Agenda item

4.7    There had been circulated copies of the Safer Communities Performance Report covering the period 1 April 2015 to 31 December 2015.  Inspector T. Hodges advised that since his last report the Safer Communities Team had been very busy with the increased demands of the festive period and the recent unprecedented flooding throughout the Scottish Borders.   He advised that performance in relation to the indicators remained overall very positive.  He then went on to highlight the following:  in relation to gender based violence the figures were very positive which reinforced the current robust police processes and value of the Domestic Abuse Pathway project. Every incident was of course one too many but Safer Communities were continuing to prioritise high-risk cases through well-established multi agency MARAC and MATAC processes.   Training continued to be delivered to local police officers in respect of the Domestic Abuse Advocacy Service and processes in respect of referrals were currently being looked at with a view to reducing the time officers spend on related paperwork.   A concerning figure relating to the delivery of training to professionals was highlighted on page 3 of the report and this  training was  now being carried out via an online training module.  Inspector Hodges had requested that it be confirmed whether  or not this could  provide suitable statistics to inform future meetings of the Board.   Safer Communities supported Scottish Borders Rape Crisis in its successful ‘Reclaim the Night’ March in December. This took place in Galashiels and highlighted the violence against women agenda. It was supported by the local MP and MSP resulting in excellent media coverage.

4.8    The report on Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) indicated a small rise in the reported incidents and Inspector Hodges clarified that whilst the incidents reported to the police had indeed fallen – Safer Communities figures were based upon the reports made to all agencies including Registered Social Landlords.   Figures had now been received from Scottish Borders Housing Association (SBHA) which meant a recalculation of the YTD figure which should now read 89.9 which equated to a very small rise of just over 2 incidents per 1,000 population which remained well below the baseline figure. In referring to the figure in red on page 5 of the report, figures were now available from SBHA which amended  the YTD  figure to 697 and the variance to –14% which was an  amber indicator as opposed to red.   This was explained by the festive period, with the number of interventions reducing owing to the festive holiday.    The 2015 Scottish Borders Household Survey had echoed the reasons why many people seemed reluctant to report ASB and the ASB Partnership intended to look at a suitable media campaign to address this in the next financial year.   With the exception of reports of vandalism all of the indicators in relation to Alcohol and Drugs were fairly positive despite the festive season.   The vandalism figure was still considerably lower than the baseline figure and was a smaller percentage rise than reported at the last Board meeting.  Breaking these figures down further it would appear that the increase was in the autumn months with the figures for December and January decreasing  considerably in line with previous years.   Whilst still concerning, the renewed focus of local police officers in respect of high volume low level crime and the work of the Local Integration Officers in schools and youth groups could only have a positive influence on this issue.    He explained it was difficult to correlate the percentage of these crimes where substance misuse had been a contributing factor. However, the other indicators in this area would suggest a more positive picture in respect of alcohol related incidents in our towns and villages.   In respect of page 7 of the report, Local Integration Officers continued to work closely with partners in education, the third sector and local Community Police Officers to influence the attitudes and behaviour of young people in respect of alcohol and drug misuse. The data provided by health colleagues was by its very nature unable to truly quantify the impact of the current work undertaken in this area.  In respect of injury prevention in the home, the Safer Communities Team continued to buck the trend in respect of seasonal rises in this area with very positive figures in respect of emergency hospital admissions for both the elderly and children.   Phase 2 of the national Building Safer Communities Programme had now completed its Strategic Assessment in respect of Unintentional Harm.It was anticipated that this would result in a very positive national drive to the prevention of injuries in the home which Safer Communities would fully engage with.  With reference to injury prevention on our roads, Inspector Hodges advised that Safer Communities would continue to target their activity towards the most vulnerable road users in an effort to address poor driver behaviour.   An event targeted at elderly drivers was planned for the Spring.   For younger drivers, the Institute of Advanced Motorists was staging a Borders Under 17’s Driving Day on 21May 2016 at Charterhall in Berwickshire – this was aimed at those approaching the legal age to drive with a view to influencing  attitudes and behaviours and was being supported by John Cleland, Scottish Borders Council (and officers from Police Scotland’s Road Policing service).  Details of both events would be circulated to Members to enable them to attend the events if they so wished.

          DECISION

          NOTED.