Policing
Problem Orientated Policing: The Tilley Award Winning entries for 1999
There were three award winning entries:
Leicestershire Constabulary: Northfields Project (Winning entry);
Lancashire Constabulary: Nook’s Scapyard (Runner up);
Avon and Somerset: Problem Orientated Policing Working in Partnership to Create a Safer Holiday Environment (Runner up).
Leicestershire Constabulary
The Northfields Project was launched in response to what had been the problems of a traditional high crime area in Leicester. Northfields encompasses three local authority estates. It is a small area of the Policing Unit yet is responsible for 30% of the total crime on the Unit. The area was characterised by a large number of neighbourhood disputes and new tenants were frequently the targets of repeated harassment and criminal acts. The Housing Department had problems letting properties and the area was generally viewed as isolated and suffering from low self-esteem. In partnership with other agencies, in particular the Housing Department, a combination of short and long term initiatives was undertaken with the overall aim of improving the quality of life for residents through active community involvement. The project ran over a period of two years and resulted in overall crime rates being reduced by a third [31.8%], with larger reductions for specific crime categories. Repeated acts of domestic violence were also reduced during this period. More tenants are now staying and the take-up rate of council lettings has increased.
Lancashire Constabulary
The Nook scrap yard near the rural village of Staining had plagued local residents with its numerous problems for decades. Stolen vehicles were traded at the yard and fights between customers and staff were a frequent occurrence. The yard provided a magnet for offenders resulting in complaints of noisy and suspicious characters, dangerous driving in unroadworthy vehicles, and higher rates of crime along access roads into the yard. The police response to these numerous problems was frequently reactive and it had never before been considered that the best approach might be to try and eliminate the problem altogether. A police partnership was developed that involved local residents, Environmental Health, the Environment Agency, and Health and Safety executives. Local residents were encouraged to make representations to their MP, while the involvement of the Environment Agency and Health and Safety executives resulted in the site being condemned and forced to close. Local residents felt that their quality of life had improved significantly since this initiative. There was less anxiety about crime and consequently greater confidence in the use of the surrounding area. The cost of this innovative initiative was minimal because the use of a problem orientated policing approach encouraged the police to draw on existing resources and knowledge. The participation of local residents was identified as crucial to the success of this initiative.
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
The Butlins Family Entertainment resort at Minehead is a 165 acre holiday complex containing 20 alcohol outlets. It caters for a diverse market, and is described by the police as a small town, though lacking in the norms, values and relationships of a traditional community. The resort was identified by the resort managers and the police as having a ‘crime problem’, which predominately involved crimes of burglary, theft, criminal damage, assault, misuse of drugs and thefts of and from motor vehicles. To tackle these problems, the police formed a partnership with the resort managers and over a period of two years agreed a variety of measures aimed at improving those aspects of the resort environment, its staff policies and practices that were seen as conducive to crime. Accommodation was upgraded, security of premises improved and damage quickly repaired. Staff discipline and recruitment procedures were tightened, and training provided to security and bar staff. State of the art CCTV was introduced across the whole resort. Single sex block bookings were no longer accepted, and a rigorous misuse of drugs policy enforced. The police reorganised the local beat area so that it was co-terminus with the boundaries of the resort. As a result of these creative responses, incidents of crime were reduced by almost three-quarters [71.5%] over this two year period.
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