Local Initiatives
Operation Droplet
Operation Droplet was a major operation tackling vehicle crime in the Darlington area. The operation's aim was to tackle increased theft of satnav systems, number plates and bags/holdalls/briefcases etc. A large proportion of thefts from motor vehicles in Darlington occur as a result of property being left on display and are therefore preventable. Work to educate motorists of the need to remove all valuables remains ongoing and has included leaflet drops and a media campaign which involves utilising advertising space on the rear of local buses.
A small team of officers were deployed concentrating on vehicle crime and the main suspects for this type of offence. The officers targeted 'hot-spot' areas for vehicle crime with covert patrols, following up each individual crime to ensure that the potential to detect the offences was increased. The team have had a number of successes with arrests and multiple detections for vehicle crime and other associated offences. The team has also concentrated on diverting the offenders away from crime using varying diversionary schemes in association with external agencies/partners.
The contribution made by the team has been the major factor in recorded vehicle crime showing a year to date reduction of 26.0%, which is the highest reduction in the force area
Organised Crime & National Security
The focus on national security continues and at a local level much work is being done to ensure there is trust and relationships are well established across all communities. Beat officers and police community support officers invest time and effort in developing contacts and relationships so that they are readily made aware of criminal or any other suspicious activity. They are well briefed on the need to encourage alertness and the reporting of any unusual behaviour, without raising the fear of crime disproportionately.
Increase in the PCSO establishment
We now have 22 PCSOs deployed around the borough of Darlington. These resources are fully integrated into the neighbourhood policing team. They each have their own beat areas where they work closely with the beat officer and form working links with Darlington Borough Council resources such as the uniform wardens and street scene teams. The value of these officers is clearly demonstrated in the positive feedback from Ccuncillors and members of the public via meetings and anecdotal comments.
Uniform Crime Team
This team consists of a sergeant and five constables drawn from beat officers and response teams. Their focus is to expedite the investigation of crimes where there are named suspects. The crimes which the team deal with vary from very minor incidents of criminal damage to serious assaults and vehicle crime. Since the creation of the team in June 2006 the officers have secured well over 1,000 detections. The work carried out by the unit has provided valuable support to the area teams, which in turn allows response and neighbourhood teams to focus on the area priorities.
Dispersal order - Nightingale Avenue / Springfield school site
As a result of ongoing and historical problems with crime and anti-social behaviour in the Nightingale Avenue/ Springfield Park area of Darlington and after prolonged discussion with Darlington Borough Council and other agencies a decision was made to implement a dispersal order under Section 30 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003.
This order ran from Friday 27th October 2006 until Sunday 29th July 2007.
The order basically prevented groups of two or more people gathering in the designated area of Nightingale Avenue and the old Springfield school site. The order provided powers to police officers, police community support officers and uniform wardens to disperse groups of people from the area if they suspect local people have suffered or may suffer harassment, alarm or distress as a result of their presence there. The order also provided powers of arrest in certain circumstances should an individual return to the area within 24 hours.
A total of 302 young people were asked to leave the dispersal order area and 70 letters sent out to those individuals who have returned inside the 24 hour time period. The general feedback from local residents is that the order has been successful and has improved their quality of life by reducing incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour in their area.
Safer Schools Partnership - Eastbourne Comprehensive school
The Safer School Partnership was commenced in January 2007 at Eastbourne Comprehensive School, Darlington. The partnership is between the school, Darlington Borough Council, youth offending team and police with a police officer being based within the school environment.
The objectives of the partnership are to -
Reduce truancy and exclusions
Reduce victimisation and anti-social behaviour within the school and it's community
Identify and work with children and young people at risk of becoming victims or offenders
Ensure the full time education of young offenders
Support school staff in dealing with incidents of crime, victimisation or anti-social behaviour
Support vulnerable children and young people through periods of transition
Promote the full participation of children and young people in the life of the school and it's wider community
This type of partnership has proved to be successful in other areas of the country and it is hoped that, with time, it will have a similar effect in Darlington.
StreetSafe Initiative - Northgate
The Streetsafe operation was a multi-agency initiative to tackle issues effecting residents quality of life in Northgate. The operation ran over a 7 day period in May and involved neighbourhood policing teams, Darlington Borough Councils anti-social behaviour team and uniformed wardens, youth services, environmental and housing departments, community partnerships and public protection division together with fire and rescue. During the operation the following represents a small percentage of activities that were undertaken: - 5 arrests were made, 22 fixed penalty notices were issued for various offences, 67 home fire safety checks were made, 111 people were prosecuted for no road tax and graffiti was removed from 12 locations. In addition to this 700 homes received information on fire safety and arson reduction.
Licensing Unit
Where issues are raised with the management of specific premises the police have actively sought to initiate reviews under the Licensing Act 2003. There have been 5 such reviews, all of which have been successful in that the outcomes have been that appropriate additional conditions have been placed on premises licenses. As a result the numbers of incidents from these premises has been reduced due to improvements in their management.
The police and Trading Standards have conducted joint initiatives and test purchase operations, this work in ongoing. Any premises found to be selling alcohol to under aged children will be dealt with under the relevant legislation.
Doorstep crime
Much multi agency work is ongoing in relation to 'doorstep crime'. This is where a victim is conned by criminals whilst actually in their own home. Often victims suffer repeatedly. The Darlington neighbourhood team are identifying potential victims and providing additional support. A good deal of effort has also been put into wider community involvement to make all residents in Darlington safer, by encouraging everyone to look after their neighbours. This is an ongoing piece of work which is now escalation to involve more and more partner agencies from public, private and voluntary sectors.
