Local Initiatives
Street Safe West Cornforth
During the first two weeks of October 2007, a joint agency Streetsafe initiative was carried out in the area of West Cornforth. The aim of the operation was to visibly tackle anti social behaviour and signal crime which at the same time would offer reassurance to residents of that area.
A consultation phase in September was followed by publicity through the CDRP website and the Northern Echo. High visibility patrols were carried out jointly by PCSO's and Neighbourhood Wardens, utilising the mobile CCTV van. A coordinated clean up operation was conducted by Sedgefield Borough Council and multi organization beat surgeries were held. A number of police drugs search warrants were executed in the area, and joint agency road checks were held. Leaflet drops and a walkabout were carried out to update the community on all of the work being carried out and to enable the local community to pass on any concerns
Farmwatch
The Farm watch initiative was launched in February 2008 in response to an increase in reported thefts of farming and agricultural equipment from farm buildings. The main aim is to increase and facilitate the need for two way information sharing between Farm owners and local Police. The scheme has been implemented and initially administered by PCSO Louise Armstrong, the PCSO responsible for West Cornforth and Bishop Middleham, this being one of the main local areas having the highest number of agricultural premises. Farmers who believe they witness something suspicious or Police who have information which needs to be shared can leave a voice message on a confidential phone line, this message is then automatically passed round the phone numbers of those farms involved in the scheme and messages are left. This enables the information to be disseminated quickly and effectively without officers having to contact individuals. Feedback from local farmers has been positive so far and it is providing a vital link between the Police and what can be isolated premises. Once the scheme is fully operational it is hoped that it will become widely available and used within the Sedgefield Borough as a whole.
Knife Crime
Youths from The Ladder Centre in Ferryhill have been responsible for writing, presenting and producing a DVD covering the legislation and problems associated to knife carrying and knife crime within the Community. During a youth session in the spring of 2007 an incident occurred within the centre where a knife had to be confiscated from a young person who pulled it out of his pocket and put it to another young person’s throat to demonstrate a scene from a film. It became evident that several young people using the centre regularly carried knives for a variety of reasons. As a result of discussions between the group, staff and Police, the youth group decided they wanted to make other young people aware of the dangers associated with knifes and started looking at resources such as leaflets, posters and DVDs. They soon found they weren’t many resources available that young people could relate to.Therefore, the group decided that it would be a good idea to make a DVD that encompassed interviewing victims and perpetrators of knife crime, speaking to police and filming reconstructions of crimes. The youth group found a company called Talent Star, a media company who would support them in filming, directing and editing the DVD. The young people along with staff subsequently applied to County Durham Foundation in order to fund this project. The DVD was launched within the Ferryhill Streetsafe Initiative at the beginning of February, the youth group intend to distribute the DVD to all schools and youth facilities within the Sedgefield area and the film is also being shown on the life channel which is shown during break times at local comprehensive schools.
The youths from The Ladder Centre have recently attended a ceremony at Durham Castle where they were presented with a Shrievalty award recognising and praising the message the DVD portrays. They have since been nominated for a National award as further recognition of this excellent work. The youths now intend to build on this success and produce a DVD covering Anti Social Behaviour in a similar manner.
Operation Maxamino
Since March 2007 the beat team at Ferryhill have focussed upon tackling wider volume crime in the town, particularly shed/garage burglaries alongside thefts from motor vehicles).
As such they have sought to disrupt the activities of individual criminals in the town based upon intelligence.
A large amount of property identified as stolen has also been recovered following a total of 66 house searches and reunited with its proper owners.
Maximino has had over 200 arrests with a high percentage of the arrests resulted in charges and a number of remands in custody. There has been a reduction in vehicle crime and burglary offences have fallen.
Citizen focus
The following is one example of many problem solving activities carried out by the Spennymoor Team.
This relates to an address on Neale Street, which is located within the Dean bank area of Ferryhill. The occupant, a vulnerable elderly lady had been a repeat burglary victim. She was targeted whilst she was away from her home address carrying out road crossing patrols for children within her local community. A home visit was carried out by the crime reduction officer as well as her local beat officer. They found it to be in a poor state of repair, had a large volume of rubbish inside as well as insecure doors to the front and rear, the property showed a total sign of neglect. The following joint agency work was carried out: Police security assessment and installation of covert technical equipment, a Police response plan was initiated, UV marking of property, increased patrols and regular reassurance visits. A confidential referral was made to Age Concern who at our request completed the necessary security work free of charge and assisted with the clear up inside and out of the property.
Police also liaised with SBC who reissued the winter fuel payment after the original was stolen and cashed.
Bottlewatch
The Bottle watch initiative, launched in March 2008 is aimed at reducing street drinking and its related crime and disorder. This scheme involves marking the alcohol beverages preferred by under age youths with a tamper proof sticker. Each sticker is individual to particular premises. Seizures of alcohol and discarded bottle finds can then be tracked back to the premises that sold them. Retailers are more confident in questioning dubious large sales to adults also take more care in checking customer's ages. Early indications are that sales have been tightened up and individuals purchasing alcohol for the children are being identified.
Snowlaketown.
Operation Snowlaketown, which runs from January through to March 08, is a partnership problem solving group looking at the area of Dean Bank in Ferryhill. The group is focused on tackling much of the deprivation in the area and in particular anti social behaviour and its related issues. This has been done in many ways including a general clean up, improvement in housing conditions, patrols by Police and Wardens, visits to schools, multi agency vehicle inspections, increased targeting of offenders through two weeks of action. Results have shown that there has been a significant increase in community confidence and reassurance leading to a considerable reduction in crime and disorder. Most notably a 77% reduction in anti social behaviour in January. An unforeseen positive knock on effect was the increased liaison between agencies as a result of their involvement in the project.
Selective licensing.
Selective licensing is the introduction of designated areas in Chilton West and Dean Bank where private landlords have to register with the Borough Council. Before accepting new tenants landlords will check their suitability with the Police and work together with both us and the Borough Council to tackle antisocial behaviour. Although in the early stages we expect this initiative to secure better tenants, improve the housing in the area, reduce anti-social behaviour and improve the local neighbourhood.
Anti Social Behaviour Orders.
Here at Spennymoor we believe that a few individuals cause the majority of problems for our local communities. Although those problems when viewed in isolation may be minor in nature the continual recurrence can be devastating to neighbourhoods. We have therefore decided to target those individuals by the use of anti social behaviour orders. Although a great deal of work goes into each order, numbers for the past year have increased from 5 to 12 with a further 7 in progress.
