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Appendix 1 – Maidstone Community Safety Plan 2019-22               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DRAFT

Maidstone Community Safety Partnership Plan

2019-2022

 

 

‘Where people feel safe

 and are safe’

 

 

 

maidstone.gov.uk


Table of Contents
Hello and Welcome from the Leader of Maidstone Borough Council	3
Forward by Co-chairs of the Safer Maidstone Partnership Executive	4
Introduction	5
Safer Maidstone Partnership Priority Setting:	6
What data we used and what it told us:	6
What people told us:	6
Local Community Safety Considerations:	7
Priority Setting:	8
Safer Maidstone Partnership Governance:	9
Safer Maidstone Partnership Executive Group (SMPEG):	9
Crime and Disorder Committee:	9
Safer Maidstone Partnership:	9
SMP Subgroups:	10
Linked Boards	11
Priorities	12
Protecting our communities against serious and organised crime (including modern-day slavery)	13
Reducing the harm caused by domestic abuse (including stalking):	14
Keeping children and young people safe:	15
Reduce the impact of substance misuse on our community:	16
Safeguard people whose mental health makes them vulnerable to becoming a victim or where it leads to an impact on the wider community:	17
Appendices	18
Appendix 1- Priorities & cross cutting themes for the CSA and the PCC:	18
Appendix 2- Safer Maidstone Partnership Structure and Priorities:	19
Appendix 3- Summary of the sub-groups and working groups that work in each of the priority areas:	20
Appendix 4- Glossary of terms and acronyms:	21

 


Hello and Welcome from the Leader of Maidstone Borough Council

Welcome to the Maidstone Community Safety Partnership Plan - our aim is that Maidstone will be a place where People feel safe and are safe.

Councillor Martin Cox, Leader of Maidstone Borough Council

To do this, we work as a partnership, bringing together both those who have a duty to participate, with others who are able to help, so that we make a difference. Under the stewardship of Maidstone Borough Council’s Chief Executive, Alison Broom, and Kent Police Chief Inspector, Ray Quiller, senior officers from the Maidstone Borough Council, the Police, Health, Probation, Fire Service and the County Council work with other key agencies to improve community safety in our borough. With additional support from housing providers, community groups and other organisations, many representing the voice of local people, the partnership tackles areas identified as a priority for Maidstone as a borough.   

 

Together they form a Community Safety Partnership, a statutory multi-agency board set up in response to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and known locally as the Safer Maidstone Partnership or The SMP for short.

 

We know we face some challenges in the borough with reductions in funding, resources and increases in confidence to report crimes putting more pressure on these stretched resources. By working together as a partnership with our local communities, we can make a positive difference to community safety and reduce the fear of crime, bringing our communities together so that we all stand up to the threats we face.

 

We have asked our partners, residents and those that work, study and visit the Borough what our priorities should be. We have assessed our performance as a partnership against the priorities from our last Community Safety Plan. We have listened to both what people are telling us are their priorities and what the figures say.

 

This three-year plan aims to address our new priorities, work together in both new as well as tried and tested ways, to show how we will measure our performance against these aims.

 

This Community Safety Partnership Plan will tell you:

          a) What we want to do

          b) Why we have chosen these areas to focus on

          c) What we plan to achieve


Forward by Co-chairs of the Safer Maidstone Partnership Executive

Alison Broom
Chief Executive, Maidstone Borough Council

https://www.kent.police.uk/getmedia/4fb319ed-0be6-4a26-964e-407773a1166c/quiller-ray-5-6.jpg?width=200&height=240Ray Quiller
  Chief Inspector Kent Police

The Maidstone Community Safety Partnership has a good track record of collaborative working to keep our communities safe and feeling safe. Our 2019-22 plan builds on extensive experience of working together and the productive and resilient relationships developed, which enable us to identify and tackle local community safety issues that matter to Maidstone residents. The plan will be revised annually following review of information and the details of this will be set out in our Strategic Assessment.

 

We want our approach to be evidence based, objective led, and outcome focussed – but just as importantly to include proper consideration for both the victims and the witnesses and their needs. 

 

The plan seeks to build on what has already been achieved and give greater emphasis to prevention and reducing harm. Overall our aim remains to reduce the amount of anti-social behaviour and the number of crimes which occur in the Maidstone borough and the harm caused. However, some crimes, for example domestic abuse, are historically under-reported and so our aim is to create an environment where people are confident to come forward and report it.

 

This will ensure we have a more accurate picture, and can use our resources to reduce the threat, risk and harm for the most vulnerable members of our community.

 

We all have a responsibility to prevent crime and disorder from happening in the first place – SMP partners will work not only with each other but also with communities to achieve this, as well as tackling crime and disorder when it occurs. The Safer Maidstone Partnership will work to strengthen community cohesion as part of its community safety role, protecting the vulnerable and supporting our communities by providing a borough where people feel safe and are safe.


 

Introduction

Community safety in Maidstone is not the sole responsibility of one agency or body. Regulation requires that we form a Community Safety Partnership (CSP) made up of ‘responsible authorities’; those agencies with a duty participate, as well as other interested bodies from across the borough and beyond.  The CSP work to implement and deliver initiatives that will help keep Maidstone a safe place to live, work, learn and visit. 

 

In Maidstone, the Safer Maidstone Partnership (SMP) is the name given to Maidstone’s CSP, who work collectively to protect the vulnerable, pursue those who do not respect our borough or the law and to raise awareness of priority themes that the data we collect and the people we speak to say are the areas that threaten our communities the most.  The 2019-2022 CSP Plan is a continuation of previous plans, building on 20 years of work by the partnership, tackling crime and improving safety in the borough.

 

The SMP, which is co-chaired by Alison Broom, Chief Executive of Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) and Chief Inspector Ray Quiller of Kent Police, is made up of responsible authorities (those bodies for whom membership of the CSP is a statutory obligation) and many community, voluntary and private sector partners. Collectively we work to deliver the CSP Plan, forming specialist sub-groups and measurable action plans that deliver against high level outcomes for each of the priority themes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safer Maidstone Partnership Priority Setting:

What data we used and what it told us:

The SMP has a duty to produce an annual strategic assessment to measure our performance against priority performance areas under the CSP Plan 2013-18 and other crime and disorder issues in the borough.  It gathers research, evidence and intelligence from local and Kent-wide sources, as well as drawing upon the professional expertise of those working at District level. 

The data provided by Kent Police is recognised for its high ethical standard of crime recording. Changes in the way that crime is now recorded makes it difficult to compare with previous years, but we are still able to analyse the data to see what current trends exist.

What people told us:

The 2017 Resident’s Survey captured individual’s perceptions or feelings of safety.  These can be influenced by a number of factors which may or may not relate to whether someone has been a victim of crime. 

The survey received 2350 responses; most respondents (66%) said that “a clean and safe environment” was the most important of our Council priorities to them. It also showed that whilst in general our residents feel safe in the borough with 93% of people saying they feel very safe or fairly safe in their home and 94% people said that they felt safe in their local area in the day.  Whilst less people said they felt safe in their local area at night (60%).   

Residents also provided information about their fears of specific crimes which we can link to wider CSP issues; 46% of respondents were concerned about someone breaking into their home and 56% were worried about being a victim of fraud or identity theft.  We know that burglary and rogue trading, a type of fraud, are common amongst serious organised crime groups and that burglary is also often used to fund dependencies associated with substance misuse. 

Some residents (29%) are worried about being attacked or assaulted.  A further 38% are worried about being pestered or insulted in the street.  These can be linked to substance misuse, mental health issues or general Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB), but can also be linked to domestic abuse, with 50% violent crime not occurring in a public place. 

Overall the survey showed that residents support the need to continue to actively work towards reducing and preventing crimes in our community.  More information on the resident survey results is available here

MBC will shortly be publishing its Strategic Plan 2019-2024 which includes Safe, Clean and Green as a priority. This was also identified as a priority through a budgeting survey.

 


 

Local Community Safety Considerations:

The borough of Maidstone covers 40,000 hectares and is situated in the heart of Kent. The borough’s population is the largest in Kent with approximately 70% of its population living in urban areas and is strategically located between the Channel Ports and London, with direct connections to both via the M20 and M2 motorways. Maidstone is the county town of Kent and hosts one of the largest retail centres in the South East and is serviced by three central railway stations which connect to London, the coast and to the Medway towns. It also boasts one of the largest night time economies in the county.  The town itself now benefits from the introduction of the Maidstone’s Business Improvement District which, alongside a growing MaidSafe community, works in partnership with the police, local authorities and local businesses to reduce business crime in Maidstone, increase trade and make Maidstone a safer environment for its staff, customers and visitors.

Where our borough is located and our economy, including the sheer number of visitors the borough has throughout the year, are all factors that are considered as part of our priority setting. 

Direct links to London and the Medway towns provides fantastic opportunities for people to live and work in the borough, which also provides opportunities for criminals to exploit these networks.  A direct example of this is the threat of County Line gangs who use the rail networks to illegally distribute and deal dangerous drugs from one city/town to another.

Currently, due to the collection format of the information collated by partner agencies, the geographical breakdown is not available, but consideration is given to trends and concerns are raised in both urban and rural communities.  This includes those issues that are experienced by both communities, such as ASB, but also more specific crimes that affect our rural communities. 


 

Priority Setting:

The SMP sets the priorities for the CSP Plan based on the analysis and interpretation of the data and survey information analysed through the strategic assessment.

Analysis of the data, alongside the professional knowledge of the existing sub-groups, has identified that the CSP priorities for 2018-19 continue to be areas where the SMP should continue to work to reduce the current trends.  The 2017 Resident’s survey, whilst not containing specific details of the types of crimes and issues that people have faced, provide information that can be linked to the priorities identified in this and previous CSP plans. 

The SMP met on 14 January 2019 to review the findings of the Strategic Assessment and to agree both the priorities for this new CSP Plan and to re-align the governance structure to those priorities.

It was agreed that the focus of the SMP should be based on five key priority themes for 2019-22:

·         Protecting our communities against serious and organised crime (including modern-day slavery)

·         Reduce the harm caused by domestic abuse (including stalking) 

·         Keeping children and young people safe

·         Reduce the impact of substance misuse on our community

·         Safeguard people whose mental health makes them vulnerable to becoming a victim or where it leads to an impact on the wider community

In addition to these priorities, work will continue around the Government driven Prevent duty, reducing reoffending and the general duty to reduce ASB as cross-cutting themes. The priorities identified for Maidstone are reflective of those identified across the county and collated by the Kent Community Safety Partnership in the ‘Kent Community Safety Agreement’ (KCSA).  They also link to the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) ‘Safer in Kent Plan 2017-22*’.   An illustration of the KCSA and PCC Plan priorities is provided in Appendix 1

*refreshed annually


 

Safer Maidstone Partnership Governance:

The success of the SMP is linked to the work of its sub-groups and the leadership of its Executive Board and Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  This section, supported by the diagram in Appendix 2, describes how the Partnership works as a structured entity and how it delivers its community safety priorities through the work of its sub-groups against specific and cross-cutting priority themes. 

Safer Maidstone Partnership Executive Group (SMPEG):

The Safer Maidstone Partnership Executive Group (SMPEG) works with all other strategic boards in the borough. It offers strategic governance to ensure high quality and cost-effective services are provided within the borough. The key functions of the executive group is to:

·         Provide strategic leadership and vision to make Maidstone a safer borough

·         Be a strategic driver, working with all partners to support the direction of the partnership

·         Delivering sustainable Community Safety Strategy (CSS) priorities and any relevant targets arising from these priorities

·         Deliver statutory responsibilities held by the SMPEG

·         Have oversight, receive and agree funds and funding applications relating to community safety within Maidstone

Crime and Disorder Committee:

Under the Crime and Disorder (Overview and Scrutiny) Regulations 2009, every local authority is required to have in place a Crime and Disorder Committee.  The Committee is empowered to review, scrutinise and make recommendations regarding the work of the responsible authorities regarding their crime and disorder functions. The Communities, Housing and Environment Committee undertake the role of the Crime and Disorder Committee at specified meetings throughout the year.  MBC Elected Members are also invited to ‘Members Briefings’ and training sessions, where specialist training is provided to support members in their understanding of the priorities themselves and the work that is being undertaken to address them.

Safer Maidstone Partnership:

The SMP is responsible for:

·         Delivering CSP strategic priorities and any relevant targets arising from these priorities on behalf of the SMPEG

·         Fulfil statutory responsibilities held by the SMPEG under the legislation

·         Respond to other issues relating to community safety, which include those that may arise, from government policies or other developments


 

SMP Subgroups:

The Partnership is structured so that it has strategic subgroups and operational groups to develop, co-ordinate and deliver the activities of the priority themes. Each sub-group is responsible for:

·         Reproducing an annual action plan containing measurable activities and indicators

·         Ensuring that there are resources available to deliver these plans

·         Submitting funding applications to obtain additional resources where required

The nature of some of the work is such that it is difficult to measure or show a direct impact of the work undertaken.  For example, it is not possible to measure how many people are able to avoid an abusive relationship after an awareness raising event but we are able to measure the usage of the ’one-stop-shop’ for people seeking further advice and assistance with domestic abuse. 

For each priority theme an action plan will be agreed that has:

·         A high-level outcome which set out what the Partnership is aiming to achieve

·         Indicators which measure trends in associated behaviours, crimes, service usage, etc

·         A series of measurable actions that the partnership believes will achieve the higher-level outcome

Using the same example, one such action is to ensure that temporal and geographical data from the ‘one-stop-shop’ usage is reviewed to ensure it is available to those at risk but might not be able to visit the current town centre location.  The potential is to have ‘pop-up’ sessions if the review finds it to be necessary.

It has been agreed that the CSP governance structure for 2019-20 will not have specific working groups for mental health or substance misuse. 

For mental health it was agreed that there were already strategic and operational meetings which focus on this area of work and therefore the creation of a group for the SMP was unnecessary. The weekly Community Safety and Vulnerability Group (CSVG) provides an opportunity to help the most vulnerable and to gather grass roots intelligence that help partners to understand any growing trends.  In the absence of a specific subgroup it was agreed that the terms of reference for the CSVG would be reviewed to maximise its effectiveness. And that consideration would be given to the possibility of introducing a new strategic group to oversee the governance of this operational group and potentially the relevant action plan. 

For substance misuse it was also agreed that whilst this is an area of concern that requires its status as a priority theme, it was not necessary to have a specific sub-group as many of the actions identified can be delivered through specific teams within the partnership.  As substance misuse is often an underlying factor in the concerns raised by the other subgroups, such as ‘Keeping children and young people safe’, where substance misuse is identified as a particular area of concern, the work of those sub groups will also include actions for the substance misuse theme.   

 

Appendix 3 provides a summary of the sub-groups and working groups that work in each of the priority areas. 

Each sub-group is also responsible for ensuring that equalities analysis is carried out to ensure that their plans conform to duties under the Equalities Act 2010.

Linked Boards

Although there is no longer a requirement for Local Strategic Boards, the Partnership and its officers are just one of a number of strategic and statutory groups across the borough where cross-cutting themes are discussed. Where possible the priority themes of this plan will be carried through into these groups to ensure that community safety priorities are embedded in other partnership strategies and in turn, those strategies are taken into account in both the CSP Plan and the work of the Partnership.


 



Protecting our communities against serious and organised crime (including modern-day slavery):

Why is this important?

Serious and organised crime cost the UK billions of pounds each year and pose a risk to both our communities and our national security.  This can clearly be seen in the rise in violent crime and knife crime on a local and national level.  The Serious Violence Strategy (2018) recognises that a range and powers are held by agencies, such as local authorities, that play a vital role in supporting the police to disrupt serious and organised crime activities in the borough. Organised Crime Groups (OCG) are groups of individuals involved in serious or organised crime for personal gain. Crime is often regarded as their ‘occupation’. The work of the SMP can often disrupt OCGs activity, particularly targeting those outside the protected core. Serious organised crime, whilst often linked to OCGs, can also be undertaken by individuals exploiting opportunities and vulnerabilities to undertake criminal activities for gain. These can be broad ranging from burglary though to gang related activities, such as moving drugs (County Line) into the borough or exploiting women sexually.      

In Maidstone, we have an established Serious Organised Crime Panel (SOCP).  The Panel meets regularly to tackle the threat, risk and harm of serious organised crime through a coordinated approach.  Over the last year the SOCP have worked to actively disrupt four OCGs in both rural and urban areas, where their activities have threatened vulnerable people and the environment.  Work has also disrupted repeat offenders of organised crime.

SMP ObjectiveThe SMP will protect our communities from the illegal practices of serious organised crime groups.

What is our focus?

The SOCP has adopted the national SOC 4Ps framework, which from a local perspective, means that in relation to OCGs and crime series:

Pursue: prosecuting and disrupting criminal activity

Prevent: deterring individuals, including previous offenders from SOC

Protect: helping communities protect themselves against SOC

Prepare: manage the impact or consequence of SOC to protect communities

First 12 months - What will we do?

The SOCP will refresh its action plan to help deliver on our SMP Objective.  Actions from the plan will include:

·         More days of action, spread across the year, to disrupt criminality linked to OCGs, focussing on areas of risk such as rogue trading and illegal workers

·         Raise awareness across the partnership of the importance of intelligence reporting and how to disseminate information appropriately

·         Working across the Integrated Offender Management Scheme (IOMS) to ensure the correct individuals are referred for robust multi-agency management


Reducing the harm caused by domestic abuse (including stalking):

Why is this important?

Domestic abuse is broadly described as any incident(s) of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members. The abuse can be, but is not limited to psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional.

Domestic abuse continues to be under-reported and SMP has worked locally to raise awareness, which has led, in part, to a year on year increase in both reports to the police and recorded levels. Sexual violence, including rape, have also seen an increase of recorded incidents in last year, which is in part down to changes in the way crimes are recorded, but also indicates a confidence in reporting incidents.  

In Maidstone, we have continued to support and protect families and individuals in high risk and repeating incidents of domestic abuse. The interventions of services such as MARAC, the commissioned Independent Domestic Violence Advisor support service (IDVA), Sanctuary Scheme and the Professionals group for repeat victims have enabled victims to reduce the impact of domestic abuse in their lives. 

SMP Objective:  The SMP will ensure that all communities residing in the borough can live their lives in safety without the fear or harm caused by domestic abuse.

What is our focus?

The continued increases in reporting and attendance at the ‘one-stop-shop’ indicates that the SMP should prioritise supporting the victims of domestic abuse through the provision of local services like MARAC, Sanctuary and IDVA. 

The partnership needs to find new innovative ways to raise awareness so that people can seek advice and are confident in reporting abuse when it occurs.  The increase of victims coming forward should not be seen as a negative as we need victims to continue to come forward so that we can determine the full extent of the issue within our borough. 

We will support children who witness domestic abuse in their home and through our Keeping Children and Young People Safe group will promote safer relationships, helping young people make better choices and increasing their confidence to report issues.

First 12 months - What will we do?

The Domestic Abuse Forum will refresh their action plan to deliver on our SMP Objective.  New actions for the plan will include:

·      Raise awareness of Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (Claire’s Law) and stalking through tailored training, such as a campaign for hairdressers, barbers and hair and beauty colleges.

·      Review of the OSS usage to identify whether it is reflective of the reported incidents in the borough.  Identify whether specific OSSs are needed in rural areas. And to ensure men and women can access the current OSS independently. 


Keeping children and young people safe:

Why is this important?

We know that some of our children and young people live in abusive and violent households and some are affected by drugs and alcohol.  We also know that many are confident and driven.  Young people are often affected by issues across our priority themes which affect them more deeply, causing longer term damage.  We must safeguard our young people from individuals that intend to cause them harm through the supply of drugs and sexual exploitation (CSE).  We must also challenge growing trends such as knife crime, serious youth violence and the impact of gang culture in our young people.  

In Maidstone, cannabis use continues in our young people is high and has increased steadily over the last 8 years. For young people, cannabis is more readily available than alcohol but can be expensive, resulting in more young people becoming involved in offending to fund their drug use.

There also remains a concern that the behaviour of some of our young people puts individuals and communities at risk and that increases in our young people’s own fear is leading to a worrying national trend of carrying knives for safety. 

SMP Objective:  The SMP we will protect our young people from those that put them at risk.

What is our focus?

Our gangs intelligence meeting has been refocussed as the Community Youth Safety Group (CYSG) and will aim to raise awareness in both professionals and young people of the risks young people face and the support that is available.  With no “home grown” gang in Maidstone, vigilance is needed to ensure our young people are aware of the threat posed by London and other Kent based gangs, gang culture itself and the associated CSE/substance misuse issues. We must also identify and divert the activities of disruptive groups of young people within our communities where their behaviour causes an increase in the fear of crime.   

The broad membership of the CYSG, including representatives from our secondary schools and our youth outreach specialists, has enabled the group to identify children in our community who are at the highest level of risk and those individuals that pose a threat to our communities. The support, enforcement and diversionary activities introduced have reduced the risk to those individuals and their communities. The CYSG will ensure that our outreach work continues to be intel driven and that appropriate levels of diversion are in place.  It will also listen to the voices of those who are at risk or in fear of crime in our borough.

First 12 months - What will we do?

The CYSG will update their action plan to help deliver on our SMP Objective.  Actions from the revised plan will include:

·      Review locations where ASB is prevalent to understand what action can be taken to reduce incidences

·      Undertake a youth safety survey that will improve understanding of young people’s fears, particularly around carrying knives

·      Deliver an event for senior secondary schools’ staff, raising awareness of the threats young people face with the possibility of delivering further education packages to students and staff across the borough


Reduce the impact of substance misuse on our community:

Why is this important?

People who misuse drugs, alcohol or other substances cause considerable harm to themselves and to our communities. The harm they cause is not only their own physical and mental health but can also impact on the wellbeing of their families. The communities in which they live can also be harmed through crime, disorder and ASB associated with substance misuse.  The impact of substance misuse across each of the priorities has led to this area being kept as a priority, not just a cross-cutting theme. It has been agreed that whilst it is not necessary to have a specific sub-group for this theme in itself, there is still a need for an action plan that can be delivered through specific teams and through the work of Serious Organised Crime Panel (gangs and supply chains) and Community Youth Safety sub-groups (cannabis, cigarette and alcohol abuse in young people).

SMP Objective: The Safer Maidstone Partnership will encourage people to seek the support to overcome addiction, particularly those who are part of ‘high risk’ cohorts.

What is our focus?

The Serious Organised Crime Panel, and associated policing teams, will play a key role in ensuring that drugs and illicit substances are difficult, if not impossible to find in Maidstone.  Where this extends to illicit tobacco, relationships are being put in place with KCC Trading Standards to undertake joint action to rid the borough of this illegal trade.   For the Community Youth Safety Group, there will be a focus on ensuring that our young people are reminded of the dangers that exist, particularly in relation to gangs and County Lines trafficking. We will build on the success of the Housing First project in supporting our street homeless, particularly those individuals that are the hardest to engage, to assist them accessing the support they need to overcome their addictions. A new project will be launched to help reach treatment-resistant drinkers and we will change the way the enforcement of the current Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for drinking is enforced to empower officers to tackle people who are drinking and are anti-social in a public place. 

First 12 months - What will we do?

The Community Protection Team on behalf of the Safer Maidstone Partnership will develop an action plan to help deliver on our SMP Objective across the sub-groups and services.  Actions from the plan will include:

·         Review the current PSPO to ensure the power is still necessary/proportionate or needs amendment

·         Launch the Blue Light project help treatment resistant drinkers who place a burden on public service



Safeguard people whose mental health makes them vulnerable to becoming a victim or where it leads to an impact on the wider community:

Why is this important?

The mental health of our residents can be affected greatly by the behaviour of others, particularly where the behaviour goes unchallenged.  Whether that is the behaviour of inconsiderate neighbours or a coercive and/or controlling partner, the impact can have a significant impact on an individual’s quality of life.  Mental Health concerns can lead to people targeting their vulnerability and abusing them for financial or other forms of gain. People with mental health concerns can also be the cause of anti-social behaviour themselves, which affects others or a wider community.  They can also become isolated, lose their support network and neglect their own care. 

Mental health, like substance misuse, cuts across all our priority themes and is a growing concern in Maidstone with more police and local authority investigations containing concerns about the mental health of either the victim or the perpetrator. This is evident in the weekly Community Safety and Vulnerability Group (CSVG) where an estimated 75% of cases relate to Mental Health for either the perpetrator or the victim.

Across the priority themes there are also cohorts, like our young people, the victims of domestic abuse and those who misuse substances, that are experiencing higher prevalence of mental health problems.

SMP Objective:  The Safer Maidstone Partnership will work to reduce the community impact of Mental Health, particularly where a person’s poor mental health results in them being either the cause or the victim of anti-social behaviour or crime.

What is our focus?

The CSVG will continue to meet weekly to support the most vulnerable in our community.  We will look to introduce a steering group for vulnerability to oversee the CSVG and support its work and identify trends that need more support.  Across the Priority Themes we will ensure the mental health of the vulnerable is protected from activities and behaviours that threaten to cause harm. 

First 12 months - What will we do?

The Community Safety Unit, including the Community Protection Team, will develop a revised action plan to help deliver on our SMP Objective across the sub-groups, the CSVG and relevant services. The action plan will include:

·         Introducing strategic overview for the CSVG to help identify service direction, provisions and shortages

·         Developing a leaflet to raise awareness of vulnerable people who self-neglect and how to refer them for support


Appendices

Appendix 1- Priorities & cross cutting themes for the CSA and the PCC:

 

Source= Kent Community Safety Partnership ‘Kent Community Safety Plan- April 2018’


Appendix 2- Safer Maidstone Partnership Structure and Priorities:

 


 



Appendix 3- Summary of the sub-groups and working groups that work in each of the priority areas:

 

Priority Theme

Sub-groups and Working Groups delivering the action plans

(not an exhaustive list)

Protecting our communities against serious and organised crime (including modern slavery)

· Serious & Organised Crime Panel

· Kent Environmental Crime Waste Practitioners Group

Reducing the harm caused by domestic abuse

· Domestic Abuse Forum

· Vulnerable Investigation Team Professionals meeting for repeat victims

Keeping Children and Young People Safe

· Community Youth Safety Group

· Maidstone Local Children's Partnership Group

· West Kent Adolescent Risk Management panel

Reducing the impact of Substance Misuse on our community

· As part of Community Youth Safety Group

· The work of the Community Protection, Homeless Outreach with Change Live Grow (CGL) and Licensing teams

Reducing the impact of Mental Health on our community

· Community Safety and Vulnerability Group and its steering group

· MBC Safeguarding Board

 


 

Appendix 4- Glossary of terms and acronyms:

 

ASB = Anti-Social Behaviour

KSSCRC = Kent Surrey & Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company

CCG = Clinical Commissioning Group

MARAC = Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference

CDAP = Community Domestic Abuse Programme

MBC = Maidstone Borough Council

CDRP = Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership

Modern-day slavery= Human trafficking– involves transporting, recruiting or harbouring people for the purpose of exploitation, using violence, threats or coercion.

CGL = Change, Grow, Live (West Kent Drug & Alcohol Wellbeing Service in Maidstone)

NPS = National Probation Service or New Psychoactive Substances depending on context

County Lines= County lines commonly involves the illegal distribution and dealing of seriously dangerous drugs from one city/town to another.

OCG = Organised Crime Group

CSE = Child Sexual Exploitation

One Stop Shop= Drop in service for victims on Domestic Violence.

CSP = Community Safety Partnership

PCC = Police & Crime Commissioner

CSU = Community Safety Unit

PSPO = Public Space Protection Order

CSVG= Community Safety and Vulnerability Group

SMP = Safer Maidstone Partnership

DA = Domestic Abuse

SMPE= Safer Maidstone Partnership Executive Group

IDVA = Independent Domestic Violence Advisor

SOC = Serious Organised Crime

IOM = Integrated Offender Management

SOCP = Serious Organised Crime Panel

KCC = Kent County Council

 

 


 

 

 

‘Where people feel safe

 and are safe’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

maidstone.gov.uk