Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

The five pilot Priority Policing Areas have been in operation since March 2002. This report looks at the lessons learned from providing additional support to police and partner organisations in some of the most deprived parts the country. It provides suggestions for how to use resources effectively and getting the local community involved.

Title: Section 17 in Action: Lessons from the first Priority Policing Areas
Author: Home Office Police Standards Unit
Number of pages: 66
Date published: March 2003

Summary

As part of the Police Reform Programme, the Government announced its Policing Priority Area (PPA) Programme in March 2002, and named five areas that were to serve as pilots for the programme. A PPA was a closely defined area, smaller than a Basic Command Unit (BCU), which could benefit from support in developing effective local partnerships to tackle crime, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour. The PPA Programme was linked to the Government's National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. The five pilot PPAs were among the 88 most deprived areas in England receiving Neighbourhood Renewal Funding and the most deprived areas in Wales receiving Communities First Funding.

The overall aim of the pilot PPAs was to develop a practical understanding of what a PPA could achieve and what factors made it most likely to achieve a successful outcome. The lessons would inform the further development of the PPA Programme and the selection and operation of future PPAs.

The PPA Programme commissioned NACRO/Crime Concern to undertake assessments to make recommendations for partnership working in these areas. Their final reports resulted in 90 recommendations. In all five PPAs, the police and partner agencies identified their own aims and objectives, drawing on the NACRO/Crime Concern recommendations, locally identified policing priorities and other partnership work in the area.

Police and partners within each PPA took action to improve aspects of crime and disorder at the micro-level. For some PPAs this meant putting in place long-needed processes underpinning multi-agency working which were intended to remain after the area had ceased to be a PPA. For others, the activities built on existing partnership work and focused on more short-term objectives. The significant themes and achievements included: -

• The introduction and implementation of a police Neighbourhood Action Team after attending a PSU seminar/workshop which highlighted the major successes of a similar scheme in another Force. This resulted in increased visible police presence in the PPA.

• Strategic decisions to increase police resources for specific operations utilising the Special Constabulary, Mounted Officers and additional high visibility mobile and pedestrian patrols.

• Introduction of Police Hot-Spot Teams / Community Wardens / Street Crime Wardens in some PPAs to improve pro-active interventions/operations, slow down officer turnover and to improve police continuity, local knowledge and enhance community engagement and cohesion.

• A multi-agency team which carried out a concentrated "environmental improvement" scheme within the PPA covering such issues as derelict buildings, involving the demolition and/or renovation of sub-standard premises creating a more balanced housing stock; street trading enforcement; speedy graffiti removal and street drinking interventions.

• Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) surveys and ensuring resulting actions were undertaken by local partners utilising local services.

• The publication of a reference document by the PPA project and jointly produced by the Witness Care Department and Victim Support which provides guidance for anyone who may be concerned about the prospect of giving evidence before a court of law.

• Proactive marketing to increase Local Action Team membership through canvassing major retail stores, religious groups, traders' associations and residents' associations.

• Protocols put in place to ensure the speedy establishment of a 24-hour policy for the removal of abandoned vehicles in the PPA.

• 'Youth-based' initiatives specifically aimed at youth involvement, inclusion and to improve access to youth activities and facilities.

All PPAs inevitably encountered tensions and difficulties, which were resolved with various degrees of success. The main achievement of the pilot PPAs as a whole, however, was that it generated specific lessons for the future. The key lessons were that, to maximise the chance of success, future PPAs should:

• be selected in a manner that is transparent and consultative;

• concentrate on re-focussing main programme resources;

• maintain a clear focus on the implications of lessons learned for police deployment principles;

• put the building blocks in place to ensure strong multi-agency team-working;

• adopt a cohesive, inclusive approach to local people's involvement;

• create effective feedback mechanisms for local people to use to communicate with service deliverers;

• review their performance against their own specific aims and objectives.

The PPA programme is currently planning to develop further PPAs. Selection will be based on Neighbourhood Renewal / Communities First status, crime levels and the health of local partnerships following consultation with Regional Crime Reduction Directors and ACPO.

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