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What is a Safer Community Team? Safer Community Teams (SCTs) provide communities with a dedicated team of officers who are visible, accessible and known t o local people. They work closely with partner agencies and the local community to tackle the crime and disorder concerns and issues identified within the neighbourhood. A Safer Community Team is made up of Police Officers, Police Community Support Officers, Special Constables and other police support, and may also include partner agency staff, such as neighbourhood wardens. The structure and staffing of individual SCTs will vary according to local need and available resources. I've heard about Neighbourhood Management teams - is this different? Not really, because we are all working towards the same goal – to build safer, stronger communities and make your neighbourhood a safer place to live. In some areas of the county, we are working together with our local authority partners as single team, aiming to tackle the wide-ranging issues that affect people's quality of life. Whether this is crime, disorder or other social, economic or environmental problems, the aim is to work with the community to find effective, long-term solutions. In these areas, the multi agency teams may be coordinated by a police sergeant or by a local authority neighbourhood manager, with residents and agencies working together at a neighbourhood level to tackle the issues that matter. Why are Safer Community Teams being introduced? The Government gave a commitment that by April 2008 every area in England and Wales will benefit from a dedicated, visible, accessible and responsive neighbourhood policing team that will work with the community to identify and respond to local concerns and priorities. In this county, all 41 of these teams, known as Safer Community Teams, have been in place since April 2007. In Northamptonshire, the Local Area Agreement set up between Government and county partners, has also given additional impetus to the implementation of Safer Community Teams as part of the multi-agency Neighbourhood Renewal ambitions. What is Neighbourhood Policing? Neighbourhood Policing is part of the Government's Police Reform agenda and the drive to deliver citizen-focused policing. It aims to provide a policing service that puts community concerns and priorities at the heart of local policing, working through a genuine partnership with local people, other agencies, community groups and other parties. Neighbourhood policing is about local policing, with police and partners working with the community to identify and tackle the crime and disorder problems that most concern local people, from dealing with persistent burglaries to clearing up graffiti and vandalism, dealing with motorcycle nuisance or tackling drug crime. It means taking an intelligence-led approach to neighbourhood issues, and putting the right resources in the right place to deal appropriately with the particular problems of different communities. What is different about Safer Community Teams? As well as providing communities with a policing team that is local, visible and well known in the area, Safer Community Teams give people the opportunity to get involved in community safety, and to influence the services provided by police and partners in their neighbourhood. Discussions take place between the police, partners and local people to decide what the priorities are and they work together to tackle those problems and find effective long-term solutions. This enables police and partners to better respond to the crime, disorder and quality of life issues that the community itself has identified as a particular concern. Which areas do Safer Community Teams cover? All parts of the county have a Safer Community Team and Northamptonshire Police, Northamptonshire County Council, and the county's seven district and borough councils, have worked together to identify the areas that each team cover. However, different communities have different requirements and the area covered by each team take account of local need and available resources. Who is in a Safer Community Team? Typically, Safer Community Teams are made up of uniformed Police Officers, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and Special Constables, and may also include wardens, neighbourhood managers, housing managers, youth workers and other authority figures who work within local communities. - Police Officers – Safer Community Team officers are dedicated to a specific area and will not taken away to duties elsewhere except in a real emergency. They are familiar and accessible to their local community.
- Police Community Support Officers – uniformed members of the team who provide a visible, reassuring presence in the community, helping to tackle low-level crime and anti-social behaviour to help improve people's quality of life. They have a range of powers that can have immediate impact on dealing with problems of nuisance behaviour and disorder.
- Special Constables – volunteers who have the same powers as regular officers and wear a similar uniform. They too have an important role in dealing with crime and providing a visible presence in the community.
- Partners and volunteers – such as neighbourhood coordinators, neighbourhood wardens and community development officers, who may be employed by the local authority, housing associations or community groups, or other authority figures such as security guards, park rangers or environmental officers. They provide additional ‘eyes and ears' in the community and play an important role in forging links and improving communication with the local community.
What is meant by 'working with partners'? To be successful, Safer Community Teams cannot work in isolation and the Police, local authorities and other agencies must to work together with the community to help create a safer environment. This is the key to this partnership approach. Teams will work closely with those who deliver and are responsible for local services, including local authorities and other public bodies such as Primary Care Trusts, Social Services, the Fire Service, amongst others. In some areas, Safer Community Teams will work with other agencies as a single neighbourhood management team, tackling crime and disorder and other quality of life issues in line with local priorities, policing targets and neighbourhood renewal requirements.
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