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Isle of Wight Community Safety Partnership Strategic Assessment of Community Safety

2009/2010

Executive Summary

As of the 1st August 2007, the three-yearly audits required by the Crime and Disorder Act

1998 have been replaced with annual strategic assessments. The change came to ensure

that Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) are aware of local priorities, so that as the

problems change in an area, the focus of the partnerships reflect this change.

This is the third Isle of Wight CSP strategic assessment following the reform of the Crime

and Disorder Act. The purpose of this strategic assessment is to assist the Isle of Wight CSP

in the development and revision of the three year partnership plan. The results of the

strategic assessment will provide a foundation for future work for the Isle of Wight CSP and

aid decision-making. It will also help to ensure that the Isle of Wight CSP makes the best use

of public resources when targeting identified issues.

The partnership assessment builds on the police tactical assessment and brings together a

wide range of data from other sources such as the Youth Offending Team (YOT),

Community Safety Services incident reports, Isle of Wight Council data, Drug Treatment

agencies data, Primary Care Trust data and contributions from other partner agencies.

The assessment aims to establish an accurate picture of current and emerging trends within

the Island relating to community safety and, to draw comparisons to regional and national

data where appropriate and possible. An integral part of conducting this assessment has

been to highlight areas for improvement in terms of partnership working as well as data

quality and collection for future assessments.

Key Findings

Data gathered for the Strategic Assessment 2009/10 shows the improved performance of the

Isle of Wight Community Safety Partnership, in particular reductions in both the ‘All Crimes’

category and in the majority of separate crime categories.

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Reductions and successes when compared with 2008/09:

• All crimes - reduced by 10% (down 1,020 crimes);

• Arson - reduced by 17% (down 32 incidents);

• Violence against the person - reduced by 11% (down 271 crimes) in 2009/10 when

compared with 2008/09. The assault with injury crime rate target of 6.55 crimes per 1,000

population as measured by National Indicator NI 20 was met (2009/10 performance 6.42)

for the first time since 2008/09;

• Criminal damage - reduced by 16% (down 387 crimes);

• House burglary - reduced by 16% (down 45 crimes);

• Theft of motor vehicles - reduced by 15% (down 19 crimes);

• Theft from a motor vehicle - reduced by 25% (down 113

crimes);

• Youth offending (Under 18’s) - reduced by 18% (down 150

crimes). The largest contributing factor towards this was a 31% reduction in theft and

handling offences from 213 to 147 and a 16% reduction in violence against person

offences from 159 in 2008/09 to 133 for 2009/10;

• In 2008/09, figures for drug offences show a 14% increase (up 131 crimes). However,

this increase is positive because drug offence figures reflect local policing priorities (i.e.

whether or not police are proactive in tackling drugs) rather than the extent of drug

misuse in the area. Examples of good practice in this area include: Operation Augustus

(tackling and disrupting the supply of drugs), Iontrac Operations/ Operation Sheridan

(port of entry operations), and Operation Regina (HMP drug supply). The total street

value of drugs seized in 2009/10 was £710,855, a 63% increase on the 08/09 figure

(£436,976);

• In 2009/10, there were 5,954 incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB) recorded on the Isle

of Wight, a reduction of 21% (down1,559 incidents) when compared with the previous

year;

• Robbery – no change recorded in the number of robberies (23 crimes).

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Increases when compared with 2008/09

• Sexual offences - increased by 14% (up 19 crimes);

• Domestic crime (abuse/violence) - increased by 12% (up 60 crimes);

• Fraud and forgery - increased by 15% (up 21 crimes);

• The rate of alcohol-related hospital admissions per 100,000 population (measured by NI-

39) on the Island has increased by 15% in 2009/10 (736), compared with 2008/09 (697).

Therefore, the Local Area Agreement (LAA) target on NI 39 for the end of year is likely to

be missed. Although the 2009/10 rate for the last three quarters was behind target, the

Isle of Wight still has one of the lowest admission rates in England on this indicator.1 It is

believed that an improvement in the recording of hospital admissions (so that more

admissions are being ‘counted’ towards this indicator) is contributing to the upward trend.

National and Local Comparisons

The Island’s rate of crime per 1,000 population when compared with the South East and the

whole of England and Wales shows that the Island has higher rates of violence against the

person when compared with the South East, but sits in line with the average rate recorded

across England and Wales.2 As shown in the table below, the Isle of Wight has lower rates of

crime per 1,000 population across the board for the remaining crime types and in particular

1 Quarter 3 data only as the 09/10 EOY data has yet to be completed due to methodology used to ensure data quality needs are met

2 For the recorded period Apr09 – Mar10

Crime Type (per 1,000 population) Isle of Wight South East England and

Wales

Violence against the person offences (per 1,000 population)

15.7 15.4 15.7

Sexual offences (per 1,000 population) 1.0 1.0 1.0

Robbery offences (per 1,000 population) 0.2 0.7 1.4

Burglary dwelling offences (per 1,000 population)

1.8 3.4 4.9

Theft of a motor vehicle offences (per 1,000 population)

0.8 1.7 2.2

Theft from a vehicle offences (per 1,000 population)

2.4 5.3 6.2

Interfering with a motor vehicle offences (per 1,000 population)

0.3 0.8 0.7

Recorded crime British Crime Survey comparator offences (per 1,000 population)

33.3 39.8 44.6

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the Recorded crime British Crime Survey (BCS) comparator offences measure when

compared with the South East and national figure.

The Isle of Wight Constabulary Operational Command Unit (OCU 2) had the largest

reduction in ASB when compared with the rest of the Hampshire Constabulary OCUs. The

Island had the 3rd lowest rate of ASB when compared with the 5 other OCUs with an

estimated 42.6 ASB incidents experienced per 1,000 residents.3

During 2009/10, the Island Police

had the highest crime detection rates

when compared nationally and with

the rest of Hampshire, continuing the

trend of the last 3 years.

Partnership working

During 2009/10, the Isle of Wight CSP has delivered around 70 projects and initiatives in

order to reduce crime, disorder, substance misuse and the fear of the crime on the Island.

These included:

• Lights On campaign - Over 1,000 timer-switches were handed out across the

Island along with crime prevention advice and low energy light bulbs.

3 For the recorded period Jun09 – May10

Reduction in ASB

Rate of ASB per 1,000 population (based on 2008 ONS population

estimates)

OCU 1 - Central -14.0% 44.0

OCU 2 - IOW -20.9% 42.6

OCU 3 - North and East

-15.2% 38.9

OCU 4 - Portsmouth -9.0% 70.9

OCU 5 - Southampton -17.9% 84.4

OCU 6 - Western -15.0% 38.0

Detection rates

2007/08

Detection rates

2008/09

Detection rates

2009/10

Isle of Wight 31.8% 33.0 34.0

Hampshire 26.6% 25.3 27.4 England and Wales

28.0% 28.4 27.8

Map of the Hampshire OCUs Source: Hampshire Constabulary RMS

Source: Hampshire Constabulary RMS

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• CREWs - 3 Crime Reduction Environment Weeks were held across the Island during

2009/10. The events held in Newport, Ventnor and Cowes also informed the public

about many of the services delivered by the Island’s community safety partners;

• MARACs - Police-led Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs)

reviewed between 15 and 20 domestic abuse cases a month;

• LIFE (Local Information Fire Education) programme – 4 courses were held with a total

of 44 young people attending. This programme

is funded by the CSP through the Youth

Inclusion Forum. The referrals came from the

YOT, Catch 22 and the Early Intervention Team;

• PURE event - around 50 young people attended

the Halloween PURE event held in Ventnor in

October 2009 where safety messages and advice aimed at young

people were delivered throughout the event;

• Youth Diversion Activities - in 2009/10, the Partnership Tasking

and Coordinating Group (PTCG) provided funding for 10 youth

diversion projects (totalling £34,250). These projects included:

Adizone in Sandown, Newport recycled community sculpture (The

Dragon), Ventnor boxing club, Wroxall allotment project, Soap Box Derby (Pan

Neighbourhood in Newport), West Wight skate park refurbishment, Ryde bike safe

event and many more;

• Operation Columbus - promoting safety and preventing crime and disorder aimed at

visiting language-school students (up to 1,000 such students stay on the Isle of Wight

between the months of June and September each year);

• Challenge and Adventure programme - this registered

charity provided outward bound type interventions for

young people who are either on the verge of offending or

who have experienced a problematic childhood. 173

young people engaged with C & A during 09/10;

• Around 50 targeted communications relating to community safety were delivered by

the partnership across the Island via the local media and community engagement

events.

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A number of successful projects and initiatives that ran during 2009/10 could be identified as

good practice. For example:

• SmartWater (property marking) to tackle burglary;

• “Not on our Island” campaign delivering crime reduction messages across the Island

and on the ferries;

• Joint high visibility patrols in hot spot locations (Police officers, PCSOs and council

Environment and Neighbourhoods Officers -

ENOs);

• CREW weeks in hot spot locations;

• “National Alcohol Awareness Week” delivering

messages about responsible drinking;

• “National Tackling Drugs Week” delivering

messages about the harmful effects of drugs, how and where to seek help, and

advice;

• “Thumbs Up” campaign to tackle litter on the Island;

• “Operation Augustus” targeting drug abusers committing burglary to feed their habit;

• “Best Bar None” scheme, which is now in its second year and there are 22 premises

accredited;

and many others.

A clear focus on priority areas for partnership actions and combining resources helped to

achieve a further reduction in incidents of crime on the Island in 2009/10.

The top three successes of the Isle of Wight CSP in 2009/10 included:

1. Improved performance across all partnership agencies, a reduction in the All Crimes

category and a reduction in the majority of separate crime categories (see page 2).

2. Partners Against Crime event in February 2010

• Around 40 partner agencies took part in this event

delivering crime prevention and community safety

advice and information to around 750 members of the

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public who attended and to islanders through local media campaign on the radio,

web sites and local papers;

• This event aimed to reduce the fear of crime through public reassurance and

delivered messages regarding low crime levels on the Island;

• Members of the public questioned the Police Division Commander and Chief

Executives of the key partnership agencies regarding issues affecting them locally

and across the Island.

3. Summertime Anti-Social Behaviour Campaign 2009 (July – September 2009)

• The Partnership targeted a range of anti-social behaviour issues, including graffiti,

underage drinking, vehicle and youth nuisance;

• A range of initiatives were implemented such as alcohol seizures, the

Community Alcohol Partnership project, Street Pastors, re-deployable

CCTV in hot spot areas and many more;

• ASB reports reduced by 37% (558 incidents) from 1494 in July to

September 2008 to 936 in the same period in 2009.

• Reports of criminal damage reduced by 20% (132 incidents) from 660 in July to

September 2008 to 528 in the same period in 2009.

Survey results

The results of the Island Residents Survey carried out in 2009 show an improvement in

public perception of various aspects of community safety

compared to the previous year:

• Only 7% of respondents perceived noisy neighbours and

loud parties as a problem (compared with 11% in 2008).

• 34% of respondents perceived teenagers hanging

around on the street as a problem (compared with 38%

in 2008).

• 21% of respondents perceived people being drunk or rowdy in a public space as a

problem (compared with 30% in 2008).

• 19% of respondents perceived vandalism, graffiti and other deliberate damage to

property and vehicles to be a problem (compared with 23% in 2008).

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• 45% of respondents perceived speeding drivers as a problem (compared with 46% in

2008).

Some increases were also recorded through the survey:

• 34% of respondents perceived dog fouling as a problem (compared with 31% in 2008).

• 32% of respondents perceived people not treating others with respect as a problem

(compared with 29% in 2008).

• 24% of respondents perceived people dealing drugs as a problem (compared with 21%

in 2008).

Conclusion

The findings of this strategic assessment confirm that the Isle of Wight remains a safe place

to live, work and visit. A clear focus on priority areas for the Partnership and pulling partners’

resources together, helped to achieve a further reduction in incidents of crime and disorder

on the Island in 2009/10 when compared with 2008/09.

The findings of the strategic assessment also confirmed the need for the Isle of Wight CSP

to continue focusing on: alcohol related crime, violent crime, particularly domestic abuse and

bullying, criminal damage and anti-social behaviour. The Partnership should continue its

work on improving the quality of life for Island residents by enhancing the public realm and

reducing the fear of crime. To support the idea of the ‘Big Society’ on the Island the

Partnership should also continue focusing on community cohesion, community engagement

and contributing to a national ‘Prevent’4 agenda locally.

4 Prevent aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremists. It is one of the four

components of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, known as CONTEST.

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