Agenda item

·       Anti-Social Behaviour – to receive a presentation from Rowena Lansdown, Wiltshire Council Anti-Social Behaviour Officer

·       Watch Updates – to receive a presentation from Lauren Clark, Wiltshire Police, on Neighbourhood Watch, Horse and Farm Watch, Lorry Watch, Canal Watch, Hotel Watch and the benefits of signing up and using Community Messaging.

·       Anti-Social Behaviour

The board received a presentation from Rowena Lansdown, Wiltshire Council Anti-Social Behaviour Officer.

The officer explained that the Anti-Social Behaviour team sat within the Public Health Directorate and was part of the Vulnerable Communities team. The makeup of the team was explained. People could contact the team on asb@wiltshire.gov.uk.

ASB was defined as “conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person”.

The team undertook this work partly due to cases like the Fiona Pilkington case in 2007. For 10 years she had suffered from “low level” ASB. She had reported this to different agencies, but the agencies were not communicating. No one recognised her family circumstances, she had a disabled daughter. Unfortunately, she took both their lives because of the impact of the ASB. Now all the relevant agencies have a conference to prevent this happening.

Actions taken when ASB was reported included; meeting with victims and issuing log sheets, completing a risk assessment matrix, referring the victim to Victim Support; referring the case to the Anti-Social Behaviour Risk Assessment Conference (ASBRAC); monitoring the case and taking appropriate action and only removing the case from ASBRAC when agencies were satisfied that it was resolved.

The ASBRAC concept was recommended by the Home Office as good practice. Wiltshire’s ASBRAC was governed by the Community Safety Partnership made up of agencies such as the Police, Council, Fire, Housing Associations and others. They involved multi agency meetings that had the wellbeing of victims at heart. They provided a forum for sharing information and assigning actions. ASBRAC was outcome driven with a focus to safeguard the victims and reduce the anti-social behaviour from the perpetrator. For example, an acceptable behaviour contract may be agreed with the perpetrator. If the perpetrator had issues themselves, for example substance abuse, mental health issues or housing problems then they would also get relevant agencies to attend.

No single agency had sight of the full situation but may have crucial information about the individuals involved which assisted with agreeing appropriate actions.

If all the actions taken failed to resolve the situation they could take enforcement action. Enforcement options included: Criminal Behaviour Order; ASB Injunction; Closure Notices/Orders; Community Protection Warning; Community Protection Notice and Absolute Grounds for Possession.

In 2018, through ASBRAC they supported 140 victims and issued 6 Community Protection Warnings, 1 Injunction and 6 Closures.

In response to a question querying what could be classed as ASB it was stated that the team would advise people when behaviour constituted ASB or when it was simply a clash of lifestyles. They had listening equipment that could be used to prove the matter either way.

In response to questions regarding difficulty accessing mental health services or substance abuse services due to cuts or location, it was stated that the ASB team could refer people to mental health services, but it took time. The rural location problem was an issue. It was thought that Turning Point were looking at moving into Marlborough.

·       Watch Updates

The board received a presentation from Lauren Clark, Wiltshire Police, on Neighbourhood Watch, Horse and Farm Watch, Lorry Watch, Canal Watch, Hotel Watch and the benefits of signing up for Community Messaging.

Lauren explained that she was a civilian working for Wiltshire Police. Her department looked after Specials, The Bobby Van Trust, Watch Schemes and Cadets. Her role primarily involved the watch schemes. This was a new and evolving department that looked after most of the police led watch schemes (apart from Community Speedwatch which had its own coordinator).

There was a Lorry Watch scheme running in Bradford on Avon. A listed bridge there had an 18-tonne weight limit. The 15-20 volunteers would take details of lorries that looked over this limit. These details could be checked and if necessary companies that were using the bridge when they shouldn’t could be fined.

There were also Canal, Farm and Horse Watch Schemes. Horse Watch for example, was a good way to keep an eye out for hare coursing and other rural crimes.

Hotel Watch would be set up at the end of the year, with the aim of bringing hotels together for training on issues such as county lines, child sexual exploitation and pop up brothels. The police could listen to the hotels feedback and build up information.

It was explained that Neighbourhood Watch was an independent charity. They were currently trying to reinvigorate the scheme. The aim was to see how they could support current members and what they could offer to new members.

Anyone could start a scheme or sign up to one that was already running. This could be done via the community messaging website https://www.wiltsmessaging.co.uk/ or via the Neighbourhood Watch website https://www.wiltshirenhw.org/.  Schemes were run by locals for locals, so they could decide what their community needed.

Some NHW schemes were quite innovative, for example 3 ladies started one when they became concerned about ASB in a disused area. They cleaned the area and planted it up, reclaiming the space. This helped to prevent the ASB issue. It had a big impact on the local area and the group grew as a result.

The police were trying to improve communication with people. Community Messaging was one way they were trying to do this and it had become a really valuable resource. You could go to https://www.wiltsmessaging.co.uk/ to sign up for the service. Once signed up you would receive texts or emails from the police service, fire service, gas companies and all the various watches. These would detail all the latest news, crimes, etcetera. The updates include crime numbers so that if you could help or give information regarding a crime you would have the crime number to do so. The meeting was encouraged to sign up for the service.

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The speakers were thanked by Chairman.