Hartlepool Partnership

COMMUNITY safety partners have been praised for making significant progress in reducing crime in Hartlepool following a national watchdog report.

The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) report, which is a new way of assessing public services in England, has highlighted how partners under the Safer Hartlepool Partnership banner have successfully worked together to help reduce crime and the fear of crime in the town.

During the last reporting period, recorded crime in Hartlepool fell by 15% and continues to follow a decreasing trend.  The report suggests that the multi-agency team approach adopted by partners has helped to identify problems quickly and more efficiently making it easier for the local community to make contact with someone who can help them.

Resident satisfaction for their local police and fire services was also highlighted as being the most positive results in the country with 60% of people in Hartlepool saying they are satisfied with police service in the town and 84% satisfied with their local fire service.

The report which focuses on the performance and value for money of individual public services in Hartlepool also credits the partnership for its engagement with local young people at risk of offending through lower-level intervention services.

The Youth Inclusion Programme (YIP), which is managed by Hartlepool's Youth Offending Service, provides ongoing prevention and support to young people who are deemed to be at risk of offending, anti-social behaviour or exclusion and has successfully diverted young people away from crime.

Alison Mawson, Assistant Director for community safety and protection at the Council said "We have a fantastic range of activities across Hartlepool for all ages of children and young people, many of these activities being provided by the voluntary sector and community groups.

"We also have projects which aim to help and support the few young people who exhibit risky or unacceptable behaviour, and despite a reduction in the number of young people entering the criminal justice for the first time, there are still too many and we will continue to work with all our partners to further reduce the numbers".

Established four years ago as an intervention programme to tackle under-age drinking in Hartlepool, the Straight-line project has provided specialist advice and support to 11 - 17 year olds and their families after they are found to be drinking in public places or regularly consuming alcohol.

Referrals to Straight-line had previously only been made by the Police, the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit and A& E, however these services have now been extended with great success to both parental and self-referrals, with less than 10% of young people involved in the project re-offending.

Despite having a good understanding of the risks associated with drug and alcohol misuse and how these affect local people's behaviours and reactions, the report suggests that new projects need to be implemented by partners in an attempt to try and deal with the wider problems of alcohol and drug misuse associated with the town.

District Commander of Hartlepool Police, Andy Summerbell, said: "The partnership approach that has been adopted in Hartlepool is working well towards identifying and tackling problems quickly, which in turn is having a positive impact on reducing crime levels in the town.

"Whilst we have a number of programmes and operations in place to tackle alcohol related crimes and improve the health of the local community, we need to understand why there is an alcohol culture in Hartlepool and improve the provision of services for alcohol support that is offered in
the town.

"Alcohol related issues can have a knock on effect on the local community in many different ways from contributing to deprivation and unemployment, to violence and crime. We need to seek additional support and funding to improve the services we offer and I hope the observations
highlighted in this assessment will work in favour of any potential case put forward for additional funding towards the provision of alcohol services in the town."

Dave Turton, Hartlepool District Manager at Cleveland Fire Brigade, said: "It is acknowledged by the CAA that Hartlepool has made great strides in a lot of areas over the past 10 years. Statistics show crime is down and deliberate fires have dramatically reduced, and it is clear that partners such as the Police, Fire Brigade and Housing Hartlepool working closely together with the Council's Neighbourhood teams is ensuring that our efforts are having a real impact.

"However we mustn't be complacent. There is always a need to work as hard as we can to ensure local people continue to feel safer in their homes and on the streets and to give the young people of Hartlepool access to more opportunities and activities to give them a brighter future for themselves and for the town in general."