18. Written evidence from Nacro Cymru
Nacro Cymru, the crime reduction charity in
Wales, welcomes the opportunity to submit written evidence to
the Welsh Affairs Committee in relation to the Police service,
crime and anti-social behaviour in Wales Inquiry.
Nacro Cymru's role and experience of working
on crime reduction issues means we are able to respond to the
following areas of the inquiry:
— Tackling anti-social behaviour and
reducing volume crime
Tackling anti-social behaviour and reducing volume
crime
Nacro Cymru advocates that local areas should
seek to tackle anti-social behaviour as part of a balanced strategy,
which includes prevention, education, enforcement and rehabilitation.
A focus on one type of intervention at the expense of others can
only result in a quick fix at the expense of any long term solutions.
Nacro Cymru believes that the three main elements
to tackling anti-social behaviour should be:
— A mix of interventions, including
prevention, education, enforcement and rehabilitation.
— Interventions should be targeted
at three levels: universal; groups or localities particularly
at risk; and individuals particularly at risk.
— Interventions should both target
risk factors and seek to maximise protective factors.
Nacro Cymru is also concerned about the geographical
variations in tackling anti-social behaviour, both across England
and Wales, and within Wales.
In relation to the use of Anti-social Behaviour
Orders (ASBOs) we believe there should be an integrated and graded
approach, as used in police areas such as Devon and Cornwall,
and community safety areas such as Rhondda Cynon Taff. In these
areas ASBOs are used in a tiered format, with youth or police
officers using diversion work to keep young people out of trouble.
Nacro is concerned by the current arrangements
for Breach of an ASBO and by the findings of a recent NAPO survey
which highlights the number of young people being placed in custody
as a result of breaching an ASBO. Nacro would like to see more
use of division and education as part of breach.
Nacro Cymru welcomes the recent changes to the
Home Office Public Service Agreements (PSAs) in relation to volume
crime. In the past, requiring all local areas to reduce volume
crime by certain levels caused problems for those areas where
burglary and vehicle crime were not such an issue. The new PSA
targets allow local partnerships to identify and tackle local
key issues, and this must be allowed to remain.
The reassurance agenda
Nacro Cymru is concerned that one of the main
issues within the public reassurance agenda is matching public
expectations with the ability of criminal justice agencies to
deliver. For example, while the public may demand a police officer
on every corner, resources dictate that this could never be possible.
Therefore, agencies need to work with communities to ensure that
the public understand resource pressures and action is targeted
at areas which meet local need within limited resources. As part
of this process it is particularly important that young people
and other "hard-to-reach" communities are fully involved
in the community consultation process.
Nacro Cymru is also concerned about the use
of "fear of crime" surveys to record levels of fear
amongst the public. There should be clearer guidelines in the
use of such surveys and the way results are taken and analysed.
If used inappropriately, fear of crime surveys can simply exacerbate
the issue.
Nacro Cymru is particularly concerned that all
sections of the community, especially minority groups, are able
to feel safe and do not fear crime. The Home Office PSA outlines
the need to "reduce race inequality and build social inclusion".
Nacro Cymru is aware that this must apply equally to all areas,
regardless of the number of minority groups in a locality. In
fact, in areas where there are fewer ethnic minority groups, individuals
can feel more isolated and in fear of crime. We believe it is
important to provide support for virtual and isolated groups,
and would encourage agencies to think about methods of providing
this support, including telephone and internet support.
Partnerships
In Wales, Nacro Cymru would welcome a form of
co-ordination and strategic development across all 22 Community
Safety Partnerships. Nacro Cymru fully supports the work of the
All Wales Community Safety Forum and believes that this group
has a key role to play in consolidating community safety issues
on an all-Wales basis and dealing with strategic matters of importance.
Such a forum provides an excellent way of gathering new policy
and practice ideas on community safety and could provide local
agencies in Wales with a voice to report back to the Welsh Assembly
Government and the Westminster Government.
Nacro Cymru believes that there should be a
clearer and more significant role for voluntary and community
sector organisations on local community safety partnerships. Indeed,
the Home Office PSA sets targets in relation to "increasing
voluntary and community engagement". More resources should
be put forward to allow voluntary and community groups to contribute
to local community safety partnerships. Meanwhile, there should
be a clear expectation that community safety partnerships should
provide mechanisms so that voluntary and community groups are
engaged at an operational and strategic level. In Manchester,
Nacro has been funded to develop a voluntary sector community
safety forum, and this provides an excellent example of how the
sector can be engaged within community safety partnerships.
Nacro Cymru would like to see a review of Section
17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, in order to build confidence
in the viability and applicability of Section 17 as a driver for
delivering tangible community safety gains for local communities.
The purpose of this section of the Act was "to give the vital
work of preventing crime a new focus across a very wide range
of local services". Nacro believes that although Section
17 remains a powerful vehicle, its implementation has been variable,
particularly because of a perceived "lack of teeth"—few
sanctions appear to have been imposed on authorities who do not
implement Section 17, and responsibility across local authorities
has remained "ghettoised" within community safety teams.
Nacro Cymru
18 January 2005
| 
