After considering the 2004 Community Safety Audit and public consultation, the Partnership decided that it’s Community Safety Strategy for 2005 to 2008 should concentrate on three main themes: 

• Anti-Social Behaviour
• Violent Crime and 
• Acquisitive Crime (burglary & vehicle crime).

Anti-social Behaviour (ASB)

The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 has given the police, councils, housing officers and others the tools to address anti-social behaviour.  There are ways of addressing this problem without having to resort to the powers under the Act and we encourage informal agreements or contracts between parties to improve behaviour. 

For more information read the ASB Team page.

Local residents who are experiencing persistent problems of ASB are encouraged to report incidents to their nearest District Office for CAN Rangers and/or the Police on 0845 123 33 33.
 
Violent Crime

Violent crime accounts for 22% of all crime in the District of Bolsover. Most violent crime recorded by the police is low level and involves little or no physical injury to the victim.  The Partnership will concentrate primarily on domestic abuse and alcohol related violence as they are the most common. Nationally, domestic abuse accounts for 23% of violent crime (British Crime Survey, 2000). There is also a strong link between incidents of violence and licensed premises.
 
Acquisitive Crime

The Partnership will concentrate specifically on domestic burglary and vehicle crime. Public consultation showed that burglary is the number one priority of local communities in Bolsover and vehicle crime makes up 13% of all crime in the District of Bolsover.
 

Common Themes

Prolific and Priority Offenders (PPOs)

This scheme identifies those individuals who are the most prolific offenders, or the most persistently anti-social in their behaviour and those who pose the greatest threat to the safety and confidence of their local communities.
 
The Prolific and Other Priority Offender (PPO) Strategy was launched by the Government in Summer 2004. It has three strands:

• Prevent & Deter
• Catch & Convict
• Rehabilitate & Resettle

We have the responsibly for implementing the Strategy and this forms one of our common themed priorities. To look at each element we have set up individual multi-agency sub groups to find ways forward.

Drugs and Alcohol

Drugs - Drug use is associated with higher levels of criminal behaviour than non-drug use. Using burglary and drugs offence data, analysis showed a strong correlation between drugs offences and burglary.

Alcohol - There are higher rates of violent incidents throughout the District of Bolsover from evenings through to the early hours of the morning. The rates are also much higher for Friday and Saturday indicating a strong link to alcohol. Violent incidents are also four times higher in areas with a pub or club than those without.

The Partnership will continue to engage with the Drug and Alcohol Action Group in order to maintain a multi-agency approach to tackle drug and alcohol related crimes. (see Action Teams page)
 
Fear of Crime

Often, the fear of crime is much greater than the reality. The Citizen’s Panel Survey results showed that around 40% of respondents said they were ‘very worried’ about crime in the Bolsover area or felt  unsafe whilst walking alone at night. In reality the actual risk of becoming a victim of crime is very low. Business’ experience of crime also suggests that the perception of crime levels is much higher than reality.

There are many different social, environmental and personal factors that may contribute to the fear of crime and this fear can affect our quality of life as individuals.

We will continue to take a multi-agency approach to reducing the fear of crime. We will meet with vulnerable groups on a regular basis to inform and feed-back on new initiatives and success stories. We will help find local solutions to local issues. We will also encourage vulnerable groups to take sensible precautions to reduce the risk of becoming a victim and ensure that crime reporting facilities are easily accessible and non-threatening.