Crime Reduction

The Crime & Disorder Act 1998 made it a legal responsibility for public bodies to work together to reduce crime.  These responsibilities were reinforced and extended by the Police Reform Act 2002, which required a wide range of organisations to co-operate with the responsible authorities to reduce crime.

Swindon Community Safety Partnership’s approach is to work together and merge resources to address areas of concern identified by residents:

• Reducing anti-social behaviour
• Reducing violent crime
• Reducing misuse of drugs
• Reducing victimisation

By implementing programmes to address these issues, the Partnership works towards reducing these offences and improving community safety.

Did you know?

The British Crime Survey indicates Swindon has one of the lowest rates of recorded crime in England.  Despite this, fear of crime and perceptions of safety remain disproportionately high in Swindon.  Although crime tends to fluctuate, there has been a significant reduction in some crimes over the three years 2003 to 2006:

• Domestic burglary - down 36 per cent
• Theft from a vehicle - down 17 per cent
• Common assault - down 12 per cent
• Theft of a vehicle - down 8 per cent
• Robbery - down 5 per cent
• Theft from the person - down 4 per cent

The Community Safety Partnership works to ensure levels of crime remain low and reductions in this kind of offending behaviour and other types of crime are achieved through targeted initiatives that focus on:

• Location - where different crimes are likely to occur
• Individuals - engaging with those most likely to commit crime or behave in an anti-social way
• Victims - work with people and organisations most likely to suffer the consequences of crime

Some of the things we do

The Partnership works to reduce the number of reported crimes in the “comparator crime” group.  Targets have been set through the Local Area Agreement to reduce the number of reported crimes in this group by 17.5 per cent by 2009.  Comparator crimes are:

• Woundings (serious and other)
• Common assault
• Robbery of personal property
• Theft from person
• Theft or unauthorised taking of vehicles
• Theft from a vehicle
• Vehicle interference
• Domestic burglary
• Criminal damage
• Theft or unauthorised taking of a cycle

This set covers about 60 per cent of all recorded crimes.

The aim is to develop a co-ordinated approach to crime reduction with our partners.  The Partnership looks at different programmes and projects to engage with people at risk, those already involved in offending and persistent offenders.  It also looks at a range of other interventions in the community to address local concerns.

Crime reduction work can include

• Raising awareness of, for example, security at home and being safe outdoors by producing information such as posters, leaflets, brochures and media releases
• Diversionary programmes – linking with existing programmes run by other organisations to engage those at risk or involved in crime and anti-social behaviour
• Marking and registering schemes to ensure vehicle security
• Community initiatives to address local problems, for example Neighbourhood Safety Teams (NeSTs)
• Dealing with specific problems such as drug and alcohol abuse through awareness raising and targeted prevention
• Involvement in neighbourhood initiatives to improve local community safety and quality of life
• Working with the Drug Interventions Programme and Prolific and Priority Offenders Programme to engage with substance misusing offenders at all stages of the criminal justice system and channel them into the local treatment system to reduce harm, both to the individual and society in general, and to rehabilitate them into the community

Crime Reduction Updates

The following advice sheets are available as downloadable pdf files:

• Reduce car crime - portable satellite navigation units (32Kb)
• Help to keep your bike safe (25Kb)
• How secure is your shed? - security of your outbuildings (33Kb)
• Don't be tricked by letter scams (35Kb)
• Prevent theft from your vehicle (26Kb)

Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust

The Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust is a registered charity and is entirely responsible for raising all the funds needed to operate the Bobby project.

The Bobby Van project consists of three vans that are, in effect, mobile workshops.  The Bobby operators are skilled carpenters/lock-fitters and are trained Crime Reduction Officers.  They have also been trained by Wiltshire Fire & Rescue to carry out fire risk assessments with the aim of improving fire safety awareness.  They wear uniforms that resemble those worn by police officers.  For more information please click here to download the pdf file: Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust (32Kb).