Strategic Assessment

2013-14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contents

 

		Page
1.	Introduction
	1.1  The aim of this Strategic Assessment	3
	1.2  The background to Strategic Assessments	3
	1.3  The Strategic Assessment in Context	4
2.	Executive Summary	7
3.	Crime Overview: Annual Changes	10
4.	Findings from County analytical product	11
5.	Initial Findings	45
6.	In-Depth Analysis: Progress on Current Priorities	46
7.	Implementation and Monitoring	49
8.	Strategic Assessment Review Date	49
9.	Glossary	50
10.	How to get further information	50
	APPENDICES
	Appendix 1 – Methodology and Information Sources
	Appendix 2 – Contextual information
	Appendix 3 – Terrorism

 

1.       Introduction

 

1.1  The aim of this Strategic Assessment

 

This is the Strategic Assessment produced for the Safer Maidstone Partnership (SMP) for the period April 2013 to March 2014 and puts in place the priorities and planned activities for the 2013-18 Community Safety Partnership Plan.

 

The strategic assessment provides a knowledge and understanding of local community safety problems. Emerging priorities are identified through intelligence analysis of patterns, trends and shifts relating to crime and disorder in the Maidstone borough. Additionally, it will include a performance assessment of how far the SMP has achieved its previous priorities and an update of those issues that the local community consider to be emerging priorities.

 

1.2  The background to Strategic Assessments

 

In 2006, a review of the partnership provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Police Reform Act 2002 led to a series of recommendations to strengthen and extend existing requirements further through the experience gained from partnership working.  This resulted in a new set of national minimum standards which came into force in August 2007.  The 1998 Act included the requirement to produce a detailed crime and disorder audit through consultation with key agencies and the wider community and had to use the findings to identify strategic priorities and set targets and performance measures.  The new national standards placed a legal obligation on responsible authorities to comply with the specified requirements, one of which was the creation of a strategic assessment in place of the previous 3 yearly audit.

 

The introduction of strategic assessments hoped to move partnerships toward a more intelligence-led business planning approach.  It was also hoped that by removing the need to produce a three year audit and replacing it with the requirement to produce a strategic assessment at least yearly, partnerships will improve their understanding of problems and their potential causes and thus respond more effectively to the communities they serve.

 

The SMP’s objectives are to:

 

·                Promote Maidstone as a safe place to live;

·                Take a preventative approach to tackle and reduce anti-social behaviour;

·                Reduce violent crime and reduce serious crime in the wards where the trend is higher than the borough average;

·                Reduce alcohol related crime in the town centre and identified rural locations;

·                Reduce re-offending to at least our predicted rate

·                Reduce drug offences;

·                Tackle domestic abuse;

·                Reduce those killed or seriously injured on our roads.

1.3  The Strategic Assessment in context

       

The Maidstone Sustainable Community Strategy is the topmost level of policy making for the locality.  It was first published in 2009 and its purpose is to set the overall strategic direction and long-term vision for the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of Maidstone.  The Sustainable Community Strategy is currently being refreshed and is expected to be adopted by the Council in Summer 2013.

 

The Strategic Assessment does not exist in isolation, but is linked to a number of partnership strategies and plans.  The Strategic Assessment informs the work of the Safer Maidstone Partnership and is a key document which feeds into partners’ service and operational plans.

 

        The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 gave statutory responsibility to local authorities, the police, and key partners to reduce crime and disorder in their communities.  A review of the 1998 Act took place in 2006, which resulted in a revision to these requirements.  Under this legislation district/borough level Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) were required to produce an annual Strategic Assessment in place of 3 yearly crime and disorder audits.  For two tier authorities such as Kent, a statutory Community Safety Agreement was introduced to develop a more joined-up approach to public service delivery, enable more effective and co-ordinated strategic planning across partner agencies and to ensure sustainable and lasting improvements in delivering outcomes.

 

        The Kent Community Safety Agreement sets out how partners in Kent will work together to address the key community safety priorities for the County, identifying the shared objectives and outcomes required to improve the lives of the people of Kent. https://shareweb.kent.gov.uk/Documents/community-and-living/community-safety/community-safety-unit/Kent%20Community%20Safety%20Agreement%202011-14.pdf).

 

Chart 1 overleaf shows how the Strategic Assessment informs the Partnership Plan and how both inform the Locality Board and sit alongside national and county level policy documents.  The current organisation chart for the Safer Maidstone partnership is at page 6.

Chart 1: Policy and strategy linkages

 

Chart 2 – Safer Maidstone Partnership organisation

2.    Executive Summary

 

2.1  Overview

 

Crime in Maidstone fell by 12.9% in the period covered by this assessment.  This compares with a fall of 0.6% in the previous year.  With the exception of the percentage of domestic violence repeat victims and shoplifting, levels of crime of all types reduced, with the largest percentage reductions being seen in criminal damage, drug offences, robbery and motor vehicle thefts. The decrease in crime in 2011/12 has meant that Maidstone has improved its position relative to other Kent districts from 8^th place county-wide (62.1 crimes per 1,000 population), to 6^th place (54.4 crimes per 1,000 population).

 

PCC

Recent Government legislation has introduced elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs).  Elections took place on 15 November 2012, and the newly elected PCC took over from Kent Police Authority on 22 November 2012. The PCC will determine:

 

·                The policing strategy for an area

·                The force budget

·                Set up the local tax precept (police element)

·                Appoint - and if necessary dismiss - the Chief Constable

 

PCC’s apply to every police force (apart from the Metropolitan Police) and will have to produce a five year Police and Crime Plan, but this will address wider issues than just the police role in tackling crime.  It is clear that the PCC has a focus on ASB.  PCC’s have a duty to cooperate with the broader Criminal Justice System, but are not a responsible authority on a Community Safety Partnership.  PCC’s will be scrutinised by the Police and Crime Panel (PCP).  The PCP will scrutinise the actions of the commissioner, but not the Police Force.  For the present all community safety partnerships will be required to undertake an annual Strategic Assessment.  However, the PCC may require a county-wide rationalisation of Strategic Assessments at a later date.

 

2.2  Key Facts

 

The following key statistics are summarised from this assessment: they should not be read out of context and are a guide to key crime highlights in 2011-12.

 

All crime has reduced by 1,205 from 9,354 crimes in 2010-11 to 8,149 in 2011-12.  Over the three years 2009-10 to 20011-12 crime in Maidstone has fallen 15.4%. On all categories of crime Maidstone improved or maintained its position relative to the other 11 district councils in Kent.  Exceptional improvements in county rankings were in Burglary Dwelling (from 9^th place up to 5^th), Theft & Handling Stolen Goods (from 11^th place to 8^th) and Criminal Damage (from 4^th place to 2^nd place).

 

Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) reduced by 5.9% or 311 crimes.  Per 1,000 population, Maidstone now ranks 4^th in the County at 32.9, an improvement from 5^th in the County last year.  The KCC average is 36.0 per 1,000 population.  At ward level for the 7 month period April 2012 to October 2012 High Street, Park Wood and Fant wards recorded the highest volumes of ASB with 513, 191 and 188 recorded incidents respectively.  These three wards accounted for 36% of all ASB incidents.  Reducing ASB is the top priority of the newly elected PCC, and will remain a priority for the SMP.

 

The recorded number of incidents of Domestic Abuse decreased in 2011-12 by 153 incidents (8.3%).  Despite a decrease in the number of repeat victims (from 434 to 411), the percentage of repeat victims rose slightly (0.8%) from 23.5% to 24.3%, although Maidstone is ranked 5^th in Kent on this measure.  Across Kent there was a 2.1% rise in the number of DA repeat victims.  Given the well researched evidence that domestic violence is a most underreported crime, with an estimated 35 occurrences before a victim feels able to report, this is an area that should remain a focus for the Partnership.

 

Drug offences have decreased markedly from 455 in 2010-11 to 359 in 2011-12, a fall of 96 offences (21.1%).  Maidstone is now ranked 11^th in the County (compared with 12^th place county-wide in 2010-11).  Our rate per 1,000 population of 2.4 is above the County level of 2.0.  At ward level, High Street ward had the highest volume of drug offences, ranking highest in the county with a rate of 10.2 per 1,000 population and thus despite recent improvements, this area should remain a focus for the Partnership.

 

Road Safety:  Casualties from road traffic accidents increased by 35 (5.4%) from 654 in 2010-11 to 689 in 2010-11, although this has reduced from 726 in 2008.  The rate of increase is counter to the county-wide decrease of 7.2%. However the number of KSI casualties have reduced from 64 to 60 (-6.3%), down from 89 in 2008.  Maidstone recorded the highest number of RTC casualties in the county.  At ward level, Boxley had the highest count of RTC casualties (108), the 12^th highest ward in Kent.  The 17-24 age group continues to be over-represented in RTC’s and thus will remain an SMP prioritiy.

 

Reducing Re-Offending: A National Audit Office Report has estimated re-offending by ex-prisoners costs £9.5 to £13 billion per year.  Reducing re-offending has been a statutory duty of CSP’s since 1st April 2010, and is one of the cross-cutting themes of the Kent Community Safety Agreement 2011-14.  Preventing further offences reduces the number of victims, and the damage done to local families and communities.  Reducing re-offending cuts across most of the other SMP priorities, especially Substance Misuse and Domestic Abuse.

 

Each quarter the Ministry of Justice produces local re-offending rates and it was recognised that Kent’s overall performance and Maidstone’s local performance was not as good as it should be.  In March 2012 the re-offending rate for Maidstone was 8% higher than the predicted rate. The SMP has established a Reducing Re-offending Sub-Group to drive forward multi-agency work in terms of the 7 resettlement pathways and to add value to each others work in terms of effectiveness and impact on offenders and victims.

 

Violence against the person has reduced by 3.5% from 1,716 incidents to 1,656.  Within this overall figure burglary of dwellings offences have decreased by 4.6%, and robbery has decreased by 17.8% from 45 offences to 37 offences.  Overall, Maidstone continues to be ranked 6^th in the county for violent offences.

Theft and handling stolen goods has decreased 11.9% to 2,556 which has improved Maidstone’s ranking from 11^th to 8^th.  Shoplifting offences have seen a slight rise from 932 to 955 offences (2.5%), which ranks Maidstone in 9^th place in the county.

 

A rise in the price of copper, lead and other non-ferrous metals has led to a dramatic increase in the number of metal thefts across the UK due to their scrap value.  Metal theft is a problem through out Kent and operations are planned to combat it.

 

The Safer Maidstone Partnership has monitored levels of metal theft in the locality and is working with scrap metal dealers, recyclers and other agencies to promote the use of Smart Water forensic technology.  New laws came into force in April 2012, banning all cash transactions and unlimited fines for people caught trading the metal.  There were 182 incidents of metal theft in 2011-12 (1.2 per 1,000 population), which places Maidstone in 4^th place county-wide.

 

Vehicle crime both theft from and theft of motor vehicles decreased significantly by 10.2% and 29.8% respectively, although despite these reductions these two crime categories rank Maidstone in 6^th (theft from) and 8^th  (theft of) place county-wide.

 

Although deliberate primary fires increased by 6% from 2010/11 to 2011/12, they reduced by over two thirds in the 6 months April to September 2012.

3.    Crime Overview:  Annual changes (2011-12)

 

Category	Oct 09-Sep 10	Oct 10-Sep 11	Oct 11-Sep 12	Volume change[1]	% Change	Per 1,000 pop[2]	County position[3]
All crime	9,407	9,354	8,149	-1,205	-12.9%	54.4	6
ASB	2,968	5,234	4,923	-311	-5.9%	32.9	4
Burglary – dwelling	347	410	391	-19	-4.6%	6.5	5
Burglary – other	672	715	661	-54	-7.6%	11.0	7
Criminal damage	1,588	1,518	1,256	-262	-17.3%	8.4	2
Domestic abuse – number of incidents	1,698	1,845	1,692	-153	-8.3%	11.3	5
Domestic abuse – no of repeat victims	401	434	411	-23	-5.3%	2.7	5
Domestic abuse:  % of repeat victims	23.6%	23.5%	24.3%	0.8%	3.3%		2
Drug offences	521	455	359	-96	-21.1%	2.4	11
Metal Offences	N/A	N/A	182			1.2	4
Robbery	57	45	37	-8	-17.8%	0.2	4
Sexual offences	132	129	103	-26	-20.2%	0.7	5
Shoplifting	917	932	955	23	2.5%	6.4	9
Theft & handling	2,687	2,902	2,556	-346	-11.9%	17.1	8
Theft from a motor vehicle	647	561	504	-57	-10.2%	3.4	6
Theft of a motor vehicle	331	258	181	-77	-29.8%	1.2	8
Theft of pedal cycle	126	136	112	-24	-17.6%	0.7	4
Theft offences	1,644	1,834	1,489	-345	-18.8%	9.9	8
Violent crime	1,977	1,890	1,796	-94	-5.0%	12.0	6
Violence against the person	1,788	1,716	1,656	-60	-3.5%	11.1	6

4.    Findings from County analytical product

 

4.1  Antisocial Behaviour (ASB)

 

Incidents of ASB

	2009 - 10	2010 - 11	2011 - 12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	Rank
Maidstone	2,968	5,234	4,923	-311	-5.9%	32.9	4
KCC	30,814	53,232	51,318	-1,914	-3.6%	36.0	-

 

Recorded incidents of ASB have decreased by 311 (-5.9%), from 5,234 to 4,923.  This decrease is greater than the county-wide decrease of 3.6%.  Per 1,000 population, Maidstone ranks 4^th in the county.  At ward level for the 7 month period April 2012 to October 2012 High Street, Park Wood and Fant wards recorded the highest volumes of ASB with 513, 191 and 188 recorded incidents respectively.  These three wards accounted for 36% of all ASB incidents. 

 

4.2  Community and customer views

The Kent Crime and Victimisation Survey (KCVS) is a telephone survey conducted quarterly by Kent Police which aims to find out whether residents have experienced various types of household and personal crime in the last year.  As well as looking at perceptions of crime, worry, feelings of safety, perceptions of anti-social behaviour and confidence in the police and Criminal Justice System.  The table below shows Maidstone’s results across a range of ASB categories and its county-wide ranking.

 

KCVS results Maidstone	Rolling year ended					KCC avg	Rank
	Sept 11	Dec 11	Mar 12	June 12	Sept 12
% feeling very or fairly safe in their local area overall	95.8%	95.4%	96.4%	98.0%	95.1%	96.1%	10
% very or fairly worried about being a victim of crime	24.0%	27.9%	25.8%	23.6%	21.3%	24.8%	4
% saying fly tipping was a very or fairly big problem in their area	10.7%	11.2%	9.2%	9.4%	10.7%	10.2%	7
% saying speeding vehicles was a very or fairly big problem in their area	27.4%	29.2%	26.1%	28.0%	27.8%	26.9%	7
% of people who consider teenagers hanging around was a very or fairly big problem in their local area	14.1%	13.8%	8.8%	5.3%	5.9%	10.5%	2
% of people saying people being drunk or rowdy in public was a very or fairly big problem in their local area	7.7%	7.1%	7.5%	8.1%	6.1%	8.2%		3
% of people saying vandalism, graffiti or deliberate damage was a very or fairly big problem in their local area	10.1%	8.4%	5.6%	5.0%	2.7%	9.5%		1

 

 

 

 

Kent Community Wardens

The Kent Community Wardens service provides a wide ranging service to their communities including providing a reassuring presence; tackling anti-social behaviour; and acting as the ‘eyes and ears’ for other agencies.  It should be noted that wardens do not cover every ward in Kent and the information in this section is based on issues identified by the Community Wardens for the areas in which they are deployed.

 

Bearsted

·                ASB remains low but have had a few issues around co-op from Shepway youths.

·                There are continuing issues with bogus callers & rogue traders in area.  Action taken includes advising the elderly not to open their doors to rogue traders and to contact the Warden.

·                Dog fouling remains an issue and the Warden is arranging a project to highlight this.

·                Parking around schools is becoming very dangerous around Madginford and Rosacre Schools who are working with police to resolve issue.

 

Boughton Monchelsea, Chart Sutton and Loose

·                Level of crime is low in all areas but when crimes have occurred they have been more serious, ie house burglaries, armed robbery & attempted robbery at the shop in Chart Sutton.  CCTV has since been installed at Chart corner.

·                Antisocial behaviour/suspected underage drinking in Loose has reduced but still occasional issues.

·                Smart Water now in use at a high number of vulnerable farms, locations and residential properties. It has also been used to mark the war memorial.

·                Detection of cannabis factory in Loose.

·                Suspected drugs run between Chart Sutton, Boughton Monchelsea and Loose.

 

Coxheath

·                ASB and reports of drug activity around shops which is being addressed through partnership working.

·                The new Avante estate has several ASB and neighbourhood disputes, all of which are again being addressed through partnership working.

·                The arrival of the Kent Youth bus has been a success.

·                Parking continues to be an issue in the village and a new road calming system is being investigated.

 

Harrietsham

·                Speeding continues to be an issue on the A20.  

·                Dog fouling still occurring, but mainly in West Street. Cold callers have been calling recently after dark, but not high volumes at present.

·                There have been some thefts from vehicles parked near the railway station in recent months.

·                The incidence of thefts from outbuildings is still happening in more rural locations.

·                Many sightings of scrap carriers submitted.

 

Lenham

·                There have been 2 recent thefts of a land rover and a 4x4, but most thefts are from outbuildings in rural areas.

·                Scrap carrier sightings still submitted on a regular basis.

·                Noisy motorcycles were an issue, but recently reports have tailed off.

·                Many elderly residents have been receiving silent phone calls and sales calls. Details of the Telephone Preference Service and Silent CallGard have been supplied.

Headcorn

·                Theft remains a big issue in Headcorn - Burglaries, motor vehicles and garages are being broken into. Since September, theft has increased every month.

·                There are now 4 illegal Traveller encampments around Headcorn. Traveller issues remain, with reports of young travellers intimidating other children and shopkeepers.  This appears to be happening at the weekends, predominantly Sundays as traders are closing up for business.

·                Parking issues still remain with residents and commuters taking advantage of the lack of presence of ticket wardens on and off of the high street.

·                Speeding cars also are an issue in the High Street, North Street and the Lenham Road.  Speedwatch is now in place but drivers do not appear to be paying much attention.

·                Dog Fouling has also increased mainly in the Kings Road and Forge Meadow areas.

 

Marden and Staplehurst

·                Domestic heating oil thefts and metal thefts.

·                Thefts from vehicles, sheds and dwellings.

·                Drug taking and dealing - problem with some teenagers at present.

·                Parking issues outside Primary School and on pavement/green areas in other roads.

·                Dog fouling and straying.

• Littering especially in and around the playing field & recreation ground areas.
• Currently farm shops and small garden centres potential target for thefts of Xmas stock.  At least one has had an attempted break in.

 

4.3    Acquisitive Crime

4.3.1 Train ticket Fraud

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	Difference	County rank
Maidstone	8	10	5	-50.0%	2
Kent	147	175	231	32.0%	-

 

N.B. Due to the persons arrested having travelled on public transport from any location within or outside of Kent before being arrested the actual location of the incident may not truly reflect the location where it occurred. Some stations along popular routes may experience higher volume of incidents as the offenders are identified en route and apprehended at a suitable station.

 

4.3.2 Metal Theft

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County rank
Maidstone	0	0	182	-	-	1.2	4
KCC	0	0	1,795	-	-	1.3	-

 

N.B. The number of recorded metal theft offences – split by infrastructure related and non-infrastructure related:

·                Infrastructure related – The removal of metal that has a direct impact on the functioning of infrastructure and/or fabric of a building or machinery. This includes all metals that are connected to live services such as water, heating, electricity, other service cabling and railway cabling; roofing lead, catalytic converters removed from vehicles and inspection (manhole) covers.

·                Non-Infrastructure related – The removal of metal that has no direct impact on the functioning of infrastructure and/or fabric of a building or machinery. This includes metal that is not connected to services, redundant metal, war memorial plaques and metal gates/fencing.

 

4.3.3 Robbery

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	57	45	37	-8	-17.8%	0.2	4
KCC	722	602	687	85	14.1%	0.5	-

 

 

Robbery has decreased slightly by 8 (17.8%), from 45 to 37.  Per 1000 pop Maidstone is 4^th in the county. For the current financial year to September 2012, High Street, and Boughton Monchelsea and Chart Sutton wards ranked 16^th and 17^th in the county and had 7 and 2 recorded counts of robbery respectively.

 

4.3.4 Shoplifting

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	917	932	955	23	2.5%	6.4	9
KCC	8258	8080	7825	-255	-3.2%	5.5	-

 

 

Shoplifting has increased by 23 (2.5%), from 932 to 955.  This rate of increase is counter to the county’s decrease of -3.2%.  Maidstone is currently ranked 9^th in the county which, given that Maidstone has the largest retail offer in the county, is a creditable performance.  For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level, High Street ward had the highest volume of shoplifting, and ranks 3^rd highest in the county for the rate of shoplifting per 1,000 population.

 

4.3.5 Theft and Handling Stolen Goods

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	2687	2902	2556	-346	-11.9%	17.1	8
KCC	23563	24582	22655	-1927	-7.8%	15.9	-

 

 

Theft and Handling Stolen Goods has decreased by 346 (-11.9%), from 2902 to 2556.  This rate of decrease is greater than the County decrease of -7.8%. Maidstone ranks 8^th in the county and 13^th in its MSG. For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level, High Street had the highest volume of Theft and Handling Stolen Goods in the district and the county with 447 incidents.

 

4.3.6 Theft from Motor Vehicle

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	647	561	504	-57	-10.2%	3.4	6
KCC	6200	5406	5484	78	1.4%	3.8	-

 

Theft from motor vehicle has decreased by 57 (-10.2%), from 561 to 504.  This rate of decrease is counter to the county-wide increase of 1.4%.  Maidstone ranks 6^th in the county and 6^th in its MSG. For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level, Boxley, and North Downs wards had the highest volume of theft from motor vehicle with each recording 25 incidents.  North Downs ranks 1^st in the county and Boxley ranks 60^th.

 

 

4.3.7 Theft of Motor Vehicle

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	331	258	181	-77	-29.8%	1.2	8
KCC	2434	2039	1792	-247	-12.1%	1.3	-

 

 

Theft of motor vehicle has decreased by 77 (-29.8%), from 258 to 181. This rate of decrease is greater than the KCC decrease of -12.1%.  Per 1000 pop, Maidstone has a lower rate than the County average and ranks 8^th in the County.  For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level, Shepway North ward recorded the highest volume of theft of motor vehicle with 9 recorded offences.

 

4.3.8 Theft of Pedal Cycle

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	126	136	112	-24	-17.6%	0.7	4
KCC	1631	1600	1577	-23	-1.4%	1.1	-

 

 

Theft of Pedal Cycle has decreased by 24 (-17.6%), from 136 to 112. Maidstone ranks 4^th in the county and 2^nd in its MSG for its rate of theft of pedal cycle.  For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level High Street ward recorded the highest volume of theft of pedal cycle with 24 recorded offences.

 

4.3.9 Theft Offences

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	1,644	1,834	1,489	-345	-18.8%	9.9	8
KCC	13,674	14,902	13,253	-1649	-11.1%	9.3	-

 

 

Theft Offences have decreased by 345 (-18.8%), from 1834 to 1489. This rate of decrease is greater than the County decrease of 11.1%. Per 1000 pop, Maidstone ranks 8^th in the county.  However, for the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level, High Street ward ranked 2^nd in the county and recorded 178 theft offences.

 

4.4  Burglary

4.4.1 Burglary (Dwelling)

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	347	410	391	-19	-4.6%	6.5	5
KCC	4,716	3,962	4,657	695	17.5%	7.9	-

 

 

Burglary Dwelling has decreased by 19 incidents (-4.6%), from 410 to 391. This rate of decrease is counter to the county increase of 17.5%. Per 1,000 dwellings, Maidstone ranks 5^th in the county and 12^th in its MSG.  For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level, High Street had the highest volume of Burglary Dwelling with 17 recorded crimes.

 

4.4.2 Burglary (Other)

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	672	715	661	-54	-7.6%	11.0	7
KCC	6,070	5,802	6,010	208	3.6%	10.1	-

 

 

Burglary Other has decreased by 54 (-7.6%), from 715 to 661. This rate of decrease is counter to the county increase of 3.6%. Per 1,000 dwellings, Maidstone ranks 7^th in the county and 10^th in its MSG. For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level, North Downs is ranked 1^st in the county with 21 recorded incidents, whilst Boxley ward recorded the highest volume of burglary other with 43 recorded incidents.

 

4.5  Criminal Damage

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	1,588	1,518	1,256	-262	-17.3%	8.4	2
KCC	18,463	17,018	14,985	-2,033	-11.9%	10.5	-

 

 

Criminal Damage has decreased by 262 (-17.3%), from 1518 to 1256. This rate of decrease is greater than the County decrease of -11.9%. Per 1000 pop, Maidstone has a lower rate than the County and ranks 2^nd, but is in 5^th position in its comparison group. For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level, High Street had the highest volume of Criminal Damage with 131 recorded incidents.

 

4.6  Domestic Abuse

 

No. of incidents

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	1,698	1,845	1,692	-153	-8.3%	14.3	5
KCC	17,669	18,065	18,293	228	1.3%	16.4	-

 

No. of repeat victims

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	401	434	411	-23	-5.3%	2.7	5
KCC	4,129	4,298	4,388	90	2.1%	3.1	-

 

 

 

% repeat victims

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.
Maidstone	23.6%	23.5%	24.3%	0.8%
KCC	23.4%	23.8%	24.0%	0.2%

 

Incidents of domestic abuse decreased in Maidstone by 153 (-8.3%), the greatest percentile decrease in the county.  Per 1,000 population Maidstone is ranked 5^th in the county for domestic abuse incidents and 2^nd for repeat victims. It has a repeat victim percentage of 24.3%.

 

Extracts from: Kent & Medway Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVA) Needs Assessment (May 2012) - Key Points:

 

·      In Kent and Medway there will have been 54,773 (± 11,000) women or girls (16-59) who have experienced domestic abuse in the last year (Home Office ready reckoner).

·      The financial cost to local partners in Kent and Medway associated with this level of domestic abuse is estimated at £321million (Home Office ready reckoner).

·      Only a small proportion of domestic abuse incidents are referred to Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs).  However, the number is rising year on year by around 25-33%.  These represent the ‘tip of the iceberg’ in relation to the total number of domestic abuse incidents:

 

Year - 2010/11	Number
Estimated prevalence (females)	54,773
Police domestic abuse reports	22,000
Charges	1,296
MARAC (high risk) cases	764

 

A significant number of children are affected by domestic abuse:

 

·      The 956 MARAC referral cases in Kent and Medway in 2011/12 had 1,275 children between them.

·      In a significant number of cases where there is a Common Assessment Framework (CAF)[4] in place, domestic abuse is a factor.

·      Specialist Children’s Services work with children who are in need of protection (safeguarding) or are categorised as being ‘in need’.  In 2011/12 the Integrated Children’s System computer database in Kent Specialist Children’s Services, showed 2087 cases where domestic abuse was the primary issue. This amounts to 12.4% of all referrals received.

·      In 2011/12, 4,469 Domestic Abuse Notifications (DANs) were received from the police to the Kent County Duty Team (now CRU). These notifications can progress on to the Specialist Children’s Services teams, if they are not known to services already.

4.7  Fire

 

Area	Fires	2010/11	2011/12	% Diff	Apr - Sep 2011	Apr - Sep 2012	% Diff.
Maidstone	Accidental	228	262	14.9%	173	100	-42.2%
	Deliberate	168	178	6%	118	43	-63.6%
	Total	396	440	11.1%	291	143	-50.9%
All Districts*	Accidental	2612	2605	-0.3%	1497	997	-33.4%
	Deliberate	1987	2323	16.9%	1436	908	-36.8%
	Total	4,599	4,928	7.2%	2,933	1,905	-35%

*Excludes Medway

 

Eight of the twelve districts in Kent saw an increase in fires between 2010/11 and 2011/12, including Maidstone which had an increase from 396 to 440 (11.1% increase).  Maidstone had the 4^th highest number of fires in the county during 2011/12. However, during the first 6 months of 2012/13 all twelve districts saw a decrease in fires compared to the same period in the previous year.  In Maidstone, total fires decreased by over 50% which is the largest decrease of any district.

 

4.8  Re-offending - Strategic Overview

Kent Probation is committed to reducing reoffending and protecting the public.  It is one of the statutory bodies within the CSP framework who, alongside other partners, contribute to the delivery of the key priorities outlined within the Kent and Medway Strategic Plan for Reducing Reoffending.  As an organisation, Kent Probation delivers against an internal Reducing Reoffending action plan by way of multi agency working with offenders within the Integrated Offender Management scheme.  Projects include:

 

·                improving its service to female offenders as specialist programmes show better results for women;

·                improving the quality of engagement with all offenders,

·                ensuring that appropriate interventions are delivered to address factors associated with offending behaviour;

·                focusing Court proposals for restrictive interventions such as curfews to promote compliance with rehabilitative interventions.

 

Over the last year, the NI 18 Reducing Reoffending data has evidenced significant reductions in further reoffending by those individuals subject to Probation involvement and the service will continue to focus its efforts, with partners, on driving re-offending down.

 

Caseload: includes Community Orders, Suspended Sentence Orders, Post release Licences and non-Statutory IOM commencements.
Period: Snapshots taken at end of each quarter
Caseload overview by CSP, 30th September 2012
CSP	Community Order		Suspended Sentence		Post release licence		YRO		Grand Total
Ashford	116		63		60		3		242
Canterbury	149		91		48		3		291
Dartford and Gravesend	192		131		124		8		455
Dover	133		59		42		6		240
Maidstone	208		81		119		2		410
Medway	361		191		197		9		758
Sevenoaks	64		28		39		2		133
Shepway	145		76		61		4		286
Swale	147		110		91		6		354
Thanet	213		121		108		12		454
Tonbridge and Malling	107		55		34		4		200
Tunbridge Wells	78		27		53		0		158
NFA	27		17		15		1		60
Missing/ Unknown	159		77		127		2		365
Grand Total	2,099		1,127		1,118		62		4,406

 

Note: Caseload reflects total orders/licences and some offenders will have concurrent sentences.

The rows highlighted in grey above can not be allocated to a CSP and represent the following proportions:-

6.8% of cases had an incomplete or unrecognised postcode

1.5% of cases were recorded as being NFA

1.4% of cases did not have a post code recorded

 

Excluding Medway, Maidstone has the 3^rd highest caseload in Kent.

 

Total offenders by risk level, including total with known Domestic Violence risk

 

Risk category	30/9/2011	31/12/2011	31/3/2012	30/6/2012	30/9/2012
Very High Risk	3	4	5	5	5
High Risk	24	25	24	26	35
Domestic Violence	45	39	39	34	42

 

Local Adult Re-offending for Maidstone

Includes Community Orders, Suspended Sentence Orders and Post release Licences
Period: 1 April 2011 - 31 March 2012
Re-offending overview by CSP
CSP	Total offenders in cohort	Predicted re-offending rate	Actual re-offending rate	Difference
Ashford	816	8.04%	9.19%	14.37%
Canterbury	1165	9.65%	10.56%	9.42%
Dartford and Gravesend	1711	8.33%	8.59%	3.18%
Dover	1026	8.41%	9.36%	11.19%
Maidstone	1623	7.93%	8.56%	8.03%
Medway	2958	8.85%	8.89%	0.42%
Sevenoaks	512	7.91%	8.40%	6.16%
Shepway	1080	8.14%	9.54%	17.19%
Swale	1450	9.19%	9.79%	6.61%
Thanet	1694	9.51%	10.15%	6.82%
Tonbridge and Malling	693	7.77%	8.95%	15.21%
Tunbridge Wells	690	7.92%	9.13%	15.33%
Missing/Unknown	674	9.71%	12.17%	25.28%
Kent (Total)	16092	8.66%	9.38%	8.33%

 

Re-offending trends for Maidstone

 

Re-offending period	Total offenders in cohort	Predicted re-offending rate	Actual re-offending rate	Difference
1 July 2010 - 30 June 2011	1,614	7.85%	9.42%	19.93%
1 October 2010 - 30 September 2011	1,609	7.64%	9.38%	22.80%
1 January 2011 - 31 December 2011	1,616	7.75%	8.85%	14.17%
1 April 2011 - 31 March 2012	1,623	7.93%	8.56%	8.03%

 

Re-offending rates by age band, April 11 - March 12

 

Age band	Total offenders in cohort	Predicted re-offending rate	Actual re-offending rate	Difference
18-20	163	17.48%	20.25%	15.84%
21-24	225	10.39%	10.22%	-1.59%
25-29	315	8.38%	7.62%	-9.09%
30-39	361	7.54%	8.86%	17.53%
40-49	332	5.36%	5.42%	1.23%
50-59	153	2.91%	5.23%	79.46%
60+	74	1.27%	1.35%	6.42%

 

Re-offending rates by Gender, April 11 - March 12

 

	Gender	Total offenders in cohort	Predicted re-offending rate	Actual re-offending rate	Difference
	Female	182	8.60%	10.44%	21.45%
	Male	1,441	7.84%	8.33%	6.18%
Note: The above re-offending data has been tested for significance, when the difference is red or green it is considered to be statistically significant, with green being lower than predicted and when red being higher than predicted.

 

Deter Young Offenders

Deter Young Offenders (DYOs) are those children and young people identified as the most problematic and assessed as being the most likely to re-offend. DYOs, who are jointly identified by either Kent Youth Offending Service (YOS) or Medway YOS and their respective Police led Integrated Offender Management Units, are those who have been charged with or suspected to be committing a “priority crime”.  These crimes are determined locally by the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships within the relevant Police area (Basic Command Unit).

 

The primary objective of the DYO process is to reduce the re-offending rate of DYOs through a closely co-ordinated approach between the Youth Offending Service and partner agencies. As at 19 October 2012, there were 45 young people who are classified as DYOs, 43 males and 2 females. The chart below show the distribution of this cohort across the county by gender and age.

 

Deter Young Offenders by Age

 

 

The length of time that the young people included in this snapshot had DYO status ranged from 1 month to 38.2 months, with the average being 13.3 months. The table below reports the outcomes found after tracking individual DYOs for a year following their identification by the Police and a youth offending team. The re-offending rate was predictably high but the impact of the initiative is seen in the reduction of the number of further offences committed in the twelve months before becoming a DYO and in the subsequent twelve months.

The impact is most obvious with the group who do not spend any time in custody in the 12 month tracking period. A summary of the findings is below:

 

Re-offending Rate:

37 / 43, 86.0%

 

Average number of further offences per DYO:

Overall population: 7.4 to 5.0

Community only: 7.9 to 4.1

Custody & Community: 7.1 to 5.8

 

DYOs and Re-offending

 

 

4.9  Road Safety

       

4.9.1 Road Traffic Collisions - All Casualties (May – April 09/10, 10/11, 11/12)

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	County Rank
Maidstone	686	654	689	35	5.4%	12
KCC	5813	5852	5429	-423	-7.2%	-

 

Casualties from road traffic collisions have increased in Maidstone by 35 (5.4%), from 654 to 689.  This rate of increase is counter to the county-wide decrease of 7.2%.  Maidstone has the highest RTC count in the county. At ward level, Boxley had the highest count of RTC casualties in Maidstone with a figure of 108 which is ranked 12^th highest of all wards in the KCC area.

 

4.9.2 Children aged 16 or under

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	County Rank
Maidstone	80	69	57	-12	-17.4%	10
KCC	706	715	537	-178	-24.9%	-

 

There were 57 casualties aged 16 or under which is a decrease on the previous year when the figure was 69.  The rate of decrease is below the county-wide fall of 24.9%.  Maidstone has the 10^th highest RTC child casualty count in the county. At ward level, Boxley, and high Street wards had the highest count of RTC child casualties in Maidstone with a figure of 11 and 10.

 

4.9.3 Killed or Seriously Injured - All KSIs (May – April 09/10, 10/11, 11/12)

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	County Rank
Maidstone	57	64	60	-4	-6.3%	11
KCC	579	545	484	-62	-11.2%	-

 

Those killed or seriously injured (KSI) from road traffic collisions have decreased by 4 (-6.3%), which is lower than the county-wide decrease of 11.2%. Maidstone ranks 11^th in the county for KSI figures.

 

4.9.4 Children aged 16 or under (May – April 09/10, 10/11, 11/12)

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	County Rank
Maidstone	3	7	4	-3	-42.9%	7
KCC	74	71	43	-28	-39.4%	-

 

There were 4 serious injuries to children aged 16 or under.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.10                    Substance Misuse - Drug Offences

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	521	455	359	-96	-21.1%	2.4	11
KCC	3,599	3,210	2,866	-344	-10.7%	2.0	-

 

 

Drug Offences have decreased by 96 (-21.1%), from 455 to 359.  This decrease is greater than the county-wide decrease of 10.7%.  Despite this, Maidstone has a higher rate per 1,000 population than the County average and ranks 11^th.  For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level, High Street ward had the highest volume of Drug Offences, ranking the highest in the county with a rate of 10.19 per 1,000 population.  The KCC average is 2.0.

 

Trends in Substance Misuse: High quality, safe and effective treatment services for drug and alcohol misuse are crucial to reducing the harms that drug and alcohol misuse to individuals and communities.  Drug and alcohol treatment has been proven to be highly effective, with studies concluding that every £1 spent on drug treatment leads to £2.50[5] in savings for society as a whole and for every £1 spent on alcohol treatment, the public sector saves £5[6].  As a partnership Kent Drug and Alcohol Action Team Board (KDAAT) ensures that a wide range of services are available and easily accessible to Kent residents.

 

Drug Use: Applying national self-reported rates[7] of drug use to the population in Kent suggests that of the population aged 16-59:

 

·         70,268 have used any drug in the last year

·         23,955 have used a class A drug in the last year

·         54,298 have used cannabis in the last year

 

Overall drug misuse is declining in the UK.  This is linked to the fall in use of cannabis (the most popular drug of misuse) but also a fall in crack cocaine and heroin misuse. Whilst problematic drug use requiring treatment goes beyond opiate and crack use, estimates of the numbers of Opiate and Crack users (OCU’s) are useful in indicating the number of problem drug users in an area.  Estimates of the numbers of OCU’s aged 15-64 in Kent are produced by the University of Glasgow in conjunction with the National Treatment Agency (NTA).  These estimates suggest that Kent has 6.32 OCU’s per 1,000 of the population.  This is lower than the national rate of 8.93 per 1,000 and equates to 5,724 OCU’s. 

 

Most recent treatment data compiled by the National Treatment Agency identifies that the number of adults and OCU’s in effective treatment are declining.  This is reflected in the Kent performance data.  The engagement of users in treatment remains a priority because of the health and social impacts of Opiate / Crack Cocaine use.

 

Effective treatment is understood as being engaged for at least 12 weeks or having a planned exit from services within 12 weeks.  In Kent in 2011/12, 80% of adults in treatment were effectively engaged.  This compares to the national average of 81%.

 

Data relating to the number of adults in contact with treatment services compared with the number of OCU’s therefore suggests that the needs of Opiate and Crack users in Kent are generally being well met in terms of penetration and treatment outcomes.

 

Alcohol Use - context:  Kent has an estimated 30,432 dependant drinkers and 173,410 binge drinkers[8].  For men and women, the rate of death from conditions wholly related to alcohol is much higher in East Kent than West Kent; and also higher than the average for the South East region, although both East and West Kent have rates lower than the England average.  Taking individual Districts into account, Thanet has the highest alcohol specific mortality rates in Kent for both males (22.59 per 100,000 which is more than double the average for the South East of England (10.16)) and females (7.68 per 100,000).  In comparison, Ashford has the lowest alcohol specific mortality rates in Kent for males, with Tonbridge and Malling having the lowest rate for females.

 

Overall, adults accessing services for alcohol misuse make up less than half of the client population, and yet estimates of dependant drinkers are considerably higher than estimates of the number of OCU’s.  Based on this analysis, although drug and alcohol services in Kent are working effectively, they appear to be meeting a greater proportion of the need for drug services than for alcohol services.  Now that there is greater flexibility around the use of funding for alcohol treatment services, this is being addressed through the commissioning of integrated drug and alcohol services. 

 

A more detailed analysis of the substance misuse needs of adults in Kent can be found in the Substance Misuse Needs Assessment for Adults (http://www.kmpho.nhs.uk/commissioning/needs-assessments, created 11^th July 2012).

 

Change in Service Provision

Drug and Alcohol services

Over the past financial year KDAAT has commissioned and introduced a number of new services in Kent.  In West Kent, drug and alcohol services in West Kent were competitively re-tendered in 2011.  KDAAT commissioned an integrated drug and alcohol service contract which is a national pilot for Payment by Results (PBR).  Kent was selected as one of eight areas in the Country to pilot a PBR model, which aims to incentivise providers to help people with drug and alcohol problems by achieving and sustaining recovery.  The contract was awarded to CRI and commenced in April 2012.

 

The drug and alcohol early intervention and specialist treatment service for young people in Kent was approved for re-tender in June 2011.  KCA’s Young People Service was successful in their bid for this contract, which commenced in January 2013 until 2016.

 

Kent and Medway Prisons

Following a transfer of responsibility from The Ministry of Justice (MOJ), National Treatment Agency (NTA) and the Department of Health (DOH) in April 2011, KDAAT commissioned Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS) services for the prisons and Immigration Removal Centre in Kent as part of a national phased process. The service became operational in October 2012 with the Rehabilitation of Addicted Offenders Trust (RAPt) being the successful bidder.

 

Additional Work Streams

KDAAT is also piloting a Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA) scheme in custody suites in Kent, which has been approved for the 2012 / 13 financial year period and is being tested in Thanet Custody.  Evaluation of this pilot is ongoing and will likely determine the future of the scheme in Thanet, and its roll out across the County.

Furthermore, KDAAT is working with other partner agencies on Kent’s Alcohol Strategy.  The current version is due to expire in March 2013.  It is proposed that a new Strategy will link closely to the key themes identified within the current Government’s Strategy published in March 2012.  These include:

 

·                Turning the tide (reducing availability of cheap alcohol; alcohol advertising);

·                Taking the right action locally (changing behaviour; challenge and enforcement; working across boundaries; evidence-based action on health harms);

·                Shared responsibility with industry;

·                Supporting individuals to change (understanding the risks; treatment and recovery; mental health; offenders).

 

Employment Status of Clients in Substance Misuse Treatment Services
	Maidstone
	09/10	10/11	11/12
Blank / unknown	46	24	5
Economically Inactive	24	6	1
Homemaker	1	4	7
Long term sick or disabled	28	96	128
NEET	5	1	0
Not Known	8	13	7
Not receiving benefits	3	20	18
Not Stated	0	1	1
Other	26	17	7
Pupil/Student	25	21	27
Regular employment	111	131	121
Retired from Paid work	1	11	9
Unemployed	198	54	9
Unemployed and seeking work	101	203	234
Unpaid voluntary work	0	2	1
Grand Total	577	604	575
Parental Status of Clients in Substance Misuse Treatment Services
	Maidstone
	09/10	10/11	11/12
All the children live with client	40	69	66
Blank / unknown	62	3	0
Children In Care	6	1	1
Children Living With Client	36	3	1
Children Living With Other Family Members	8	1	1
Children Living With Partner	21	5	3
Client declined to answer	4	3	5
Client Pregnant	0	0	0
No Children	77	24	8
None of the children live with client	142	213	223
Not a Parent	165	267	253
Other	4	0	0
Some of the children live with client	12	15	14
Grand Total	577	604	575
Indicators of Dual Diagnosis in Clients in Substance Misuse Treatment Services
	Maidstone
	09/10	10/11	11/12
Yes	56	65	68
No	427	491	480
Blank	85	46	27
Unknown	9	2	0
Grand Total	577	604	575

 

Housing Needs of Clients in Substance Misuse Treatment Services
	Maidstone
	09/10	10/11	11/12
Blank / unknown	29	11	4
CLA	0	1	0
CLO out of LA	0	0	0
Housing problem	50	36	56
Independent LAC in settled accommodation	0	0	0
Independent LAC in unsettled accommodation	1	0	0
Independent YP - unsettled accommodation	1	1	0
Independent YP with No Fixed Abode	0	0	0
LAC living in care	2	0	1
NFA - urgent housing problem	36	40	43
No housing problem	426	490	445
YP Independent - settled accommodation	0	0	0
YP Living with relative	32	23	25
YP Supported Housing	0	2	1
Grand Total	577	604	575

 

Hospital admissions for mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use

 

Hospital Admissions - Mental & Behavioural Disorders due to Psychoactive Substance Use (ICD-10 F10-F19 exc F17) June 2011 to May 2012 by Electoral Ward *Occurences of 4 or less have been suppressed due to NHS disclosure and confidentiality guidance
Ward name		Total
High Street		75
Park Wood		60
Fant		57
Shepway South		55
Shepway North		50
North		48
East		42
Marden and Yalding		36
Bridge		29
South		26
Bearsted		20
Coxheath and Hunton		19
Headcorn		19
Harrietsham and Lenham		16
Heath		13
Barming		12
Staplehurst		11
Downswood and Otham		10
Detling and Thurnham		9
Allington		8
Sutton Valence and Langley		8
Boxley		7
Loose		7
Leeds		6
Boughton Monchelsea and Chart Sutton		*
North Downs		*
Maidstone			649

 

 

Hospital admissions – evidence of alcohol involvement by blood alcohol level/level of intoxication

 

Hospital Admissions - Evidence of Alcohol Involvement by Blood Alcohol Level/Level of Intoxication (ICD-10 Y90-Y91) OR  Toxic Effects of Alcohol (ICD-10 T51) June 2011 to May 2012 Numbers by Electoral Ward & LA *Occurences of 4 or less have been suppressed due to NHS disclosure and confidentiality guidance
Ward name		Total
Park Wood		17
High Street		14
Fant		12
North		8
East		6
Harrietsham and Lenham		*
Downswood and Otham		*
Shepway South		*
Shepway North		*
Headcorn		*
Heath		*
Marden and Yalding		*
South		*
Maidstone		73

 

 

 

Year on year trends show a steady increase in alcohol attributable admissions across Kent and Maidstone follows this pattern in general.

 

 

Year on year trends show a sharp increase in alcohol specific admissions from 04/05 to 05/06 before a similar levelling off pattern as seen in alcohol attributable admissions. The rate for men is much higher per 1,000 population than for women, which is consistent with the county.

 

4.11         Violent Crime

                Hospital Admissions for Assault

 

Hospital Admissions - Assault (ICD-10 X85 -Y09) June 2011 to May 2012 Numbers by Electoral Ward & LA *Occurences of 4 or less have been suppressed due to NHS disclosure and confidentiality guidance
Ward	Ward name	Total
29UHGR	Fant	11
29UHGW	High Street	10
29UHHD	Shepway North	8
29UHHE	Shepway South	8
29UHHC	Park Wood	6
29UHGZ	Marden and Yalding	*
29UHGS	Harrietsham and Lenham	*
29UHHA	North	*
29UHHF	South	*
29UHGU	Heath	*
29UHHB	North Downs	*
29UHHG	Staplehurst	*
29UHGY	Loose	*
Maidstone		57

 

 

11 assaults with a sharp object took place in the street in the period June 2011 to May 2012.

 

Accident & Emergency (A&E) attendances for Violent Assault

This data is collected by A&E departments at each hospital within Kent and Medway. Persons attending A&E are asked if they have suffered an assault. If they confirm they have they are asked a series of questions relating to their assault. These questions vary across each hospital and due to the emotional condition of the victim or the busy periods within the A&E departments it is acknowledged that not all attendees are surveyed.  As such the accuracy of this data should be considered before its use in setting priorities.  The data listed below is for the main A&E department within the district. Attendees may have travelled from outside of the district to seek medical assistance. Further details of the incidents and their locations are available on the Safer Communities Portal.

 

Attendances to A&E	Oct '10 - Sep '11	Oct '11 - Sep '12
Maidstone District General Hospital	95	100
Kent and Medway	2063	1879

 

Maidstone District General Hospital, Maidstone (Oct '11 - Sep '12)
Gender of victim	No.	%
Male	66	69.5%
Female	29	30.5%

 

Maidstone District General Hospital, Maidstone (Oct '11 - Sep '12)
Time of attendance at A&E	No.	%
04:00 - 12:00 (AM)	21	21.0%
12:00 - 20:00 (PM)	43	43.0%
20:00 - 04:00 (NTE)	36	36.0%

 

Maidstone District General Hospital, Maidstone (Oct '11 - Sep '12)
Ethnicity of victim	No.	%
White	87	87.0%
Mixed	2	2.0%
Asian or Asian British	1	1.0%
Black or Black British	0	0.0%
Chinese or other ethnic group	0	0.0%
Not stated	10	10.0%

 

         Sexual Offences

 

	2009/11	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	132	129	103	-26	-20.2%	0.7	5
Kent	1196	1101	1052	-49	-4.5%	0.7

 

 

Sexual offences have decreased by 26 (-20.2%), from 129 to 103. This rate of decrease is greater than the County decrease of 4.5%. Per 1,000 population, Maidstone ranks 5^th in the County and 8^th in its MSG. For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level High Street ward saw the highest volume of sexual offences (11) and is 8^th in the county.

 

         Violence Against the Person

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	1788	1716	1656	-60	-3.5%	11.1	6
Kent	17143	16408	16480	72	0.4%	11.5	-

 

 

Violence against the person has decreased by 60 (-3.5%), from 1716 to 1656. This rate of decrease is counter to the County increase of 0.4%. Per 1,000 pop, Maidstone ranks 6^th in the county and 10^th position in its MSG. For the current financial year to September 2012, at ward level, High Street ward recorded the highest volume of violence against the person with 257 recorded crimes and ranks 5^th in the county.

 

Violence Against the Person – public transport

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	Diff	County Rank
Maidstone	14	20	15	-25%	4
Kent	213	222	244	9.9%	-

 

Youth Offending

The vast majority of Maidstone offences (78.6%) were of a less serious nature (i.e. registering a gravity score of 3 or less on a Gravity Scale of 1 to 8, where 1 indicates the least serious, and 8 indicates the most serious). When compared to the previous 12 month period, in the twelve months to 30 June 2012, there were significant reductions in the number of Motoring offences (-46%), offences of Criminal Damage (-48%), Drug offences (-44%), Theft & Handling Stolen Goods (-34%) and offences of Violence against the Person (-24%). When compared to the previous 12 month period, in the twelve months to 30 June 2012, there were also notable increases in the number of offences of Robbery and Domestic Burglary. 

 

The number of violent offences reduced from 71 in the 12 month period from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011, to 54. – a reduction of 23.9%. 40 children and young people (24% of the youth offending population in Maidstone) were responsible for the 54 offences of ‘Violence against the Person’. Of these 8 were females and 32 were males.

 

The vast majority of recorded violent offences were of a less serious nature).  As the table overleaf illustrates, 79.6% of the violent offences committed by this cohort had a gravity score of 3.

 

Only three of the 71 violent offences (5.6%) had a gravity score greater than 4.

 

Crimes of Violence Against The Person (1/07/11 to 30/06/12)

 

 

 

 

         Violent Crime

 

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	No. diff.	% diff.	Per 1K Pop	County Rank
Maidstone	1977	1890	1796	-94	-5.0%	12.0	6
Kent	19061	18111	18219	108	0.6%	12.8	-

 

4.12  Young People

 

         School exclusions

Fixed Term Exclusions

 

District	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	Diff.	Rank*
Maidstone	738	705	663	-42	6
KCC	9,669	10,428	9,910	-518	-

*The rank is based on the 2011/12 exclusions figure and excludes Medway.

 

Fixed term exclusions have decreased by 42, from 705 to 663. At ward level, pupils residing in the Shepway North ward still receive more fixed term exclusions than any other and the volume of exclusions has risen slightly over the last 3 years.  Swadelands School gave the highest number of fixed term exclusions to students (234), which is a significant increase since 2009/10 when there were 114.

 

Fixed term exclusions by pupil ward

 

Ward	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12
Shepway North	77	95	83
High Street	69	77	80
Park Wood	37	36	68
Harrietsham and Lenham	45	42	54
Boxley	35	23	53

Top 5 wards by number of fixed term exclusions

 

Permanent Exclusions

District	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	Diff.	Rank
Maidstone	29	28	22	-6	8
KCC	220	242	195	-47	-

*The rank is based on the 2011/12 exclusions figure and excludes Medway.

 

Bullying Incidents in schools

	Primary			Secondary
District	09/10	10/11	11/12	09/10	10/11	11/12
Maidstone	292	462	1289	32	169	1320
KCC	2004	4308	8310	1913	2790	7189

*Bullying is not consistently recorded across schools in Kent so should be regarded as speculative.

 

         Education and Safeguarding:

NEETs (Young people aged 18-24 Not in Education, Employment or Training)

For July 2012, the number of people aged 18-24 not in education, employment or training (NEET) in Maidstone was 211.  This was 6.0% of the age cohort.  The Kent average is 5.9% and the national figure is 5.8%.  The number of NEETs in Maidstone has increased slightly since the same period last year when the percentage was 5.6%.  The characteristics of young people who are not participating are diverse, although there are some groups that are at greater risk of becoming NEET.  This includes, for example, those with few or no qualifications and those with a health problem, disability or low aspirations.

 

To ensure the proportion of NEETs in Maidstone does not increase further, the Maidstone Locality Board (www.maidstonelocalityboard.com) has as one of its three priorities Tackling Worklessness and Poverty.  The Action Plan for this priority adopted by the MLB contains is focussed around breaking the cycle of worklessness and poverty through a programme that enables young people to gain applied skills that are valued by employers, and contains the following actions around the NEET cohort:

·         Establish a co-ordinating function, led by MBC in conjunction with KCC, Job Centre+ and CXK (formerly Connexions).

·         Evaluate all services/projects for NEET young people.

·         Identify and engage with 10 local employers to support and mentor young people who are NEET

·         Secure 50 work experience placements

·         Use CXK data to identify 30 NEETs and work with them into employment

·         Present the findings of barriers to employment and make further recommendations

 

The Action Plan is progressed by a Maidstone Locality Board Sub-Group established in December 2012.

 

4.13  Underage sales

Trading Standards have responsibility for the enforcement of a number of pieces of legislation which restrict the supply of age restricted goods. These include alcohol, tobacco, fireworks, spray paints, solvents, knives and DVDs. In terms of anti-social behaviour each of these items can play a part, although underage drinking is by far the major concern as a cause of anti-social behaviour for most communities. For this reason Kent County Council launched their Kent Community Alcohol Partnership (KCAP) in 2008.  KCAP is a partnership between Kent County Council, Kent Police, the Retail of Alcohol Standards Group (RASG) who represent the major off sales retailers of alcohol, the on licence trade, the local District Councils and health authorities. These partners have come together as they share a common goal; to create a culture where young people drink responsibly and follow safe consumption limits and minors are only able to access alcohol under responsible and informed supervision.

 

A KCAP toolkit has now been developed and distributed to Community Safety Units and other interested community groups around the county. The toolkit allows those taking a lead in the community to set up and operate their own KCAP areas where they feel there is a need for this type of project. The focus is for the community group to lead the project with support from Trading Standards. The overall county responsibility for the management of KCAP will remain with Trading Standards. To date new KCAP areas have been launched or are preparing to launch in Maidstone rural, Ashford, Snodland and Northfleet.

 

Trading Standards also continue to support the tobacco control agenda and are using all the tools available to trading standards to ensure their role is assisting this work. In the first instance they have been using a targeted approach to focus on the sale of tobacco. This involves using health and crime figures for the county to highlight small localities for focussed work. For example high smoking prevalence wards, where they have been building partnerships with the local tobacco retailers through providing advice and guidance on underage sales and where necessary undertaking test purchasing. They have also undertaken work on illicit tobacco in partnership with HMRC where Intelligence has highlighted specific issues.

 

Test Purchases

When it comes to underage sales test purchasing Trading Standards rely on Intelligence reports to target their work. This information can be received either direct to a regular contact officer, through the usual partner Intelligence channels or via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service (formerly Consumer Direct) if it is from a member of the public. When this information comes through it needs to be as detailed as possible, with full details on what actually happened, who was involved and which premises is implicated.

 

The more detail in the report, the more likely it is a test purchase will be undertaken due to the requirement for suitable justification by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) which as of 1 November 2012 must now be approved through the Magistrates Court.  It is therefore also extremely important to receive the information in a timely manner to ensure the details are current and relevant.

 

To date in this campaign year a total of six test purchase operations have been carried out around the county, details of these can be found in the attached file. The level of test purchasing reflects the reduced amount of Intelligence reports currently being received which are vital to allow for premises to be targeted.

 

Work on tobacco has been undertaken in the high prevalence smoking wards, to ensure retailers are aware of their responsibilities and to test their due diligence procedures. It is likely this will result in tobacco test purchases later in the year.

 

Maidstone	09/10	10/11	11/12
Number of test purchases	26 Alcohol 2 Fireworks	0	4 Alcohol 6 Tobacco
Failed test purchases	5 Alcohol	0	2 Tobacco 1 Alcohol
License reviews	3	0	2
Penalty notices issued	4	0	1
Warnings/prosecutions	0	0	3

The graph shows that across West Kent levels of alcohol specific admissions for under 18s have improved since 07/08. In 2010/11, Maidstone has one of the lowest rates per 1,000 population, although this has increased slightly since 2001/02.

 

 

         Young offenders

There is currently a downward trend in the county with respect to the numbers of children and young people in the youth justice system. YOS are working closely with Kent Police to support the greater use of restorative justice approaches as a means for diverting those coming to attention from the formal system with the intention that this should prevent their entry altogether.   

 

Unless otherwise specified, the data included here does not include children and young people normally resident outside of Maidstone, or those “looked after” by other Local Authorities but placed in the district.

Maidstone Youth Offending Population

Percentage of 10-17 Year Olds Offending in Maidstone

 

 

The table above shows a breakdown by district, of the number of children and young people in Kent, who committed an offence for which they received a substantive outcome:

 

·                between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2011

·                between 1 July 2011 and 30 June 2012

 

There has been a significant drop in the number of young offenders in Maidstone. There were 21.8% fewer young people offending between 1/07/11 and 30/06/12` than had been the case in the previous 12 months.

 

Age and Gender of Maidstone Offenders (1/07/11 – 30/06/12)

 

The breakdown of offenders In Maidstone by gender was:

 

·                Males:            127 (77.0%)

·                Females           38    (23.0%)

 

The ages of the females in this cohort ranged from 11 to 17 years. Very few female offenders were aged under 13 (5.3%). The ages of the males in this cohort ranged from 10 to 17. Only one male offender was aged under 12. The peak age for male offenders in this cohort was 16 years. Kent Police notified YOS of 85 new entrants to the Kent Youth Justice System (YJS) in Maidstone between July 11 and June 12: 25 females (29.4%) and 60 males (70.6%). As Table 2 below, shows, there was an overall reduction of 9.6% in the number of first-time entrants from Maidstone when compared to the previous 12 month period.  However, whilst the number of male first-time entrants reduced by 22%, the number of female first-time entrants increased by 47%. In Maidstone, the average age of entry to the YJS was 15.5 years for both males and females.

 

Youth Offending Population as a percentage of the overall 10 – 17 Year Olds Population of Maidstone

 

 

In Kent, there were a total of 4,195 offences committed which resulted in a substantive outcome being received between 1 July 2011 and 30 June 2012, which is 22.2% fewer than in the previous 12 months. Young people who reside in Maidstone were responsible for 252 (6%) of these offences. Males were responsible for 194 offences (77% of the total), whilst females were responsible for 58 offences (23%). Males and females were each responsible for an average of 1.5 offences per person.

 

Offences by Type

The three types of offences most frequently committed by children and young people (both males and females) in the county between July 2011 and June 2012 are:

 

·                Violence against the Person:                24.0%

·                Theft and Handling Stolen Goods:                  22.3%

·                Criminal damage:                                 13.0%

 

The three types of offences most frequently committed by children and young people (both males and females) in Maidstone between July ‘11 and June ‘12 are:

 

·                Theft and Handling Stolen Goods:                  30.6% (77)

·                Violence against the Person                  21.4% (54)

·                Public Order   :                                     9.5% (24)

 

There was a 32.3% reduction in the number of offences for which children and young people received a substantive outcome between 1 July 2011 and 30 June 2012, when compared to the previous 12 month period.

 

Maidstone Offences by Type

 

        Vulnerable adults

Kent Adult Social Services (KASS) is responsible for the protection and welfare of vulnerable adults (aged 18+) for the Kent County Council Local Authority Area.  The three main Client groups supported by KASS are people with a Physical and/ or Learning Disability aged 18 to 64 and Older Persons aged 65 and over.

 

Clients with Learning Disability (LD) - District

The Fiona Pilkington Inquest concluded that it is the responsibility of local councils to manage low levels of anti-social behaviour rather than for the police. This dataset is to inform CSP partners on the number and location of KASS Learning Disabled.

 

It has been national social care policy to offer LD Clients the choice to live as independently as possible and avoid being placed in a Residential home where able. The successful integration into the community however, sometimes results in exposure to anti-social bullying and intimidation. Although institutional care offers some protection against this, it is important that CSP partners understand the importance of integration of our learning disabled neighbours and it is in fact the anti-social behaviour that needs to be stemmed.

 

Of the LD Clients known to KASS living in Kent:

·                there are currently 3,233 countywide;

·                just under two-thirds (64% or 2,059 Clients) live in East Kent and the remainder in West Kent;

·                75% (2,429) live in the Community.

 

Maidstone	294	25%	9%	230	78%
Tonbridge and Malling	192	16%	6%	160	83%
Tunbridge Wells	233	20%	7%	173	74%
Sevenoaks	141	12%	4%	120	85%
West Kent	1174	100%	36%	953	81%
Kent	3233			2429	75%

Source: SWIFT, Kent Adult Social Services, August 2012

The 294 LD Clients in Maidstone analysed at ward level is tabled below:

 

Ward
Bridge	46
Harrietsham and Lenham	30
High Street	21
Shepway North	21
Fant	18
Staplehurst	16
North	15
South	15
Heath	14
East	13
Allington	12
Bearsted	9
Loose	9
Marden and Yalding	9
Headcorn	8
Shepway South	7
Boxley	6
Coxheath and Hunton	6
North Downs	6
Park Wood	6
Boughton Monchelsea and Chart Sutton	4
Leeds	3
Barming	0
Detling and Thurnham	0
Downswood and Otham	0
Sutton Valence and Langley	0

 

Please note: A confidentiality threshold has been applied to the dataset where if fewer than three Clients per Ward, the data has been added to another ward.

 

Adult Protection Alerts

If there are signs that a vulnerable adult could have been abused (physically, emotionally, financially, etc.) family, friends or anyone in a professional capacity can report their concern and the Client will have a vulnerable adult protection designation.  The media’s coverage of the “Baby P” case highlights that it may simply be a matter of time before an equivalent “Adult P” case would emerge.  Clearly inter-agency working to protect these individuals is paramount, involving the Police where necessary.  Due to the smaller numbers involved, the data is presented at CSP level only. There are 2,707 Adult Protection Alerts in Kent of which approx. two-thirds (66.1% or 1,789 Clients) live in East Kent with remainder (918) in West Kent.  This is an increase of 338 (14.3%) compared to the previous year.  The largest percentage of alerts in the county are in Thanet (13.9%), followed by Canterbury (13.2%) and Dover (12%).

5.      Initial Findings

 

5.1    The Safer Maidstone Partnership priorities for 2012-2013 were:

 

1.        Antisocial Behaviour – To reduce all aspects of ASB: To reduce the number of young people being victimised or involved in criminal behaviour.  To continue to work with partners, including Children’s Trusts to promote methods of diverting vulnerable young people away from crime and disorder. In addition, to work with partners to ensure that opportunities for sport and leisure are also promoted as a method of crime diversion.

 

2.       Domestic Abuse - To work with partners to reduce incidents of domestic abuse, particularly in relation to repeat offenders and increased awareness and reporting.

 

3.        Substance Misuse – To reduce the harm done by alcohol and drugs by further developing the three strands of education, intervention and enforcement, particularly in relation to binge and under-age drinking and the night time economy.

 

4.        Road Safety – Working across agencies, to continue to reduce the number of persons Killed or Seriously Injured on Maidstone’s roads through a combination of education, information and enforcement.

 

5.        Reducing Re-offending:

·                To come to a view of what success in preventing re-offending may look like;

·                To understand what the data is showing;

·                To gain a better understanding of which agencies are doing what in terms of the 7[9] resettlement pathways;

·                To add value to each agencies work in terms of effectiveness and impact on offenders and victims.

 

Based on the Strategic Assessment, the Safer Maidstone Partnership has re-confirmed the 2012/13 priorities based on the areas where maximum impact could be achieved given a continuing reduction in resources and capacity.  Our re-confirmed priorities for this year have been distilled from a wide variety of information shared with our partners and represent the most important issues to focus on this (2013/14) year.  All the priorities will require a robust multi-agency response, but because they are important for residents and communities, achieving them will have a positive impact on people’s quality of life.

 

5.2    Looking forward – Future partnership challenges

       

Although the UK economy is no longer contracting at the rate seen in 2008/9, most economic indicators remain flat.  This is reflected in the local economy which remains sluggish.  Maidstone’s unemployment rate of 2.5% (2.3% in 2010) is lower than the county average (3.2%) and much lower than the national rate (3.8%[10]).  Unemployment rates vary across the borough, with the lowest rate in Boughton Monchelsea & Chart Sutton (0.9%) ward and highest in Park Wood ward (7.0%).  The majority (28%) of those unemployed are aged 18-24, and this group is most likely to exhibit risky behaviour in terms of alcohol, drugs, vehicle & acquisitive crime and other related anti-social behaviour.  The effects of continuing economic hardship could result in increased prevalence of these crime categories.

 

        Maidstone has the largest night time economy in Kent and prides itself on ensuring that visitors to the town’s entertainment venues are as safe as possible.  There is a continuing need to tackle alcohol related incidents, including revellers arriving in the town centre already drunk i.e. ‘pre-fuelling’.  The 2 year Don’t Abuse the Booze project currently being delivered by a partnership of agencies aims to tackle head-on alcohol fuelled ASB and underage drinking, and also to educate and inform young people as to the consequences of their choices concerning alcohol consumption.

 

More recently, the town centre has seen an increase in on-street anti social behaviour during the day and night.  Incidents include public alcohol consumption, needle and drug paraphernalia finds in public places, prostitution and aggressive begging.  Most of the individuals concerned are not rough sleepers and do have an address.  Most are known to the Police and other agencies, although there is a proportion of eastern European origin.  Whilst the problems are cyclical in nature, they are being tackled through a multi-agency approach involving the Police, MBC Parks, Cleansing, ASB Officer, Housing, Porchlight, CRI, & Kenward Trust.

 

        Young drivers (17-24yrs) are particularly at risk of death/serious injury and education and publicity at Christmas and in the summer will be needed.

 

        There are no major sporting events in 2013, but if the weather during the summer is better than average there may be increased rates of alcohol-related crime, ASB, noise nuisance and domestic abuse.

 

 

6.    In-Depth Analysis: Progress on Current Priorities

6.1  Antisocial behaviour

Although the evidence shows that overall Maidstone is now ranked 4^th in the county (up from 5^th in the County in 2011/12), at ward level High Street, Park Wood and Fant wards recorded the highest volumes of ASB with 513, 191 and 188 recorded incidents respectively.  In terms of public perception, the relatively highly concentrated nature of ASB in Maidstone means that overall the borough performs well compared with the rest of Kent.  Despite the large night time economy (NTE), public perceptions of drunk or rowdy behaviour or teenagers hanging about are well below Kent average levels.

 

Despite the recent decrease in ASB, and given that much ASB occurs away from the town centre, there is a need to support both town centre safe socialising and more focussed work in specific locations, including rural ‘hotspots’.  The ASB Sub-Group has:

·                Hosted the weekly SMP Partnership Tasking and Action Group meeting (including MBC and Kent Police ASB teams, PCSOs, KCC Wardens, Kenward Trust, and Registered Providers etc.) to identify cases and hot-spots and promote joint working.

·                Directed operations and supervision (undertaken by police and MBC Licensing Officers) eg Hallowe’en & 5th November at hot-spot locations.

·                Worked with licence holders through the Night-time Economy Forum and other direct liaison

·                Promoted Maidstone as a safe place to visit for leisure and entertainment.

·                Worked with local schools and hospitals to develop initiatives – such as ‘Wasted’ - aimed at raising young people’s awareness of the dangers of drugs and alcohol through the SMP Substance Misuse Sub-Group.

·                Supported the work of the SMP ASB sub-group and ‘Prevent and Deter’ to ensure early intervention for young people.

·                Supported a harm-based approach to managing ASB by prioritising victims of ASB using risk identification and assessment as a key part of the response process.

·                Supported the SMP Communication Plan to ensure that an accurate and balanced view is given on community safety and ASB.

·                Promoted schemes that identify and work with vulnerable children who may become involved in ASB.

·                Ensured Section 106 contributions are secured to ensure appropriate crime prevention measures are considered at the earlier stage of the design process in order to prevent ASB and crime.

·                Developed and promoted Youth Diversionary Activity:

Ø   SNAP discos and KIYS Gigs

Ø   Community football & boxing

Ø   Switch on the Music

Ø   In the ‘Stone website

Ø   Zeroth Gym

Ø   Hotfoot and DMax play schemes

 

6.2     Domestic Abuse

Evidence shows that in Maidstone Domestic Abuse has decreased (by 153 incidents, from 1,845 to 1,642), raising Maidstone from 6^th in the County to 5th.  However, given the underreported nature of domestic abuse, this is an area that should remain a focus for the Partnership, particularly given the continuing economic austerity which can place households under stress.  During 2012/13 the role of DA Sub-Group has been assumed by the Maidstone Domestic Violence Forum, a registered charity.  The Forum has:

·                Worked with the main social housing providers to increase awareness of DA issues;

·                Supported the establishment of a DA One-Stop Shop to ensure all services are available under one roof;

·                Supported the Specialist Domestic Violence Court and the work of the Independent Domestic Violence Advisors;

·                Delivered domestic abuse prevention training to primary and secondary schools, through the Rising Sun project ‘Love Shouldn’t Hurt’ programme;

·                Delivered a poster publicity campaign;

·                Delivered training for DA practitioners;

·                Refreshed the Domestic Violence Handbook;

·                Drafted a robust Action Plan, aligned with the Community Safety Plan.  The five priority areas for the Maidstone Domestic Violence Forum Action Plan are:

Ø   Increase the awareness of both the extent and impact of domestic abuse within the local community and across various agencies

Ø   Promote and improve co-operation and co-ordination across key partnership agencies in order to facilitate consistent and well informed policy and practice responses to domestic abuse

Ø   Improve the support and safety of those who experience or are threatened by domestic abuse

Ø   Improve the protection and support for children/young people affected by domestic abuse

Ø   Make perpetrators more accountable for their actions

 

6.3  Substance Misuse

Although drug offences have reduced by 21% (96 fewer offences), offences per 1,000 population are above the County average, and Maidstone lies in 11^th place overall County-wide.  To tackle this, during 2012/13 the Substance Misuse Sub-Group has:

·                Directed operations and supervision (to be undertaken by police and MBC Licensing Officers) to ensure that premises are well run;

·                Worked with licence holders through the Night-time Economy Forum and other direct liaison;

·                Promoted Maidstone as a safe place to visit for leisure and entertainment;

·                Worked with local schools and hospitals to develop initiatives – such as Theatre ADAD’s ‘Wasted’ - aimed at raising young people’s awareness of the dangers of drugs and alcohol through the SMP Substance Misuse Sub-Group;

·                Overseen the delivery of the Don’t Abuse The Booze project, a two year project with a ‘whole borough’ integrated approach to firmly tackle problem drinking head-on by:

Ø   Developing a comprehensive programme of alcohol education in our schools, Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and colleges;

Ø   Proactively reducing ‘pre-fuelling’ and binge-drinking;

Ø   Challenging alcohol fuelled anti-social behaviour in identified ‘hot-spots’ in town centre and rural locations;

Ø   Reduce excess emergency ambulance call-outs and A&E admissions.

 

The integrated approach will have a direct impact on reducing the four key harms arising from alcohol abuse: harms to health, harms to public order, harms to productivity and harms to families and society.

 

6.4  Road Safety - Persons Killed and Seriously Injured

Evidence shows that road safety has improved on Maidstone’s road over the last 10 years.  However, young drivers in the 17-24 age group experience a disproportionate number of RTC’s, and the collisions they have are more serious. The Road Safety Sub-Group has:

·                Proactively targeted young drivers and drivers of two-wheeled vehicles.

·                Promoted focussed campaigns on discouraging drink driving and using mobile phones.

·                Worked with the hospitals, A&E, Primary Care Trust and GPs to improve data collection.

·                Engaged with the business community (which often includes young drivers).

·                Developed a joint communications and community engagement strategy with partners.

·                Supported KFRS to promote their demonstration/learning events:

Ø   Car’n’Age

Ø   Carmageddon

Ø   Rush

Ø   Jack & Jill

Ø   Licence to Kill

6.5  Reducing Re-offending

Reducing re-offending was adopted as the SMP’s 5^th priority following an analysis of Maidstone’s actual re-offending rate against what its expected rate should be.  A re-offending sub-group was established in August with representatives from the Police, Probation, YOT, IOM and HM Prison Maidstone.  The purpose of the sub-group has been established as:

·         To understand what data is available and what it shows

·         Preventing re-offending of core nominals

·         To gain a better understanding of what agencies are doing what in terms of the 7 resettlement pathways these are

·         To add value to each others work in terms of effectiveness and impact on offenders and victims.

 

Planned Activity for 2013/14:

·           Work with short sentence offenders (i.e. under one year), and work with them earlier to assist resettlement.

·           To further integrate YOT into the nomination process;

·           To increase cohort numbers and look at those shortly to be released from prison – this will identify opportunities earlier and greater interagency cooperation helping to support offenders back into the community;

·           Explore ways to expand upon the successful trial of Restorative Practice interventions Cockham Wood young offenders’ project using offenders;

·           To understand how the group can contribute to the Trouble Families agenda.

 

 

7.    Implementation and Monitoring

       

To ensure that the five Priorities are delivered, the Partnership will review and monitor progress as follows:

·                At SMP level through Sub-Group Chair reports

·                At Sub–Group level through Action Plan monitoring

 

 

8.    Strategic Assessment review date

 

The purpose of this document is to inform the annual SMP Partnership Plan and to assist the SMP and its partner agencies to draw up specific actions.  Therefore this document is reviewed annually and agreed by the Safer Maidstone Partnership in March each year.  It is also independently assessed by Kent CSU.

9.    Glossary of terms

Although some terms may not be specifically discussed in this Assessment, the following table of abbreviations are in common usage in policing and community safety.

 

ABA	Acceptable Behaviour Agreement
ASB	Anti-Social Behaviour
ASBO	Anti-Social Behaviour Order
CDAP	Community Domestic Abuse Programme
CSP	Community Safety Partnership
CST	Central Support Team
CSU	Community Safety Unit
DA	Domestic Abuse
DV	Domestic Violence
IDVA	Independent Domestic Violence Adviser
JFMO	Joint Family Management Officer
KCC	Kent County Council
KCVS	Kent Crime and Victimisation Survey
KDAAT	Kent Drugs and Alcohol Action Team
LSP	Local Strategic Partnership
MARAC	Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference
NDTMS	National Drug Treatment Monitoring System
NEET	(Children) Not in Education, Employment or Training
NTE	Night Time Economy
PACT	Partners and Communities Together
PCC	Police and Crime Commissioner
PCSO	Police Community Safety Officer
PDU	Problematic Drug User
PPO	Prolific Priority Offender
RTC	Road Traffic Collision
SMP	Safer Maidstone Partnership
SDVC	Specialist Domestic Violence Court
VATP	Violence Against the Person
YOS	Youth Offending Service

 

10.    How to get further information

If you would like further information about the Safer Maidstone Partnership, please contact: Community Partnerships Unit, 6^th Floor, Maidstone House, King Street, Maidstone, Kent ME15 6JQ. Tel: 01622 602000. www.maidstone.org.uk

 

We can provide this Assessment in large print, on tape and in Braille. For people whose first language is not English, we can arrange to have the Assessment translated into your preferred language.  Please telephone (01622) 602000 for further assistance.

 

Appendix 1

         Methodology and Information Sources

 

Unless otherwise stated, data collected for this Strategic Assessment relates to the time period October 2011 to September 2012. The main body of this assessment is broken down into two sections.  The first, known as the ‘Scanning Exercise’, will give a brief overview of Crime, Antisocial Behaviour (ASB), Disorder and Substance Misuse issues affecting the partnership area resulting in a list of issues to look at in-depth for the upcoming year.  This will be done through time series analysis since the previous assessment was undertaken and reasons for any changes in a particular issue.  It will also include a review of any emerging issues from the community prioritisation process.

 

The second section of this assessment, ‘The In-Depth Analysis’, will first look at the current partnership priorities with emphasis on the assessment of performance against these.  Then it will further analyse those emerging potential issues identified from ‘The Scanning Exercise’.  Greater detail on the scope of the problem will be discussed, including the scale of the problem, any reasons for changes in levels and the suggested cause of the problem including the relevance of location, time, the offender or the victim. Following this further analysis, after going through a priority selection process, a final list of recommended partnership priorities for the upcoming year will be produced.

 

The community prioritisation process allowed for the views of the local community of what issues should be deemed an emerging priority for the local area and was gathered through the Maidstone Resident Satisfaction Survey.  In addition, PCSO’s and Community Safety Unit Police staff engaged with local communities at public events such as the Maidstone Mela, 36 Engineers Day, Switch on the Music and Uprockin’ young people’s festival.  Also public opinion and those categories that are of most concern are highlighted through the quarterly Kent Crime and Victimisation Survey.

 

         Information sources

The list below includes the details of those data sources used to inform this strategic assessment, including the agency supplying the data, the time period the data refers to and any issues surrounding the validity and reliability of the data.  All information was correct at time of document production.

 

County Community Safety Unit crime data (October 2011 – September 2012)

All data provided by the County CSU is using recorded crime data provided by the Business Information Unit at Kent Police.  This data places the incidents at the time at which they were recorded by the Police.

 

Kent Police Intelligence Analysis data (October 2011 – September 2012)

Data provided by Kent Police is ‘committed’ data.  The ‘date’ used is the mid point between the earliest and latest dates that the offence could have been committed.

 

Ambulance data (October 2011 – September 2012)

All ambulance pickup submissions have been compiled by the County Community Safety Unit utilising data supplied by the South-East Coast Ambulance service.  This data has been cleansed and sanitised for use on CrimeView and, due to NHS data protection requirements, some data loss does occur within the cleansing process.  (E.g. ward-level occurrences of 4 or less are suppressed and shown as zero.)

 

 

Other data sources include:

·                Clean Kent

·                K-DASH (formerly Women’s Support Services)

·                Kent Families and Social Care

·                Kent Highways

·                Kent Police

·                Kent Probation Service

·                Kent Integrated Youth Service

·                British Rail Police

·                Kent Drug and Alcohol Action Team

·                Kent Trading Standards

·                Youth Offending Service

Appendix 2

         Contextual information

 

Maidstone demographic and economic summary

The latest population figures from the 2011 Census show that there are 155,200 people living in Maidstone Borough, a rise of 16,300 people (11.7%) since 2001.  This population size makes Maidstone Borough the largest Kent local authority district area, and is the 6^th highest rate of population growth of any Kent district. 72% of the borough’s population live in the Maidstone urban area with the remaining 28% living in the surrounding rural area and settlements. The age profile of Maidstone’s population is shown overleaf.  Overall Maidstone has a very similar age profile to the county average.  Maidstone has a slightly higher proportion of people in the 25-59 age groups, and a smaller proportion of teenagers and retired people compared to the KCC average.

 

Chart1: Maidstone population age profile

 

 

The borough’s population is forecast to grow at slower rate over the coming years with current forecasts suggesting a 4.7% growth over the next 15-years[11].  Based on KCC’s assessment of the district authority’s future housing targets as at June 2011, this rate of growth is lower than the county average (10.9%).

 

Ethnic Profile:  93.3% of Maidstone’s population is of white ethnic origin with the remaining 6.7% being classified as of Black Minority Ethnic (BME) origin[12].  The proportion of Maidstone’s population classified as BME is lower than the county average of 7.6%. The largest ethnic group in Maidstone is White British, with 90% of residents from this ethnic origin.  Within the BME population, the largest ethnic group is Indian (accounting for 1.0% of all residents) with the second largest group being residents of Black African and Chinese (each accounting for 0.9% of all residents).

 

        Deprivation:  The Indices of Deprivation 2010 provide a measure of deprivation at both district and sub-district (Lower Super Output Area) level, relative to other areas in England[13].  Table 1 presents the national and county rank of Maidstone based on the 2010 Index and also shows how the rankings have changed since the 2007 Index[14]. In 2010 Maidstone Borough was ranked as the 9^th most deprived district in Kent (out of 12 districts, with the most deprived - Thanet - being ranked 1).  Nationally, Maidstone ranks 217^th out of 326 local authority districts in England.  Although this rank still places it within England’s least deprived half of authorities, on the national ranking, Maidstone has moved up the deprivation scale from 270^th in 2004 (out of 354 local authorities), 225^th in 2007 (out of 326 local authorities), to 217^th in 2010.  This indicates that Maidstone’s level of deprivation has increased, relative to other areas in England.

 

Table 1: Kent Districts IMD rankings

 

Levels of deprivation vary across the borough.  Parts of Maidstone are within England’s top 20% deprived of areas and yet other parts are within England’s least 20% deprived of areas.  More detail is shown on Map 1. The greatest levels of deprivation are found within the areas of Park Wood, Shepway and High Street.  Neighbouring some of the most deprived areas of Maidstone are areas with relatively low levels of deprivation.  The least deprived areas of Maidstone are found in the areas of Bearsted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Map 1

 

Mosaic profile of residents

Mosaic Public Sector is a classification system designed by Experian[15] to profile the characteristics of the UK population. Each household in the UK is classified as belonging to one of 13 groups and 69 types.  This process has been taken further in Kent where county specific data has been included in Experian’s model to re-segment these 69 UK types into 13 groups relevant only to Kent. 

 

The 13 Kent specific groups have been named Kent and Medway A to M. These groups identify clusters of individuals and households that are as similar as possible to each other, and as different as possible to any other group.  They describe the residents of a postcode in terms of their typical demographics, their behaviours, their lifestyle characteristics and their attitudes.  The characteristics of the Kent & Medway groups are presented overleaf.

 

Table 2: Kent & Medway household groups A to M

 

The Mosaic profile of residents in Maidstone is shown in Chart 2 alongside the county profile.

 

Chart 2: Mosaic profile for Maidstone

 

Unemployment

Maidstone’s unemployment rate is currently 2.5%.  This is slightly lower than the county average of 3.2% and considerably lower than the national average of 3.8%[16]. In July 2012 there were 2,430 unemployed people in Maidstone which is +0.6% higher (14 more people) since June 2012 and +0.4% higher (10 more unemployed people) since July 2011.  The rate of increase in unemployed people in Maidstone has slowed considerably since 2011, when unemployment increased 7.9% between June 2010 and June 2011.  In Kent, unemployment increased 5.3% year on year, compared with an increase of 1.9% across Great Britain.

 

Table 3: Unemployment rates

 

 

Unemployment rates vary across the district.  The lowest unemployment is in Boughton Monchelsea & Chart Sutton ward where 0.9% of the working age population are unemployed.  The highest rate is in Park Wood ward where 7.0% of the working age population are unemployed. The majority of those unemployed are aged 18-24 years old.  This is a pattern seen locally and nationally.  In Maidstone, 18-24 year olds account for 27.3% of all of those unemployed and in the KCC area the proportion is 29.0%.  More information is provided in Chart 3.

 

Chart 3: Age profile of Maidstone unemployed

 

Out of Work Benefits

Out of work benefits claimants includes those people aged 16-64 who are claiming a key Department of Work and Pension (DWP) benefit because they are not working. This definition is used as an indicator of worklessness.  As at February 2012, there were 8,620 people in Maidstone who were claiming out of work benefits.  This is 9% of all 16 to 64 year olds and is lower than the county average of 10.8%. The largest proportion of those who are out of work are claiming Employment Support Allowance or Incapacity Benefit i.e. they have a health condition which is restricting the sort of work that they usually do.  A lower proportion is classified as jobseekers (claimants of Jobseekers Allowance) than the average for the KCC area.  14% of those who are workless in Maidstone are lone parents who are claiming Income Support.  This is higher than the KCC rate of 13.4%[17]. Chart 4 shows out of work benefits claimants by main reason for which they are claiming.

 

Chart 4: Out of work benefit claimants

 

 

Local context - Maidstone the place

Maidstone Borough, which covers 40,000 hectares, sits at the heart of Kent, positioned between London and the Channel ports and is home to 143,000 people.  Maidstone, as the County Town of Kent, is the administrative and retail capital.  The Borough combines the services provided by a large urban area, with excellent schools, shopping and a general hospital, with a very attractive rural hinterland, which includes the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) and thriving villages.  Housing in Maidstone Town has traditionally been considered relatively affordable compared to the south east average, but this is not the case in rural Maidstone and for those on average or low incomes.

 

Maidstone has the largest town centre shopping offer within Kent with approximately 700 shops, 75 cafes and restaurants, employing some 4,400 people.  The Borough also boasts the largest night time economy in Kent, creating £75 million a year and employing around 1,500 people.  The Safer Maidstone Partnership has fostered close working with the Police, Street Pastors, Urban Blue Bus, and Town Centre Management to ensure that Maidstone has a safe night time economy.  The SMP’s approach to ensuring Maidstone is a safe place to socialise has resulted in much positive press and TV coverage.

 

Map 2: The Maidstone borough area

 

 

Maidstone is an exceptionally green Borough with a number of parks, the largest of which is Mote Park, which is Grade II on the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks.  Maidstone Borough is considered a good place to live and work with high rates of employment, relatively low levels of adults claiming incapacity benefits and a higher proportion of residents who have a degree than the South East average.

 

Larger numbers of people commute into than out of the Borough.  The Borough has a very mixed business sector with large numbers of small and medium size businesses with particular strengths in professional services (law and accountancy) and construction. There is a growing media industry led by Maidstone Studios and the Kent Messenger Group.  Maidstone has an extensive further education campus (Mid Kent College) and a higher education offer with Mid Kent College seeking to increase their range of courses and facilities.

 

Residents living in the Borough have relatively high wages (although many higher earners commute out of the Borough to achieve these).  Maidstone came out as the top destination for business in the 2010 study of locations for business in Kent.

 

Transport links are generally good although rail travel could still be improved. 2011 saw the introduction of High Speed services from the Maidstone West to St. Pancras.  Rail journey times to London from some of the smaller rural towns (Staplehurst and Marden) are as low as 40 minutes.  The Borough is well served by the motorway network with the M20 and M2 both providing links to the M25 and the Channel Ports.  The international high speed railway stations at Ebbsfleet (15 mins) and Ashford (25 mins) are also extremely accessible.

 

What matters to Maidstone residents

The Council carried out extensive consultation when developing the Sustainable Community Strategy for Maidstone 2009-2020.  Residents were asked to identify what was good and bad about living in the Borough as well as their dream for Maidstone.  The top three positive comments related to Maidstone included shopping, parks and the river.  Other positive comments related to cleanliness, the countryside and nightlife.  The top three negative comments related to traffic congestion, public transport and the quality of roads.  The top three dreams for Maidstone residents related to resolving transport issues, improving the river and an improved theatre/concert facility.

 

A residents’ survey was undertaken in 2011.  This was the first survey the Council had undertaken since the Place Survey in 2008 and showed improved satisfaction in a number of areas including providing value for money, keeping residents informed and the way the Council runs its services.  It also showed some areas that need improvement, such as people from different backgrounds getting on well together and satisfaction with the local area.

Appendix 3

Terrorism

 

The current threat level to the UK from international terrorism is severe. The most significant international terrorism threat to the UK remains violent extremism associated with and influenced by Al Qa'ida.  The Prevent Strategy, launched in 2007, seeks to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It is the preventative strand of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. ‘Prevent’ is about stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremists.  There five elements:

 

1.     Challenging violent extremist ideology and supporting mainstream voices;

2.     Disrupting those who promote violent extremism and supporting the institutions where they are active;

3.     Supporting individuals who are being targeted and recruited to the cause of violent extremism;

4.     Increasing the resilience of communities to violent extremism;

5.     Addressing the grievances that ideologues are exploiting.

 

The current international terrorist threat is quite different from previous threats, with contemporary terrorists groups claiming a religious justification for their actions. They seek mass casualties and are both sophisticated and unconventional in their techniques: they do not provide warnings and seek out soft targets, in particular crowded places.

 

The responsibility for preventing violent extremism and supporting those individuals and communities who may be vulnerable rests with us all, including partners and communities.  The threat is very real and will be around for a number of years, but despite the threat, the Police must be proportionate and measured in their response.  Delivering an effective Prevent programme requires action by a range of agencies, front line workers and, in particular, neighbourhood policing teams who come into contact with communities and vulnerable individuals.

 

The Prevent Strategy 2011 review

In 2011, the government launched a review of the Prevent strategy.  This review was independently overseen by Lord Carlile of Berriew.  The review found that the previous Prevent programme tended to confuse the delivery of government policy to promote integration with government policy to prevent terrorism.  Thus, in trying to reach those at risk of radicalisation, funding sometimes reached those extremist organisations that Prevent should have been confronting. The Prevent strategy has been re-focused, and now contains three objectives:

 

1.     respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat from those who promote it;

2.     prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support;

3.     work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation that need to be addressed.