel meetings when a South or Vale referral is on the
agenda. Channel provides a mechanism for ensuring that
individuals identified as vulnerable to radicalisation are referred
to and assessed by a multi-agency panel which decides on the most
appropriate support. The Channel process uses existing
partnership working between the police, local authorities,
statutory partners, and the local community to support those who
are vulnerable to being drawn into violent extremism by:
identifying individuals and groups at risk of being
recruited by violent extremists; assessing the nature and
extent of that risk through multi-agency panels;
andreferring cases to intervention providers (as required)
to develop the most appropriate support package to safeguard the
individual at risk.
Serious Violence
Tackling violence against
women and girls
27. The community safety
team support the licensing and responsible authority meetings, a
multi-agency groups that pools resources to tackle premises of
concern, reduce late night violence and associated crime and
disorder. This year, the team reviewed the scheme ‘Ask
for Angela’. ‘Ask for Angela’ helps
those who feel unsafe or at risk of
sexual violence in the night-time economy access support
discreetly. With support from PCSO’s, 140 venues were
identified to support this scheme. The Ask for Angela posters
have been updated and were distributed by partners in the run up to
the festive season. Premises have been promoted on
South Oxfordshire District Council and
Vale of White Horse District
Council web pages.
Supporting vulnerable
people with Safe Places
28. The community safety team
co-ordinate the Safe Places scheme in partnership with multi
agencies, such as the police, fire and rescue, Oxfordshire Family
Support Network, and local businesses. The scheme helps
vulnerable people feel confident and safe whilst out in the
community. If someone feels they are being abused or harassed
whilst they are out in the community, they have a safe place to
go. Window stickers are displayed in public places such as
shops, libraries, community, and leisure centres to identify
themselves as Safe Places. In 2022, the scheme was extended to
Botley, and we currently have 87 Safe Places across
Abingdon, Faringdon, Wantage and Grove, Botley, Didcot,
Wallingford, Henley, Thame and in the villages of Goring, Woodcote,
Sonning Common, Wheatley and Chinnor. There are more details about safe
places on the national website. The community safety team
continue to review our safe places, to ensure the businesses signed
up are still open for business and importantly, willing to continue
their participation. We are looking to extend the scheme to
restaurants, cafés, and hotels to ensure safe places are
available during all hours and we will work with the
councils’ communications team to promote the scheme across
the districts.
Using Environmental Visual Audits to make our
communities safer for all
29. Some places in our
communities can become ‘no-go’ areas where people feel
unsafe because of ASB and wider criminality – one way of
tackling these issues is to carry out a multi-agency Environmental
Visual Audit (EVA) to identify the things that need to be improved
in the physical realm to improve levels of safety.
In 2022/23, the
councils’ community safety team had been receiving reports of
people damaging property and intimidating residents in a
residential area in Thame. Working with the police, we better
secured a vulnerable resident’s property to help ensure they
felt safer in their home and deter the ASB. Following this
work, we wanted to see if there were other things we and our
partner agencies could do in the wider community to tackle the ASB
so we carried out an EVA. Our Community Safety Officer
organised a walk-about with the police, Soha and the town council
to identify where practical improvements could be made to the local
environment to make people feel safer when out and about in the
estate.
During this visit,
we spotted a number of things that needed attention, including:
·
broken fencing, enabling
unauthorised access to/from the estate;
·
poor visibility in an alley way due
to overgrown hedges and limited street lighting;
·
lots of litter across the
estate;
·
a build-up of larger rubbish items
left in communal areas;
·
a children’s play area that
needed some attention to encourage more families to use
it.
To help address
these issues:
·
Soha and the police organised a
litter-pick day where residents, including local young people,
helped to tidy the communal areas. A free open skip was also
available on-site to give residents the chance to dispose of
unwanted bulky rubbish.
·
The town council have put in place
regular inspection schedules and are looking to repaint the
children’s park.
·
Soha have replaced the broken
fencing and works to add new fencing and a gate to reduce access to
high ASB areas will be carried out shortly.
·
Soha organised for the overgrown
foliage to be cut back on the alley way and from around the
streetlight and will ensure this is done on a regular basis moving
forward.
Residents have
reported that they feel safer and happier with their neighbourhood
from conversations during the litter picking day.
30. Following reports from
the police about significant issues of anti-social behaviour at the
council’s Undercroft Car Park in Wantage, the community
safety team has also carried out an Environmental Visual Audit
there. In partnership with our car park colleagues and the
police, we identified a number of things that could be done to help
improve the car park from a safety perspective. Some quick
improvements were actioned (e.g. replacing vandalised fence panels
to stop unauthorised access to land adjacent to the car park).
Longer term actions will be explored in 2023-24.
Diversionary
projects to deter young people from criminality
31. The community safety
team in partnership with Active Communities Team and housing
providers delivered 12 skate park sessions for young people across
both districts to prevent anti-social behaviour and criminal
activity. The skate park sessions were delivered by ATB Skate
Warehouse offering tuition, games, competitions, and prizes.
In several locations, additional activities were held by local
young people service providers to encourage further participation
with their youth services. One of the youth providers
commented: ‘The events provided excellent chances for us
to undertake detached work with some of the young people who are
typically hard to reach’. Approx 20-30 young people
attended each session. Where other events were held
alongside the skate sessions, reports of up to 200 people were in
attendance. 100 per cent of young people who provided
feedback rated the session ‘good’ or ‘very
good’ and all said they would attend sessions again. Two
young people mentioned that learning how to use the ramps and
skatepark was the highlight of the event. The police
neighbourhood teams commented how the skate parks were very busy
following the sessions and no increases in ASB were identified.
32. To support vulnerable
young people across South and Vale, the community safety team
supported young people service providers to provide positive
activities for young people.
|
Nomad – provide
targeted support for young people and families disadvantaged
through economic and/or complex social issues in Henley and
surrounding villages.
Case Study
YP has been
supported by Nomad for a long period of time initially through
mentoring with secondary schools and more recently 16+ mentoring
via our offices. Long term issues have included substance misuse
which has subsequently had a negative impact of their health,
finances and family relationships. YP has gone through a period of
relative stability where they have been able to maintain a job.
Nomad support had therefore been reduced. In February Nomad were
contacted by YP who was in some distress. They had been fired from
their employment and had gone on a drug binge. Their parents were
arguing in the home and talking about divorce which was adding
pressure and anxiety onto YP. In the subsequent weeks Nomad have
been able to once again increase their support for YP meeting
weekly 1 to 1. These sessions have provided accountability and a
safe space for YPA to talk candidly without fear of judgement.
Nomad have been able to support YPA with their finances, long term
goal setting and also engaged them in some positive well being
activities including our weekly football project. We have also been
able to refer to appropriate agencies for YP to receive further
support. Nomad will continue to assist YP in their search for
employment and are also helping them to explore college and further
training opportunities. We anticipate this support to be
ongoing.
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Didcot Train
– engage disadvantaged young people in positive activities,
whilst empowering and providing young people with opportunities and
tools to make the right decisions, rather than becoming involved in
criminal activity and being disengaged with the local
community.
Case Study
Didcot TRAIN
received a Referral from a parent regarding a Young Person, aged
14. YP presented themselves with low mood and
self-esteem. The initial meeting provided YP a chance to
share the problems they have been experiencing, with most
originating from school. It became clear quickly that school was
the prime source of YP’s emotional dysregulation, with
self-esteem and confidence being affected. A discussion was had
around self-harming too, which was discussed as a focus for the
6-week mentoring block. The sessions centred around talking
and exploring emotions using trauma cards, which enabled YP to make
great progress with confidence and ability to establish the cause
of emotions. The mentoring sessions enabled YP to express feelings
of an emotion and then be able to describe where it originates as
well how it makes them feel. Self-harm became less as time went on,
with YP declaring self-harm does not feel the same anymore. YP is
willing to explore counselling as a next step after Didcot TRAIN
and has showed a genuine intent to work on emotional wellbeing and
mental health. YP progress has been consistent with confidence
growing considerably. Problems continue at school however, YP is in
a better place to face these problems with a referral for
counselling being made.
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Damascus – provide support to disengaged
young people focussing on self-esteem, mental health, drugs and
alcohol, sexual behaviour, ASB, anger management, poor parental
control and discrimination in South Abingdon and surrounding
villages
Case Study
When we first started working in the town
centre, YP stood out among the other
young people as someone who was particularly disengaged, defiant,
and prone to conflict and violence. YP presented themselves as an
individual who you do not mess with, someone who didn’t care
about anything, but as most experienced youth workers recognise,
behind every action is a need and staff could see there was much
more going on beneath the surface. We quickly learned that YP was
going through a lot. On top of all the stress and disruption that
the pandemic induced, they were dealing with the death of a family
member. They had been put on anti-depressants that caused them to
significantly gain weight. Their long-term relationship broke down,
along with the relationships at home as they all mourned. Context
is important for developing the right transformative programme for
any individual, and it was clear that at the time YP felt that
violence was the only resource available to them and they felt they
had no other way of communicating their anger and needs. YP
refused 1-2-1 support when it was offered but continued to engage
and attend every session staff provided, which suggested to us that
they did want some form of support, but again were perhaps not
ready to communicate, or were unsure what exactly that was.
Transformative journeys need to reflect the
complex nature of human beings, so we were happy to take it slowly.
Over a
period of time as YP’s trust in us grew and requested the
1-2-1 support. We have now seen a huge reduction in substance
misuse and will continue to work with them to address their
needs.
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33. The Community Safety
Manager attends the Safer Oxfordshire Partnership Co-ordination
Group which meets quarterly to share information on current crime
issues, priorities, and forward plans. The group aims to
identify any overlapping work streams and gaps ensuring that all
boards and partnerships are clear where and how the main risks are
being managed.
Rural
Crime
34. Rural crime tends to
go unreported, and this can have a devasting impact on rural
communities, for example damage to property, loss of crops and
livestock which leads to rises in insurance premiums. The
rural crime action group was creäted to support the work of
the TVP Rural Crime Taskforce that tackle those that commit crime
in our rural communities. The South and Vale Rural Crime
Action Group functions as subgroup of the South and Vale CSP to
maximise partnership working and resources. Officers from
Thames Valley Police, Community Safety, Environmental Health,
Oxfordshire County Council, National Farmers Union along with
landowners and farmers share knowledge to plan operations, crime
prevention messages and share communication. For more
information about TVP Rural Crime Taskforce visit the
website. The group are currently working on a rural crime
survey for communities to have their say on how rural crime is
affecting their community. The findings from this survey will
direct the future work of this subgroup.
Anticipated
direction of travel for the CSP in 2023-24
35. The CSP receives
community safety funding to support the delivery of the
Thames Valley Police and Criminal Justice Plan 2021 - 2025
It is therefore
important that we ensure that we take the PCC priorities into
account when setting our own plan. The South and Vale CSP
2022-25 plan was signed off by CSP members in October 2022 and
reviewed July 2023.
Climate and ecological impact implications
36. There are no climate
and environmental impact implications.
Financial Implications
37. The CSP receives
funding from Office of the Police Commissioner via Oxfordshire
County Council for delivery of local community safety
priorities.
Legal Implications
38. None
Risks
39. None
Other Implications
40. None
Conclusion
41. The CSP continues to
deliver projects to meet the needs of local communities and ensure
that statutory functions are delivered. The CSP will continue
to focus on protecting and safeguarding vulnerable
people.
.
Background Papers
·
Appendix A – South and Vale CSP Plan 2022-25
·
Appendix B - Oxfordshire Strategic Intelligence Assessment 2023
including Serious Violence
·
Appendix C – South and Vale CSP financial summary 2022-23
