NORTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL iGEN[lk ITEM I_IIICFLDw,.IY-I7 REPORT To: Airdrie and Villages Local Area Subject: Joint Community Safety Report Partnership From: Housing & Social Work Services Strathclyde Police Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Date: 14'h April 201 0 Ref: 1. Introduction 1.1 The purpose of this report is to update members of the Airdrie and Villages Local Area Partnership on developments with the current joint work taking place between Strathclyde Police, Housing and Social Work Services and Strathclyde Fire and Rescue for the period from December 2009 to February 2010. 2. Background 2.1 The report includes statistical information from each of the partners and a ward by ward summary of notable incidents. Appendix 1 shows the Hotspot map for the Airdrie area, Appendix 2 Housing & Social Work Services statistics, and Appendix 3 the Tactical Assessment from Strathclyde Fire & Rescue. 3. General Summary of Key Activity by Partners 3.1 Strathclyde Police Crime Reports for Airdrie Reported Crimes / Offences for the period 1425 Detected for same period 755 Detected Fixed Penalty Notices 127 Y0 Detected 53% This report has been compiled to reflect the activity in each Ward area and the above statistics are broken down by ward within the following report. There has been a further slight decrease of 1 .O% in detected crime; however the ward averages are still higher than the Force Average. Operational Activity Over this period there have been 6168 police incidents recorded for the Airdrie area. High visibility patrols continue to be targeted to areas where there are recurring incidents of violence, disorder and antisocial behaviour. Specific action plans have been drawn up relative to the areas of - Thrashbush / Rochsoles and Plains - Airdrie North Ward Town Centre / Whinhall - Airdrie Central Ward and Petersburn / Chapelhall - Airdrie South Ward 20 Within these plans, overall partnership working continues to be effective with assistance gained from both the Anti-Social Task Force and Community Wardens. In addition there have been successful operations carried out in several of the ward areas, against those involved in the supply of drugs. As a result, a number of individuals have been the subject of reports to the procurator fiscal for both drugs possession and drugs supply. During the period 103 incidents were resulted relative to youths causing annoyance across the Airdrie area. This represents a small increase in the average for the period. Continuing with the ongoing Campaign against Violence, specific pro-active operations have been carried throughout all ward areas. This includes “Operation Rose” and “Operation Fleet” which were both multi-agency operations targeting all aspects of violence. Officers continue to be tasked with carrying out checks on individuals subject to curfew and / or domestic bail, to ensure that they are complying with the requirements of bail set out by the Court. Activity in this area continues to result in a high number of persons being arrested and reported to the Procurator Fiscal for breaching their bail conditions. It is worthy of note, that following pro-active work by ward officers, the 2 most prolific repeat offenders for breaching bail conditions, were targeted and following their appearance at Court have been remanded to custody to await triakentence. In addition, the Domestic Abuse Pro-active unit has continued to be successful in reducing the number of repeat victims through pro-actively targeting previous offenders. Officers from Roads Policing have again been active within all 3 ward areas. These operations are intended to maximise road and vehicle safety as well as target vehicles being used by members of Serious or Organised Crime Groups. These operations have again proved particularly successful with a significant number of fixed penalty notices issued, drivers reported for consideration of prosecution and vehicles seized. As a result of the pro-active measures employed to target youths drinking in the street and engaged in minor acts of antisocial behaviour, there has been a continued reduction in the number of reports of youths drinking across all ward areas. Stop search activity continues to be a focus of police tasking, with searches for weapons, alcohol and drugs prioritised. The Force Gangs taskforce has worked in partnership with local Community officers on 3 occasions under “Operation Ruin”, where identified individuals with links to Gang membership have been targeted. As a result a number of individuals have been visited and several reported to the Procurator Fiscal for a variety of offences. Specifically with regards to violent crime, intensive scrutiny of all reported incidents of serious assault continues in an effort to ensure that all available lines of enquiry are exhausted and the persons responsible for same are brought to justice. The main hotspots within each of the Wards during this period are as follows, Airdrie North e Thrash bush/Rochsoles e Plains Airdrie Central 0 Whinhall 0 Town Centre Airdrie South e Chapelhall e Petersburn 21 A breakdown on the issues associated with these areas is contained within the following ward reports, however, it should be highlighted that resources are being targeted to identified hotspots through the use of Directed Patrol Plans, with the intent of having the right people in the right place at the right time. This formalised use of Directed Patrol Plans also provides the opportunity for local Community Officers to align their proactive work more closely with that of core shift officers to target prolific offenders and repeat offenders. Communities Unit There have been personnel changes with the Communities Unit however this has not impacted on the availability of officers within the unit. Relative to the proposed refurbishment of Airdrie office, options relative to how the Force proceeds with this are currently being prepared for consideration of the Force Executive. Schools surgeries are now in place for all secondary schools across the ward areas as well fortnightly/monthly community based surgeries within specific community areas. These are intended to facilitate better accessibility to the police and community ward officers in particular and have proved to be a valuable asset in intelligence gathering and enhancing community relations. 3.2 Housing & Social Work Services Outlined below is a summary of the main activities that have taken place during the reporting period NLC CCTV A Protocol is now in existence between Housing and Social Work Services and NLC CCTV which facilitates the tasking, evidence gathering and use of CCTV cameras throughout North Lanarkshire. Requests can be made to CCTV to monitor hot spot areas where under reporting is a problem. One such request has been placed for a hot spot in Whinhall and any crimes detected will be investigated by Police and Anti Social Behaviour staff. CCTV footage can be used as evidence to take appropriate action against offenders The main focus for camera installation is in Plains and Rochsoles. Plains will see installation of 4 fixed cameras in May 2010 and Rochsoles will have 1 mobile camera. These areas have been identified for CCTV due to youth disorder and the lack of co- operative witnesses. Signal testing has been completed for Rochsoles and the suggested location is suitable. The matter will now be progressed though discussion with Police and the local Regeneration Manager. No installation date has yet been agreed for Rochsoles. Youth Offenders Forum 11 youths were the focus of interagency discussions and interventions over the last quarter. 3 youths had been removed during the period under review due to no further complaints being received proving successful interventions and joint work. 8 youths remain within the discussion framework for supervision and action, with one youth in particular seen as a major cause for concern. One youth is currently in Residential Care. Operation Rose Operation Rose, a Strathclyde Police led initiative took place on Friday 29 January 2010. List of known perpetrators were passed to Strathclyde Police and visits were carried out to the homes of those individuals known to be currently involved in anti social behaviour within the locality. Strathclyde Police Officers during the initiative also carried out stop searches, bail checks and seized alcohol from youths. This sent out a clear and robust message to offenders that anti social behaviour would not be tolerated within the locality. Operation Fleet Operation Fleet took place on Friday 12th March, when Anti Social Behaviour staff were accompanied by Police Officers to carry out joint visits to know anti social offenders in the local area. 22 The purpose of these visits were to demonstrate partnership working between the agencies, highlighting to persistent offenders that we are aware of the problems they are causing and that their behaviour is being monitored closely by both NLC and the Police. In Airdrie a pre operation meeting and briefing took place and through shared information 20 addresses were identified. 17 offenders were verbally warned that their tenancy would be monitored and any anti social / criminal activity would be severely dealt with. Feedback from both agencies showed the exercise to be a success. These exercises have had positive impacts on public reassurance and partnership working to tackle anti social issues and local crime and will allow both Strathclyde Police and North Lanarkshire Council to continue to build on the excellent working relationships and partnerships already in place. Given the success of proactive days held in 2009, and so far this year, it is our intention to arrange further days in all wards to promote our service. Further initiatives which have been arranged in conjunction with Strathclyde Community Police are; 26 - 30 April 2010 - Noise Reduction Week 0 22 May 2010 - Presence at Tenant’s Federation Conference to be held in Airdrie Academy 7 August 2010 - Participation in Strathclyde Police Open Day Spring Clean Week - April 201 0 Spring Clean preparations are ongoing.