3 Improving local capacity to tackle
violent crime
13. The Department had identified what constituted
effective partnership working in tackling crime. The Department's
six Hallmarks of Effective Partnerships included empowered and
effective leadership, intelligence-led business processes, and
effective and responsive delivery structures. The effective tackling
of violence required a strong working relationship between the
police and other partners, as well as a firm understanding of
the drivers of violence.[14]
14. Research showed that fewer than half of victims
of wounding treated at Accident and Emergency units reported their
injuries to the police. Without the anonymised records of these
wounding victims, Partnerships did not have a complete picture
of violence occurring locally, or its causes. Despite its efforts
to encourage the sharing of data relevant to violent crime, the
Department was not satisfied by the amount being shared locally,
most notably by the National Health Service. Figure 3 shows
that some 55% of Partnerships had never used ambulance service
data about violent crime, and 42% had never used data from Accident
and Emergency units. To overcome this lack of data-sharing, the
Department had imposed a statutory duty upon key partners to share
data relevant to violent crime. It had also been working closely
with the Department of Health to show NHS staff how to share data
without breaching confidentiality.[15]
Figure 3: Percentage of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships which
use different data sources to analyse the violent crime in their local area
| Data source
| Always use
| Started to use in last 12 months
| Have used in the past but not in the last 12 months
| Never use
|
| Police recorded crime
| 98
| 2
| 0
| 0
|
| Police incidents
| 89
| 5
| 1
| 5
|
| Anti-Social Behaviour data from councils and landlords
| 53
| 25
| 6
| 16
|
| Fire service records of emergency calls
| 32
| 24
| 13
| 31
|
| Ambulance service data
| 14
| 17
| 14
| 55
|
| Accident and Emergency data
| 10
| 35
| 13
| 42
|
| Safer School Partnerships
| 7
| 10
| 3
| 80
|
| Local education records of children excluded for violence
|
7
|
19
|
12
|
62
|
Source: Home Office
15. Partnerships often lacked sufficient capacity
to analyse fully the violent crime in their communities. 24% of
Partnerships did not have sufficient resources to analyse all
the violent crime occurring in their communities. Almost two thirds
of Partnerships did not have any of the time of an analyst dedicated
to violent crime. The Department announced that it had started
paying for the training of analysts in order to tackle this problem.[16]
16. Only a minority of Partnerships had designated
violent crime strategies and operations groups focussing on violence-reduction
activities. Although the Department recommended that Partnerships
employ them, fewer than 30% had a violent crime strategy and only
43% had a designated strategy or operations group. However, in
many areas violence would have been considered in other groups,
such as those dealing with domestic violence or night time economy
management. The Department suggested that this low figure is because
for most Partnerships anti-social behaviour, not violent crime,
had previously been a higher priority. To improve Partnerships'
take-up of strategies and groups, the Department committed to
monitor and promote good practice in their use, and intervene
where Partnerships were not using them.[17]
14 Qq 32, 77 Back
15
Qq 20, 60, 155 Back
16
C&AG's Report, para 3.17 Back
17
Q 77 Back
|
