SAFE NEWCASTLE PLAN 2022-2025 - Tackling crime, protecting communities

1. Foreword

Newcastle is a safe city.  We have worked hard over many years to improve community safety, tackle offending and to protect and support victims which has resulted in a sustained period of crime reduction.  However, we are also witnessing changes in crime types with the growth of technology and the development of the internet, with the increasing need to protect the most vulnerable within our communities.
 
Over the last few years, we have continued to focus on emerging issues which impact on the community safety of residents in Newcastle.  These priorities sit in addition to the vast amount of work that we already deliver across the partnership to tackle other aspects of crime and disorder, support victims and improve community confidence.
 
Safe Newcastle continues to face the significant task of meeting existing challenges in the context of unprecedented year on year cuts to public services in Newcastle as well as the personal uncertainty for some of our residents. These cuts impact on the work we can deliver to communities, families, and individuals.  They present us with difficult choices around demand and how we continue to deliver our services. Nevertheless, they also highlight the importance of partnership working.  By working together to tackle key issues we can deliver the best use of limited resources across all agencies and sectors.
 
Going forward, we are adapting our response in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.  We want our residents and communities to continue to feel safe.   Being safe is not only important to local residents and communities, it's also key to attracting business investment. Crime is expensive, it impacts on people, businesses and communities. Crime causes distrust and fear between people and between communities.  Victims can be frightened, less confident, incur costs to get damage repaired, property replaced, and it costs to be off work.
 
By working together to tackle crime, there will be fewer victims, communities that are stronger and more confident - and we’ll also save resources and money. We are pleased therefore to introduce the Safe Newcastle Plan for 2022-25.
 
Chair: Cllr C Penny-Evans
Vice Chair: Supt J Pitt
 

2. Introduction

Safe Newcastle is required by law to produce a delivery plan.  This plan is for 2022-2025.
 
This plan is aligned to other key plans such as Northumbria’s Police and Crime Plan, the Youth Justice Plan, National Drug Strategy, Newcastle Drug and Alcohol Delivery Plan, Counter Terrorism Local Plan and those of our statutory partners -  Newcastle City Council (NCC), Northumbria Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC), National Probation Service (NPS), Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) and the Newcastle and Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
 
The partnership will continue to work on core business such as tackling and preventing crime and anti-social behaviour, reducing reoffending, supporting victims, keeping neighbourhoods safe and improving community confidence.  We will also work across partners to respond to the changing nature of community safety following the global Coronavirus pandemic.
 
The partnership carries out an annual strategic assessment of community safety issues across Newcastle to understand what the key issues are that need to be prioritised.  Information from a wide range of sources and partners are sourced and brought together.  The strategic assessment allows us to look at our core business and make any necessary adjustments to interventions but more importantly it provides us with the intelligence to agree what our key priorities are and assists us to allocate resources where we will have the greatest impact or how best to work with partners to use existing resources or services more effectively
Safe Newcastle has considered the findings of the strategic assessment and agreed the following priorities:
 
  • Reduce the impact of anti-social behaviour
  • Reduce the harm and impact of drugs & alcohol
  • Reduce domestic abuse and sexual violence
  • Reduce hate crime and community tensions
  • Tackle serious & organised crime
  • Prevent radicalisation

 

3. Demand for Community Safety in Newcastle

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4. What we will continue doing

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5. Strategic Priorities

The priorities identified through the strategic assessment are shared with other strategic partnerships in Newcastle, such as health & wellbeing and safeguarding.
 
Safe Newcastle works closely with these partnerships and there is significant cross over of work within these priorities.  Safe Newcastle also collaborates on shared issues, with neighbouring Community Safety Partnerships and with other Core Cities across the UK.
 
The key actions within these priorities are as follows:
 

Reduce the impact of Anti-Social Behaviour

This work is led by the Strategic ASB Group
 
  • Develop the multi-agency intelligence picture around ASB, building on the previous multi-agency Problem Profiles
  • Implement the local partnership ASB policy
  • Implement the partnership communication strategy – building on communications used by partners, to let communities and other partners know the work we are delivering
 

Reduce the harm and impact of drug & alcohol

This work is led by the Drug & Alcohol Governance Board
 
  • Make better use of existing datasets and intelligence to help shape services and respond to community issues – including development of a ward based ‘index of wellbeing’
  • Continue a partnership approach to tackling drug supply through the Central Drugs Alliance monitoring changing trends and threats
  • Advocate on national issues like Minimum Unit Pricing and a Public Health licensing objective – including developing an evidence base to demonstrate the local impact of alcohol related harms
  • Monitor substance-related offending and effectiveness of interventions through the criminal justice pathway and following release

 

Reduce domestic abuse and sexual violence

This work is led by the Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board
 
  • Carry out consultation on the Needs Assessment to supplement the multi-agency local intelligence picture of violence against women and girls and identify gaps in current service provision to inform future commissioning decisions
  • Oversee and monitor the work plan for the Domestic Abuse Strategy

 

This work is overseen by the Levy Board and the Licensing Board
 
  • Continue to support the roll out of the Shout Up Campaign to address sexual harassment in the night-time economy

 

This work is led by the White Ribbon Steering Group
 
  • Support the implementation of Newcastle City Council’s White Ribbon work programme, monitoring activity to ensure implementation of activity to support the accreditation requirements
 

Reduce hate crime and community tensions

This work is led by the Hate Crime and Community Tensions Monitoring Group
 
  • Develop a multi-agency intelligence picture around hate crime in Newcastle, incorporating systems for early identification and response to the potential community tension escalation
  • Continue to build community & voluntary sector engagement around hate crime and monitoring community tensions
  • Increase hate incident reporting to SHUK including further engagement across sectors to encourage use of the system
  • Continue to roll out the Hate Crime champions programme in the Council, with and support the network of Champions within the organisation

 

Tackle serious and organised crime

This work is led by the Northumbria Police partnership for tackling organised crime (Operation Sentinel)
 
  • Secure partnership wide resources to tackle agreed priorities in relation to Serious Organised Crime
  • Monitor the actions in the CESV Strategy to ensure partners are working together to tackle the issues identified
  • Enhance partnership input into Northumbria Police’s Threat Harm & Risk process’ ensuring appropriate actions are taken to ensure threats are reduced and vulnerable people receive appropriate intervention
  • Work with the Violence Reduction Unit to ensure we are prepared for the new Serious Violence Duty
 

Prevent radicalisation

This work is led by the Contest Board
 
  • Seek to further engage with the education sector by providing a range of Prevent awareness products and training to staff, pupils and parents, in order to reduce the risk of radicalisation to young people
  • Continue to develop shared practice and Prevent duty compliance with statutory, non-statutory and community & voluntary sector partners through the work of the Prevent Delivery Group
  • Continue to develop and strengthen community engagement and relationships across the city, seeking to develop community-based projects that work towards supporting and diverting vulnerable individuals from extremism and radicalisation