Safer Maidstone Partnership

Community Safety Partnership Plan 2013–2018

‘Delivering Safer Communities’

Refreshed March 2017

 

1. INTRODUCTION

 

Welcome to the annual refresh of the Safer Maidstone Partnership (SMP) Community Safety Partnership Plan for 2017-18. This document outlines how we are going to collectively tackle community safety issues in the Maidstone borough, how we have achieved against the targets set in the previous year and what we will prioritise this year.

 

 

2. BACKGROUND

The Maidstone Community Safety Plan 2013-18 is a five year rolling document, which identifies how the SMP plans to tackle local community safety issues that matter to the local community. The plan is revised annually through reviewing information set out in the Strategic Assessment which ensures that current issues are taken into account and used to direct the SMP’s strategy and actions. 

 

3. PRIORITIES

Our aim is to make Maidstone borough a better, safer place for people who live, work and visit here. Data analysis identifies that we continue to face challenges across our district and as such the SMP has agreed to focus on five key issues for 2017-18:

 

1.    Organised Crime Groups (including modern slavery);

2.    Gangs and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE);

3.    Substance Misuse;

4.    Domestic Abuse and other violent crime;

5.    Mental Health.

 

These priorities have  been identified  by applying the “MoRiLE” scoring matrix which is a technique for Managing Risk in Law Enforcement that ranks crime and disorder issues  based on threat risk and harm to individuals, communities and organisations and which also takes into consideration vulnerability and the capacity and capability of the Safer Maidstone Partnership.

 

Work around the Government’s Prevent duty and Reducing Reoffending are now cross cutting themes rather than named priorities along with Anti-Social Behaviour.

 

All the priorities will require a robust multi-agency response, but because they are important for residents and communities, achieving them will have a positive impact on people’s quality of life.

 

Road safety has been a named priority in previous years but it is not included as a top priority for 2017/18 for two key reasons. Firstly there has been a significant reduction in people killed or seriously injured in road traffic crashes in Maidstone and secondly the primary responsibility for reducing crashes lies with the highway authority (in terms of engineering and education) and Kent Police (in terms of enforcement) – work that is co-ordinated through other channels.  MBC will continue to support initiatives around road safety but have no capacity or jurisdiction to implement anything further. 

 

Due to the relatively new nature of partnership working around Community Resilience topics, these priorities have been retained. Due to  their complexity and the experience gained over the last year two priorities have been identified – i) Organised Crime Groups (including Modern Slavery) and ii) Gangs and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).  This will continue to help build on these newly formed relationships and working practices.

 

Mental health has been identified as a named priority for the SMP for the first time. There are two key reasons for this. Firstly mental health, although not a crime in itself, is an issue at the heart of many cases which are reported to the Community Safety Unit. Poor mental health is often a causal factor in a person’s anti-social behaviour and victims of crime whose mental health is adversely affected by their experiences are often placed at increased risk, as in the case of Fiona Pilkington and her daughter.

 

Secondly, the provisions for detention of people under the Mental Health Act will be changing. From 1st April 2017 police custody suites will no longer be available to be used as “safe places” for people detained under the Mental Health Act. This has, amongst other things, prompted the need to review how partners manage and support people with mental health conditions involved in crime and disorder.  This includes paying greater attention to interventions that prevent people reaching crisis point, thereby reducing the need to detain people.  Mental Health is also a priority for the Kent Police & Crime Commissioner.

 

 

4. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 changed the way crime and anti-social behaviour were to be tackled.  It recognised that in order to be effective, agencies needed to work together to address the issues collectively.  Each local area formed a Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) which are now called Community Safety Partnerships.

The Safer Maidstone Partnership is made up of Responsible Authorities (those bodies for whom membership of the CSP is a statutory obligation) and voluntary members.  Our statutory partners are: Maidstone Borough Council, Kent County Council, Kent Police, Kent Fire and Rescue Service, National Probation Service, Kent Surrey and Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company and the West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group (which has the responsibility for local health services). 

In addition to our statutory partners we also work with a large number of voluntary and private sector partners as well as community groups to collectively implement and deliver initiatives that will help keep  the Maidstone borough a safe place to live, work and visit. 

The SMP has co-chairs Alison Broom, Chief Executive of Maidstone Borough Council and Chief Inspector Mick Gardner of Kent Police.


5. ORGANISATIONAL CHANGES

 

Community Safety Unit

The way in which the Maidstone Community Safety Unit (CSU) works continues to evolve. The regular weekly operational partnership meeting has been reviewed and refocussed over the last 12 months in response to the Strategic Assessment and consequent priorities for keeping Maidstone safe. This meeting focussed predominantly on incidents of, and locations where, anti-social behaviour was prevalent. Over time the amount of ASB in Maidstone has reduced and other issues have come more to the fore, as reflected in our priorities.   

The scope of the weekly meeting has been widened and is now the CSU Vulnerabilities Group.  As a result a broader range of partners are now engaged and a wider range of people and incidents are discussed with a particular focus on threat, risk and harm for the most vulnerable people. This has re-energised the meetings and improved information sharing and joint working.

As well as Borough Council officers and Kent Police, partners include Kent Community Wardens, local housing Registered Providers including Golding Homes and KCC children’s specialist social services.  In 2014, the Borough Council’s licensing team relocated to the CSU.  Increasing the range of partners working as part of the CSU is a key priority to ensure community safety related issues are tackled holistically.

 

Kent Police

The Kent Police mission is to provide a first class service protecting and serving the people of Kent. The vison of the Chief Constable and PCC is ‘for Kent to be a safe place for people to live, work and visit. By protecting the public from harm, we will allow our communities to flourish and by working with the public and partners, we will provide a first class policing service that is both visible and accessible.  We will retain neighbourhood policing as the bedrock of policing in Kent. We will be there when the public need us and we will act with integrity in all that we do’.

 

Kent Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC)

PCCs are responsible for the appointment of Chief Constables, holding them to account for the running of the force, setting out a Police and Crime Plan based on local priorities, setting the local precept and force budget and making grants to external organisations.  The current PCC for Kent, Matthew Scott, was elected in May 2016 and will remain in office for a period of four years.

The PCC has pledged to continue to support a number of agencies through the main policing grant and has announced his commitment to his wider duties around crime and community safety. Funding for Community Safety Partnerships was confirmed for 2017/18 and will be used to address our local priorities.

The Kent Police & Crime Plan is a four year plan and was reviewed in February 2017. The plan sets out the Commissioner’s vision and priorities for policing in the county which includes placing victims first, focusing on reducing crime and anti-social behaviour and protecting the public from harm. To achieve the aims in the plan the following strategic priorities are set out:

·         Fight crime, ASB and reduce re-offending

·         Tackle abuse, exploitation, violence, organised crime and gangs

·         Invest in schemes that make communities feel safer and support the engagement of residents

·         Support initiatives that reduce pressure on police working with mental health clients

·         Support victims of crime and abuse

·         Invest in schemes that make offenders pay for the harm they have caused

 

West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group

Since 1 April 2013, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have become ‘responsible authorities’ on CSPs.  This means that the CCGs now have a statutory duty to work in partnership to tackle crime and disorder. The act places a duty on CCGs to:

·         Participate in a strategic assessment of crime and disorder, anti-social behaviour, and drug and alcohol misuse for the CSP area or areas in which they fall.

·         Contribute to the development of local strategies that effectively deal with the issues where they are identified.

                                               

Joining their local CSPs gives CCGs more influence in shaping local action to tackle crime and the causes of crime, for example the delivery of services which have an impact on crime and disorder, including mental health services.

 

Health and Wellbeing Board

The West Kent Health and Wellbeing Board brings together key organisations and representatives of the public to work together to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of West Kent. 

It has been set up in West Kent as part of the recent national health and social care reforms. Kent Public Health, the four West Kent authorities (Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge & Malling Borough Councils), West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group, (who are responsible for commissioning health services locally) and patient and public representatives are all part of this Board. 

The key themes for health and wellbeing are drawn from the West Kent Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).

 

Probation Services

The Probation services are organised in two parts - the National Probation Service (NPS) and the Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC). The NPS is a statutory criminal justice service whose supervision and support includes not only Service users who have never been in custody and have only solely been in the community, but also high risk offenders who are released into the community; this service is provided nationally by the government. The CRC supports the rehabilitation of low to medium risk offenders and is commissioned out to private companies. Kent is covered by the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company (KSS CRC) who alongside the NPS play an active part in the SMP’s partnership.  

 

The Kent County Perspective

The Draft Kent Community Safety Agreement (CSA) for 2017 outlines the key community safety priorities for Kent and replaces the previous agreement which expired on 31st March 2017.   

The common issues and priorities from the District-level strategic assessments have been identified and key stakeholders consulted to identify any potential gaps and cross-cutting themes for inclusion in the agreement. 

The diagram below not only includes the priorities and cross-cutting themes for the CSA, but also shows the strategic priorities set out in the Police and Crime Plan, illustrating the importance of integrating the work of all partners.

 

 

 

2017 Priorities & cross cutting themes for the CSA and the PCC

 

 

 

6. STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT SUMMARY

Each year the Safer Maidstone Partnership undertakes a Strategic Assessment of the district to identify any crime and disorder trends, which can then be used to inform the priority planning for the coming year.  This ensures we are focusing our efforts collectively on the areas that are most in need.  This is done by analysing data and intelligence reports from the previous year to produce recommended priority areas the data is telling us are a concern or that residents have highlighted.

This year’s methodology includes the use of a risk scoring matrix called MoRiLE (Management of Risk in Law Enforcement).  It differs in that it ranks priorities/themes based on threat risk and harm as opposed to relying mainly on volume of crime figures. Further information on this and other methodology used in this year’s Strategic Assessment can be found in Appendix 1.

The priorities are then ranked against a number of factors, including volume, trend over time, residents’ perceptions and how much it is felt that the partnership can influence.  This is then reviewed by our stakeholders and finally the top ranked priorities are analysed in depth, to help guide practitioners in formulating actions that they feel will have an impact on each priority. 

The following areas were 2016-17’s identified priorities and the completed actions for each priority are listed below:

 

Community Resilience

 

A multi-agency subgroup was created to discuss all the themes for the Community Resilience priority that was identified through last year’s Strategic Assessment. These included Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), extremism and radicalisation (Prevent), human trafficking, modern slavery and Serious Organised Crime (SOC).

 

It was soon realised that although the topics sat under Community Resilience, they were too complex and far reaching to discuss them all in detail at a subgroup meeting.  As a result the SMP will now establish two sub-groups namely i) Organised Crime Groups (OCG) including modern slavery, and ii) Gangs & Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).  These groups will continue to build on newly formed relationships and working practices.

 

Priority completed actions:

 

·       Serious Organised Crime presentations from the police Regional Organised Crime Unit were delivered to partners and explained what to look out for on site visits, the type of information that could be exchanged between partners and explored different powers of entry.

·       Multi-agency awareness days held at key sites in the borough for CSE awareness week

·       A desktop exercise looking at a local OCG took place to help develop a case working strategy and explore agencies powers & information sharing.

·       ‘Local Profiles’ have been published by the police to highlight areas of risk for victims under the police Control strategy topics in the borough.  The sub headings align with the subgroup topics and gave an idea of the size of a specific issue locally.

                                     

 

Substance Misuse

 

Substance misuse relates to the misuse of drugs and alcohol. Previously, neither alcohol nor New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) were included in the recorded drug offences as they were both legal. Since the introduction of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, the offences of distribution and sale of NPS and their possession in a custodial setting are now

illegal and included in recorded drug offence figures.  It is still important to mention? alcohol as there is a clear connection between criminal activity and the excessive use of this substance.

 

Kent police recorded drug offences include both offences of drug supply and possession. Under this category of crime Maidstone has seen a 22.3% increase in drug offences from Nov 15 – Oct 16 when compared to the previous year’s data. This is an increase from 282 offences to 345 offences; this equates 63 more crimes this year.

 

         Data from the Kent and Medway Public Health Observatory suggests a lower number of admissions to hospital for mental and behavioural disorders relating to psychoactive substances than in the past.  637 admissions from Jul 15 – Jun 16, compared to 734 from Sep 14 – Aug 15.  This is a reduction of 13%.  Next year’s comparable data will provide a clearer picture of what impact the Psychoactive Substances Act has had in related hospital admissions. 

 

Priority completed actions:

 

  • Targeted multi-agency evening operations have been delivered with Trading Standards, Kent Police and Borough Council teams to tackle underage sales of alcohol and licensed premises.
  • NPS education from young people’s service Addaction delivered to targeted cohorts of young people based on risk and vulnerability.
  • A local online system is being explored for local GP’s/Professionals to help signpost clients into treatment and support.
  • Through the substance misuse charity Change, Grow, Live (CGL), needle exchange schemes in Maidstone (2 pharmacies and their service centre) continue to be successful. In 2016 there was a 20% reduction in needle exchanges from the previous year (422, down from 538), helped by clients in treatment changing their status away from injecting.
  • Subgroup action plan incorporates elements from the West Kent Alcohol Action Plan, the Kent Drug Alcohol Strategy and the West Kent Health & Wellbeing Board.
  • Promoted KCC’s alcohol ‘Know Your Score’ quiz via a social media advertising campaign. 9,100 middle aged, female professionals were reached who are an identified cohort of people at increased risk of alcohol related harm.
  • Increased number of street population referred and engaged in CGL support services as a result the Maidstone Assertive Outreach programme.
  • A Reduce the Strength scheme for the town centre has been introduced to remove from sale ‘low cost high strength’ beer, cider & lager above 6.5% ABV.
  • Urban Blue Bus, Street Pastors & Taxi Marshals part funded through the PCC Grant to help support the customers of the Night Time Economy in Maidstone town centre.
  • Part funded ‘Theatre ADAD’ to deliver the ‘WASTED – drug & alcohol education’ to 29 primary schools in the borough, this highlights to year 6 pupils the dangers of substance misuse.
  • Needle bin in Brenchley Gardens, continues to reduce needle finds by 50%.
  • Substance Misuse charities outreach being directed to 8 problematic areas in six months where young people congregate, consume drugs and/or alcohol and commit ASB.

 

 

5.5     Reducing Reoffending

Reducing re-offending across the age range is a Government target for all CSP’s. This is particularly important when those who have already been through the criminal justice system commit over half of all crime.

Reoffending data related to the NPS and the Kent Surrey & Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company (KSS CRC) is currently unavailable, with the first publication due from the MOJ in October 2017. This has unfortunately meant that reoffending data is unavailable.

 

However, the Integrated Offender Management (IOM) programme which is tasked with reducing reoffending rates of the most prolific offenders has reported a reduction of 45% in offending from the West Kent cohort compared with last year. 

 

In line with other methodology around criminal justice, the IOM cohort is being expanded to look at those presenting the most threat, risk & harm rather than just Serious Acquisitive Crime (SAC) offences.

 

 

 

Priority completed actions:

 

  • MBC are attending the West Kent Reducing Reoffending meetings to discuss IOM issues and share best practice.
  • Restorative Justice has become an embedded process within IOM. All offender managers have been briefed in relation to the process and benefits of these approaches.
  • Employability and physical activity has been provided as part of the IOM process by making gym memberships and training opportunities available to IOM offenders.
  • Community Payback scheme used by Maidstone Borough Council and some parish councils.
  • Expansion of the successful Electronic ‘Buddy’ tracking is being considered by Kent Police and Probation. At present this can only be undertaken with the agreement of the offender.
  • Exploring further interventions through public health to assist ex-offenders where substance misuse and/or mental health issues are prevalent.
  • Referring often homeless ex-offenders to housing providers and ensuring they have access to physical, mental and sexual health services.

 

 

5.6     Road Safety (killed or seriously injured - KSI)

 

Road traffic is still the biggest cause of unnatural death, injury and harm to the people of Kent, especially young people aged between 5 and 25.  Kent County Council is the Highway Authority for Kent and has a Statutory Duty under the Road Traffic Act for road safety with the aim to reduce casualties. The Safer Maidstone Partnership has maintained road safety as priority for the partnership in the past as it recognised the importance of making Maidstone’s roads safe.

 

KSI figures (killed or serious injured) for Maidstone have seen a decrease of 20.6% over the three years 2013-2015,  2015 – 50, 2014 – 74, 2013 – 63. This has been achieved despite limited actions or interventions from MBC. However, the number of 17-24 year-olds killed or seriously injured (KSI) as car occupants in Kent rose by 16 per cent from 51 in 2014 to 59 in 2015.

 

 

         KCC Road Safety Team and Kent Police have responsibilities and powers in relation to road safety that Maidstone Borough Council and others do not. There are 2 major motorways that run through the borough which contribute to a high number of casualties. Kent has the 7th highest amount of driver mileage (163 million km’s per year) out of 42 police forces.  Maidstone Borough Council has little or no influence or resources to affect casualty figures on these major routes through the borough.

 

Priority completed actions:

 

  • Identified hotspots of concern.
  • Identified repeat offenders for speeding and promoted Speedwatch.
  • Held multi-agency events around speed enforcement and safety.
  • Delivered Safety in Action programme to all primary school children transitioning to secondary school, providing road safety education and pedestrian awareness.
  • Promoted bus driver safety and pedestrian awareness
  • Created a road safety awareness DVD for Schools & Arriva buses.
  • KFRS Road Safety Experience in Rochester has opened, providing essential road safety skills for young people (14-25yr old) across the county.

 

 

 

5.7     Violent Crime (domestic abuse)

It is widely recognised that increased recorded incidents of domestic abuse are not necessary indicators of a worsening situation.  Domestic abuse is an under-reported crime so that increased reports indicate that DA victims are coming forward to report the abuse they are suffering. 

Between the periods September 2015 - August 2016, Maidstone had recorded 2683 incidents of Domestic abuse (26.4% average repeat victims) compared to 2258 incidents (26.2% repeat victims) in the same period in the previous year.  This translates to a 34% increase in cases, though percentages of repeat victim figures are virtually unchanged.

Domestic Abuse One Stop Shops offer free advice, information and support from a range of agencies under one roof to help victims of domestic abuse. Maidstone’s one stop shop is currently hosted at the Salvation Army and provides advice on housing, legal matters, policing and specialist DA advice.

Maidstone has seen a 42.3% increase in attendance at the One Stop Shop since last year which is the 2nd highest increase in the county. 93% of all visitors were from Maidstone with the remaining 7% coming from other districts, 11.7% of all visitors made a repeat visit compared with the previous year where 22% of attendees made a repeat visit.

 

Priority completed actions:

 

  • Partners have continued to run regular seasonal awareness campaigns aligned with national campaigns.
  • Work Place Health employee awareness campaign launched.
  • Supported the Freedom programme and Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) service.
  • DA awareness day for professionals with 121 attendees.
  • Facilitated support for Specialist Domestic Violence Court workers.
  • Promoted and supported the Community Domestic Abuse Programme (CDAP).
  • Referred all High Risk cases to Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC).
  • Provided support to male and female victims of DA through Choices.
  • Provided support for male offenders wishing to rehabilitate.
  • Helped facilitate the Sanctuary Scheme and assisted 25 victims to stay in their properties by making home security improvements
  • Increased referrals for domestic abuse victims who are street homeless.
  • Part funded theatre projects to secondary schools around healthy relationships.
  • Assisted in providing a domestic abuse One Stop Shop in the borough and supported its relocation.
  • Delivered targeted training to internal and external teams and supported the process of creating champion roles.
  • Running a social media DA questionnaire campaign targeting over 18’s in Maidstone.

 

 

Violent Crime (other)

Violent crime covers a wide range of crimes, from assault by beating through to grievous bodily harm, and murder. Please note however, the crime types which have been most affected by changes to recording practices are violence related offences, including Assault and Violence Against the Person (VATP). 

Maidstone has seen an increase of 26.3% in violent crime compared with the period of November 2014 – October 2015.  It’s important to mention that this may be attributed to a change in police recording.  This increase is below the division and county percentage and the 4th lowest increase out of 13 areas. 

Maidstone has a highly active night time economy (NTE) which generates around Ł60 million each year; this is considered to be a key contributing factor to the heightened levels of violence in High street ward for example. Bearing in mind Maidstone has the largest NTE in the county, it is still considered by agencies and the public as a relatively safe place to visit compared to similar large towns/cities.  This was enforced by an overall sense of feeling safe in the town via a public consultation into the town centre and NTE.

 

Priority completed actions:

·         In conjunction with MaidSafe, excluded violent individuals from the Town Centre premises.

·         Shared information proactively from CCTV control room and Kent Police via MaidSafe network radios provided to door staff of key premises.

  • Promoting the work of the Taxi Marshals, Street Marshals and the town centre Street Pastors initiatives.

·         Used CCTV to protect and prevent crime.

·         Enforced Alcohol Control Zones and used new powers to disperse problematic individuals.

Whilst the partnership delivers these proactive activities, further work needs to be done to ensure a reduction in violent crime in both the town centre wards and other high volume wards in the borough. The emergence of NPS use and rise in practices such as pre loading are all contributing factors that add towards the increase in violent crime.

 

Emerging priority - Mental Health

 

Approximately 75% of all cases discussed in the weekly community safety & vulnerabilities group meeting have a degree of mental health associated with them.  This is also true of previous self-neglect & hoarding cases.  Figures for Section 136 use in the borough (where an individual is sectioned for their own or others safety) have increased year on year for Maidstone and last year it was used 66 times. This is an increase of 46% over the previous 3 years.

 

From April 2017, those with mental health issues will not be kept in police custody as a ‘safe place’ when their behaviour is causing concern.  Pilots have commenced elsewhere in Kent for designated places for this use and more access to mental health professionals.  A future evaluation will determine what provision suits best and can be rolled out across the rest of the county.

 

Referrals for young adults and older people had seen a slight increase in most boroughs over the past 3 years (with 1358 and 701 referrals last year respectively).  However figures for 2016/17 show Maidstone could be on target for a slight decrease but this won’t be known fully until after April 2017.

 

A Mental Health subgroup will need to be created for this new priority, a scoping exercise will take place to explore what the local issues are relating to mental health. This and the points above will be considered when completing the associated action plan.

 

 

Anti-Social Behaviour in Maidstone

 

Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, requires responsible authorities to consider crime and disorder (including antisocial behaviour and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment). ASB was removed as a priority in name last year as it was seen as ‘business as usual’ with strong partnership working and information sharing continuing to resolve issues.

 

Figures have shown this year that there has been a slight increase of ASB of 3% in Maidstone from November 2015 – October 2016 with 3697 cases compared to 3588 in the previous year. District wide saw an increase of 0.5% in cases over the same period.  Since 2010, recorded ASB incidents in the borough have fallen though by 33.1%.

 

Reports of ASB direct to the MBC CSU for the 12 months from December 15 - November 16 amounted to 113 cases. The majority of these were neither investigated fully or the direct responsibility of MBC CSU staff.  They were however appropriately signposted to other departments and organisations, sharing necessary information and keeping an audit trail of data.

 

Despite the slight rise, this supports our decision to remove ASB as a priority in name last year which allowed us to explore more emerging issues.  The weekly CSU partnership meeting has recently evolved into a vulnerabilities group focusing on repeat locations as well as individuals.  It was found that many of those on the case list had a degree of mental health issue which would benefit from wider partnership involvement.

 

2017-18 SMP Priorities

 

As a result of the above summaries for each of the current priorities, the table below outlines the 2017-18 priorities and cross-cutting themes.

Data analysis acknowledged that the priorities are often inter-related and has identified three distinct cross cutting themes that run through all of the priority focus areas.  Actions contained within this plan are therefore built around the five identified priorities and three cross cutting themes, (see below).

Priorities & cross cutting themes

Organised Crime Groups (including Modern Slavery)

Gangs & Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)

Substance Misuse

Domestic Abuse and other Violent Crime

Mental Health  

ASB & Reducing Reoffending

Identifying Vulnerabilities

‘Prevent’ and Radicalisation

How we are going to tackle these issues

The SMP has created an action plan detailing how each priority will be addressed, which is shown in section 6.  These activities range from revising current processes to ensuring that services are delivered as effectively as possible, creating value for money and also commissioning new services and projects in areas of need.  The SMP is committed to achieving these priorities and has set targets against what we are planning to achieve.

Priority leads

Lead officers for each of the new priorities will be identified and have the responsibility for developing and delivering, with partners, the action plans to deliver the Maidstone borough priorities.

The leads will also act as a champion for the designated priority and provide regular progress updates for the Safer Maidstone Partnership and the borough council’s Community, Housing and Environment Committee as required.

 

 

Priority sub-groups

Lead Officer/Agency

OCGs including Modern Slavery

Matt Roberts, Maidstone Borough Council  & Inspector Jody Gagan-Cook, Kent Police

Gangs & Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)

Inspector Jody Gagan-Cook, Kent Police

Substance Misuse

Nic Rathbone, Maidstone Borough Council

Domestic Abuse & other Violent Crime

Nick Fenton, Kent County Council & Stacey Stewart, Golding Homes

Mental Health

To Be Confirmed



6.    Maidstone Community Safety Partnership Action Plan and Targets

 

The Action Plan sets out a series of actions and performance targets through which the priorities supporting the CSP Plan will be delivered for the period 2013–2018.  The Action Plan makes clear arguments for building stronger and safer communities in Maidstone, with the actions identified against each priority supporting the overarching aim to reduce crime and disorder and its impacts.  The plan will be reviewed annually to allow for new projects and priorities to be added.

PRIORITY 1: Organised Crime Groups (including modern slavery)

For the Maidstone borough to be well placed to tackle the issues of existing and new Organised Crime Groups (OCG)

 

 

Outcome (what we aim to achieve):

 

  • Understand the OCG ‘make-up’ in the Maidstone borough
  • Fewer  young people joining  OCGs
  • Resilient communities which promote inclusion
  • Increased multi-agency working and information sharing around OCGs

 

Action (how we aim to do it):

Lead Agency

By When:

 

  • Develop information and data sharing protocols, look at barriers to sharing intelligence and share local knowledge via the OCG subgroup
  • Deliver education and awareness to schools, parents and community groups
  • Multi-agency work to disrupt, utilising other agencies to gain entry and trust
  • Regular updates from the Police to partners around OCG issues in Maidstone

 

 

SMP Subgroup

 

Police & partners

Subgroup partners

Police

 

August 2017

 

March 2018

Ongoing

Ongoing

Indicators (how do we measure it):

 

·         Completion of a quarterly review of ‘Local Profiles’ on OCGs

  • A reduction in the level of activity of OCGs in the borough
  • Number of people outside the SMP that training/awareness is delivered to in 12 months
  • Number of OCGs subject to desk top exercise management

 

 

 

 

 

PRIORITY 2: Gangs & Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)

To recognise the different networks and situations that may feed into making an individual vulnerable to Gangs/CSE, make the community more resilient towards the risks of Gangs/CSE.

 

 

Outcome (what we aim to achieve):

 

  •  More reporting of suspected Gangs & CSE cases

·         Understand the Gangs ‘make-up’ in the Maidstone borough

  • Improved education and awareness raising around CSE
  • Establish Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH)
  • Improved information sharing and local links

 

Action (how we aim to do it):

Lead Agency

By When:

 

  • Improve links with the local Child Sexual Exploitation Team (CSET) via the Community Safety Vulnerabilities Group (CSVG) meetings
  • Quarterly multi-agency CSE meetings
  • Early intervention for victims (identification and support)
  • A common database for information exchange and/or case management

 

 

 

 

 

Indicators (how do we measure it):

 

·         Number of CSE cases reported (like DA reporting, an increase could be seen as a positive)

·         Number of early intervention actions made by partners feeding back to the subgroup

·         Number of individuals Gangs & CSE awareness training is delivered to by subgroup members

  • A reduction in the level of impact from Gangs in the borough

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRIORITY 3: Substance Misuse

To reduce the impact of drug and alcohol misuse on individuals and the local community, including underage drinking.

 

Outcome (what we aim to achieve):

  • A reduction in discarded needles in the borough
  • Fewer young people regularly using substances
  • Increase in percentage of charges and positive outcomes of drug arrests
  • Raised awareness of the risks of drugs & alcohol to high risk cohorts

 

Action (how we aim to do it):

Lead Agency

By When:

 

  • Continued support with needle exchange schemes and needle bin placements, ‘reporting app’ to be used by more agencies
  • Promoting awareness campaigns on the risks of drugs & alcohol and interaction with mental health via social and other media
  • Awareness and education around substance misuse to young people delivered through commissioning of new or existing services
  • Interrogate reasons for a ‘no charge’ for drug offence arrests and look at alternatives

 

 

CGL

 

Substance Misuse subgroup

 

Substance Misuse subgroup

 

Police

 

Ongoing

 

Ongoing

 

Ongoing

 

Quarterly

Indicators (how do we measure it):

 

  • Reduction in number of people in treatment choosing to inject drugs
  • Annual number of needle finds collated by street scene team (keep below 1,000)
  • Number of people reached on awareness campaigns
  • Number of pupils having substance misuse awareness delivered to them
  • Increase in charges laid as a percentage of outcomes from previous year
  • An increase in public perception of safety in the night time economy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRIORITY 4: Domestic Abuse & other violent crime

N.B. Due to the Maidstone Domestic Violence Forum recently changing to the Domestic Abuse subgroup, a full action plan for inclusion into the Partnership Plan has yet to be completed. This will be formulated by the subgroup at their next meeting.

 

 

Outcome (what we aim to achieve):

 

 

 

Action (how we aim to do it):

Lead Agency

By When:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRIORITY 5: Mental Health

 

A persons mental health affects the way they respond to challenges in their daily life, either as a victim of crime or anti-social behaviour or how they behaviour in their community, often making them a perpetrator due the anti-social behaviours they exhibit.

 

Outcome (what we aim to achieve):

 

To better understand the landscape of mental health; the issues and the demand for services and support in order to build resilience and reduce the impact of crime and anti-social behaviour on people with poor mental health and prevent them from becoming perpetrators during periods of crisis.

 

Action (how we aim to do it):

Lead Agency

By When:

 

N.B. A full list of actions will be completed for this new priority by the subgroup at their first meeting.

 

 

 

 

Indicators (how do we measure it):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


7.         Consultation on Priorities and Partnership Plan

 

Maidstone has some clearly defined urban as well as rural areas, often with competing demands on resources and emphasis on what local priorities should be.  Through the annual Strategic Assessment and future consultation events, stakeholders will be informed of progress against the Partnership Plan to ensure there are no other compelling issues that should be included in the Plan.

 

8.         Further information

 

Maidstone Community Safety Unit

Tel: 01634 602000

 

Maidstone Police Station

Non-emergency Tel: 101

Emergency Tel: 999

 

Kent Fire and Rescue Service

Tel: 01622 692121

 

One-Stop Shop

Maidstone Gateway reception, Maidstone Borough Council, King Street, Maidstone, Kent ME15 6GY

Tel: 01622 761146

 

Domestic Abuse Hotline Domestic Abuse Support and Services in Kent

Tel: 0808 2000247

www.domesticabuseservices.org.uk

 

Anti-Terrorist Hotline

Tel: In confidence on 0800 789321

 

Mental Health

Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
Tel: 01622 724100

www.kmpt.nhs.uk

 

Restorative Justice

Maidstone Mediation

Tel: 01622 692843

 

Project Salus

Tel: 01303 817470

 

Text service for the deaf or speech-impaired

If you're deaf or speech-impaired, you can text Kent Police. Start the message with the word ‘police’ then leave a space and write your message including what and where the problem is. Send your text to 60066 (the Kent Police communications centre) and they will reply with a message.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 1

 

Methodology Notes:

 

SPC Charts Explained

 

Statistical Process Control (SPC) Charts are a tool used by Kent Police to help identify whether there has been any significant improvements or deteriorations in a particular crime type. 

 

When a category is stable and in control, the data will appear within a set of predicted limits based on past knowledge and experience.  Although there will be some natural variation around the average (also known as common cause variation) as long as the figures remain within the control limits there has been no significant changes to what was anticipated.

 

If the category was unstable and displayed uncontrolled variation (also known as special cause variation), the data would not follow a predicted pattern and would indicate that something had changed and action might be required.

 

Natural variation indicates that any change from month-to-month is expected, e.g. the time you come to work every day varies by a few minutes around an average, however if there was an accident on the road then the time taken to come to work would be significantly longer, this would be unnatural variation indicating that something has gone awry.

 

SPC charts are generated based on historical data to produce the following:

  • The Centre Line (CL) which is the average no. of recorded crimes / incidents
  • The Upper (UCL) and Lower Control Limits (LCL) which are the limits of natural variation

 

Any result above the UCL suggests that there may be a problem.  In addition, other indications that a category is out of statistical control includes when several results in a row are above the CL or when several results in a row show an increasing trend.

 

If the figures are consistently below the CL this indicates an improvement and will result in the centre line and the control limits being lowered, often referred to as a ‘step change’.  Similarly if the figures for a specific category rise due possibly to an increase in activity; a revision to the data (i.e. back-record conversion); or possibly a change in what is recorded within each category then the CL and control limits may need to be raised.

 

NB. If the control limits are closer together this indicates a low level of variation around the average and shows that the category is in control, a wider gap between the limits indicates greater variation and less control.

 

Example of a Kent Police SPC Chart:

 

 

 

Appendix 1

 

MoRiLE:

 

The Kent Community Safety Unit has explored the use of the MoRiLE (Management of Risk in Law Enforcement) scoring matrix to look at ranking offences based on threat, risk and harm. Maidstone Borough Council and others in Kent have incorporated this methodology within this year’s Strategic Assessment.

 

The ideology behind MoRiLE is that it targets resources at offences that would have the biggest impact on individuals and organisations/areas.  This is in contrast to concentrating solely on crime figure tables which can sometimes provide a skewed view on threats and risk based only on the frequency/volume of crimes.

 

Each thematic crime area is scored individually against various criteria.  There is then a formula that calculates a final score.  These are then ranked high to low, listing priorities based on threat, risk & harm which can then contribute to the SMP’s final recommendation of priorities.

 

Serious Organised Crime Local Profiles:

 

Aims:

  • To develop a common understanding among local partners of the threats, vulnerabilities and risks relating to serious and organised crime.
  • To provide information on which to base local programmes and action plans.
  • To support the mainstreaming of serious and organised crime activity into day-to-day policing, local government and partnership work.
  • To allow a targeted and proportionate use of resources. 

 

Purpose:

  • Local Profiles should inform local multi-agency partnerships, in particular police and crime commissioners, policing teams, local authorities and other relevant partners (such as education, health and social care and Immigration Enforcement); of the threat from serious and organised crime and the impact it is having on local communities.

 

What do we do with the Local Profile?

  • The profile outlines key serious and organised crime issues within your district and provides information on what the offences are, what to look for, recognised serious and organised crime within your community and what to do if you see or suspect anything.  This allows us all to PREVENT young people and vulnerable adults from becoming involved in crime and helping to protect and safeguard those that may already be involved through identifying and working together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 2

 

Acronym Glossary:

 

 

ASB = Anti-Social Behaviour

CCG = Clinical Commissioning Group

CDAP = Community Domestic Abuse Programme

CDRP = Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership

CGL = Change, Grow, Live

CSA = Community Safety Agreement

CSE = Child Sexual Exploitation

CSP = Community Safety Partnership

CSU = Community Safety Unit

DA = Domestic Abuse

IDVA = Independent Domestic Violence Advisor

IOM = Integrated Offender Management

JSNA = Joint Strategic Needs Assessment

KCC = Kent County Council

KSI = Killed or Seriously Injured

KSSCRC = Kent Surrey & Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company

MARAC = Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference

MBC = Maidstone Borough Council

MoRiLE = Management of Risk in Law Enforcement

NPS = National Probation Service or New Psychoactive Substances depending on context

NTE = Night Time Economy

OCG = Organised Crime Group

PCC = Police & Crime Commissioner

SMP = Safer Maidstone Partnership

SOC = Serious Organised Crime

SPC = Statistical Process Charts

VATP = Violence Against The Person

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 3

CSP Organisational Chart