Report of Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) and Chair of Community Safety Partnership

This report introduces the Community Safety Strategy 2022-25 for Manchester and highlights the Community Safety Partnership’s priorities for the next three years.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) and Chair of the Community Safety Partnership which introduced the Community Safety Strategy 2022-25 for Manchester and highlighted the Community Safety Partnership’s priorities for the next three years.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• The legislative context of the Strategy;
• Consultation with residents, businesses and community groups;
• Other factors taken into account in developing the Strategy;
• The Greater Manchester Police and Crime Plan 2022-25; and
• Community Safety Partnership Priorities and a summary of some of the actions that would be carried out to meet these priorities.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• Preventing re-offending, including the impact of mental health issues, drugs and alcohol and issues relating to housing, skills and employment and what more could be done, noting that some drug and alcohol services had been closed down;
• Residents’ concerns about anti-social behaviour, burglaries and speeding, noting that, while GMP’s response to burglaries seemed to have improved, residents still did not feel that there was enough action in response to speeding;
• Residents’ perception that it was difficult to report crimes to GMP;
• The need for innovative and holistic collaborations to address some of the issues in communities;
• Sharing positive experiences of specific neighbourhood police officers in Members’ wards; and
• Young people, noting that they could often be the victims of crime or be perpetrators, including ensuring that their views were taken into account, improving the relationship between young people and the police and responding to issues relating to the behaviour of some young people directly after the end of the school day.

Stuart Tasker from the Probation Service advised that acquisitive crime was now central to the Integrated Offender Management strategy and that the Probation Service, GMP and drug services were working together to address the underlying causes of offending.  He informed Members about his service’s tailored approach for working with young offenders between the ages of 18 and 25.

The Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) outlined work taking place with GMP and health partners through the Bringing Services Together programme to identify where high levels of demand for their services were coming from and putting together joint plans for particular individuals. 

Chief Superintendent Rob Cousen from GMP informed the Committee that GMP had made a commitment to visit every victim of burglary and that the level achieved at present was about 94%.  He advised that GMP had a focus on neighbourhood crime including burglary, robbery, vehicle crime and theft from the person.  He advised he had established three neighbourhood crime teams in Manchester to focus on these areas.  He outlined work taking place to address speeding, advising that more speed watch operations would be taking place and that GMP was also encouraging community speed watch.  He asked Members to inform GMP of areas where this was a particular issue of concern.  He informed Members of improvements in the reporting of crime, advising that the average length of time for a 999 call to be answered was now 9 seconds and for the non-emergency 101 number it was now one to one-and-a-half minutes, a reduction from 5 minutes.  In response to a question from the Chair, he confirmed that the key priority areas outlined in the Police and Crime Plan were all of equal priority.

Chief Inspector Adam Wignall from GMP informed the Committee about work taking place with partners, including the business community, to address crimes such as theft from the person related to the night time economy, including a focus on prevention.

The Statutory Deputy Leader welcomed the approach of the new Chief Constable Stephen Watson and Chief Superintendent Rob Cousen, which focussed on neighbourhood policing, while also highlighting the challenges faced by the city, due to austerity and funding cuts, both in GMP and in areas such as drug and alcohol services, and he advised that, therefore, an innovative approach was required.

Chief Superintendent Rob Cousen reported that GMP’s School Engagement Officers were working with the city’s young people and that there was also other engagement work with young people, for example, sports activity to build trust and confidence with young people.  He reported that neighbourhood police officers had previously been used to respond to emergency incidents but that they would now be ringfenced for neighbourhood policing work, patrolling in the local area and addressing local concerns, such as anti-social behaviour, before they developed into larger issues. 

The Community Safety Lead informed the Committee that, although there had been cuts to drug and alcohol services over a long period, there had recently been some investment in this area and this had been linked in with the Bringing Services Together work and adopting a trauma-informed approach.  She reported that the Community Safety Partnership was working with Manchester Metropolitan University who were carrying out a regular survey to understand the trends and prevalence of drugs in communities.  In response to comments about young people and crime, she drew Members’ attention to a piece of work commissioned through Reclaim, which had been used to inform this Strategy and the Serious Violence Strategy.  She outlined the partnership approach to addressing anti-social behaviour and preventing its escalation.

In response to a question from the Chair about designing the physical environment to reduce crime, including street lighting and the use of alleygating, the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) offered to provide a further report which included information on this.  She advised that Community Safety Specialists were involved in the design of new neighbourhoods and had been involved in the re-design of Piccadilly Gardens.  She reported that alleygating was part of Public Space Protection Orders and advised that further information on this could be included in a future report.  A Member requested that a future report include further information from the Probation Service on preventing re-offending, including addressing mental health issues, drugs and alcohol issues and housing, skills and employment.  The Chair requested that information on hotspot areas where people on probation were housed be included in a future report.  She also requested that a future report include information on links with the youth service.

Decision

To receive a further report at an appropriate time, including the information requested by Members.