Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

RESOLVED

that the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 7^th November, 2019, be received and approved as a correct record.

The Chairman introduced the item to the Panel and welcomed the Council’s Director of Place and Communities, Service Manager for Community Safety and Community Protection Team Leader to the meeting. 

The Service Manager, Scrutiny and Democratic Services advised Members that the review into the Council’s Community Protection Service had been added to the Workplan by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in July 2019.  The purpose for the evening was for the Panel to determine the objectives for the review and to establish the potential indicators of success for the service including perceptions from both officers and members of the public.

The Service Manager for Community Safety and the Community Protection Team Leader undertook a presentation to give a sense of background to the service including its current structure and workload.

The Panel were shown a diagram of the current Community Safety staffing structure, which included a variety of officers reporting to the ASB and Nuisance Team Manager, the Community Safety and Strategic Partnerships Officer and the Complex Case Team Leader.

The Community Protection Service was originally launched in July 2009 with a service review being undertaken in 2014.  A further review during 2016/17 focussed on case management and prevention with the Complex Case team joining the service in March 2017.

The Community Protection Team Leader outlined to the Panel the definitions of anti-social behaviour and its coverage of a wide range of unacceptable behaviour that caused harm to an individual, their community or their local environment.

Examples of anti-social behaviour (which often crossed over into crime related activity) were outlined as follows:-

·         Nuisance, rowdy or inconsiderate neighbours

·         Vandalism, graffiti and fly posting

·         Street drinking

·         Environmental damage including littering, dumping of rubbish and abandonment of cars

·         Prostitution related activity

·         Begging and vagrancy

·         Fireworks misuse

·         Inconsiderate or inappropriate use of vehicles.

It was acknowledged that successfully tackling anti-social behaviour came about through multi-partner initiatives rather than different agencies working in silo with no effective exchanges of information.  Often anti-social behaviour being exhibited by individuals would escalate over time and trying to manage the early triggers (i.e. substance abuse) would often mitigate against any more serious offending in the future and prove more effective in reducing unacceptable behaviours.

The Integrated Hub, situated within the Council offices, had proved to be successful with many different agencies sharing responsibilities to work directly and indirectly to tackle anti-social behaviour and support vulnerable individuals, namely,

·         Nottinghamshire Police (Neighbourhoods, Response, CID)

·         Change, Grow, Live (Substance Misuse)

·         Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)

·         Community Rehabilitation Company Probation

·         Fire & Rescue

·         Youth Offending Teams

·         Adult and Children’s Social Care

·         JUNO Women’s Aid

·         Children’s Society

·         Catch 22 (a victim support service).

In relation to the Community Protection Service, 10 uniformed officers plus the Team Leader worked 7 days a week on 8am to 10pm shifts.  The team used 3 dedicated vehicles, airwave radio (accessing the Police operational channel) and body worn cameras.  The Community Protection Officers had some accredited powers and were Police vetted on commencement of their roles. 

The Community Protection  ...  view the full minutes text for item SB.12