Agenda item

Sheffield Community Safety Partnership - Annual Reporting

To receive a presentation from the co-chair of the Community Safety Partnership.

Minutes:

6.1

The Committee received a presentation on the Sheffield Community Safety Partnership which was given by Councillor Jim Steinke (Co-Chair of Community Safety Partnership and Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety), with additional comments from Chief Superintendent Shaun Morley (South Yorkshire Police) and Maxine Stavrianakos (Head of Neighbourhood Intervention and Tenant Support).

 

 

6.2

Councillor Steinke explained that the Community Safety Partnership was a statutory requirement to have a local strategy for tackling community safety issues and was led by the Police and the Local Authority, which aimed to bring together expertise, knowledge and consistency.  He said that it had been a successful year for the Partnership but realised there was still a lot of work to do. He referred to the performance comparison chart which showed that Sheffield favourably compared with other local authorities in that it was below average in terms of recorded crime.  Councillor Steinke referred to the community safety plan priorities for 2018-20, and emerging issues such as gangs and youth violence; anti-social behaviour and crime, with the focus on the use of Spice; and knife crime and serious violence.  He felt that the reintroduction of Police Neighbourhood Teams was key and the benefits these teams brought to communities was beneficial. 

 

 

6.3

Members of the Committee asked a number of questions, and responses were given as follows:-

 

 

 

·                     The national picture on knife crime overshadows the fact that Sheffield is one of the few cities in England that has a 12% reduction in knife crime and those that carry a knife in the city were more likely to get caught.  A lot of time and energy has been invested in this.

 

 

 

·                     The co-located team based at Moorfoot and the Police and Communications Unit were working to drip feed information to members of the public to address perception of knife crime within the city.

 

 

 

·                     It was acknowledged that the different parts of the city were affected in different ways and social media had an impact on how information was communicated.  During the week, The Star newspaper had ran an excellent campaign “Alive Drop The Knife” which had been very well received.

 

 

 

·                     The role that education plays throughout the city’s schools is vitally important. The aim was to make sure that, through activities in school, all pupils in Year 7 and above have an awareness of knife crime and what could happen if they make the wrong decisions.  Both poverty and exclusion from school could lead to crime. It had been found that there were very clear links between exposure to adverse childhood experiences and criminal justice, employment and educational outcomes, and breaking the cycle across generations was vitally important.

 

 

 

·                     Assumptions were made about people who were considered to be vulnerable and often they could go through appauling circumstances but were still resilient and it was essential that these people receive the help they need.

 

 

 

·                     After the EU Referendum, South Yorkshire Police recorded a number of racist attacks and it is thought that, following Brexit, there could be a sustained spike in hate crime, bullying, offensive graffiti, online abuse and an increased threat of violence, and should Article 50 be extended the more tension could be created. There was a clear need to get the message across and make sure people report such incidents.

 

 

 

·                     Sheffield had a multi-agency approach to tackling organised crime and it was recognised that child exploitation was a well organised profit-making business.

 

 

 

·                     Neighbourhood Action Groups (NAGs) were very useful in getting information into the communities with regard to tackling anti-social behaviour and community safety and it was felt there was a need to build on multi-agency meetings, although NAGs were no longer prevalent  throughout the city.

 

 

 

·                     Operation Fortify, which was Sheffield’s multi-agency approach to tackling organised crime, had seized drugs, stolen vehicles and a firearm, had also carried out a number of arrests and made referrals into safeguarding for children and vulnerable adults.  With regard to the proportion of drugs that had been seized and the large amount of cannabis compared to other drugs was mainly due to the fact that cannabis was more widely available.

 

 

6.4

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

 

 

 

(a)       thanks Councillor Jim Steinke, Chief Superintendent Shaun Morley and Maxine Stavrianakos for their contribution to the meeting;

 

 

 

(b)       notes the contents of the presentation, and the Member and officer comments; and

 

 

 

(c)        requests that arrangements be made for Members of the Committee to visit Operation Fortify

 

Supporting documents: