What is the North Wales Community Safety Partnerships?

The North Wales Community Safety Partnerships Chief Officer Strategic Group is a multi-agency strategic partnership which has been in existence since January 1999. The Group has developed since then, and in June of 2005 decided to rename to reflect the need for a more strategic approach together with the correct level of attendance. The Group covers the six local authorities of North Wales.

Membership of the Group is drawn from the highest levels within the contributing agencies from the public, private and voluntary sectors. This regional structure provides an overarching framework to facilitate and add value to the work at local level of each local authority Community Safety Partnership to tackle agreed crime and disorder priorities.

The Chief Officers Forum, moving forward in times of change has identified that the sharing of good practice and learning from each other has been a notable success across North Wales, due in the main to the regular contact through forums such as the North Wales Community Safety Practitioners Group. A joint communication strategy is developing through the issuing of press releases such as the Needle Exchange issue and Door Supervisors as well as Prolific Offender Strategies and Drug Intervention Programmes.

There are a range of issues taken into account including :

• The implications of the Licensing Act 2003 and the Anti social Behaviour Act 2003 together with other criminal justice legislation.
• The continuing requirements of "Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain", and “Tackling Substance Misuse in Wales".
• The requirements of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales in addressing youth offending and the prevention of offending.
• The North Wales Police Authority and the North Wales Police Annual Policing Plan 2005-06 together with their Three Year Strategic Plan 2005-08.
• The work and recommendations of the Government's Social Exclusion Unit, and that of social exclusion units locally which will be contained at least in part by the Anti Social Behaviour Act and the Domestic Abuse Act;
• The development of Local Health Wellbeing and Social Care Strategies;
• Wales Improvement Programme;
• Modernising Local Government Agenda and the continueddevelopment of Community Strategies.

Each of the six Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) in North Wales has prepared a three year strategy to tackle crime and disorder in their area. These plans are constantly reviewed and edited to take account of current local problems of crime and disorder.

It must be strongly emphasised that crime and disorder in north Wales has been significantly reduced over the past two years, and shows signs of further reduction this year. However, surveys have indicated that the fear of crime within communities is rising and there does nor appear to be any logical explanation for this. We would like to take this opportunity to re-assure the public that north Wales is a very safe place to live and work.

The Structure