The Team
The team consists of four members as below and based at NWP Central Division Headquarters in St Asaph. Telephone 01745 588 513 or Email arsonreductionteam@nthwales.pnn.police.uk
Team Members
Arson Reduction Manager, NWF&RS - Jane Honey
Police Sergeant, NWP - Andy Piggott
Administrator NWF&RS - Melanie Lawton
Business Arson Warden, NWF&RS - Amanda Hughes
Background
In January 2005, three Arson Reduction Teams (ARTs) were established within Wales. Each team covers different geographical areas, varying in both size and type. These teams were officially launched in March 2005 in Cardiff. They are funded entirely by the Welsh Assembly Government and will run until December 2007.
Funding for the project was made available following recommendations made in ‘Up in Flames’, commissioned by the Community Fire Safety Working Group in 2003. This report showed that:
- Welsh Fire & Rescue Services received 23,000 deliberate fire and malicious calls in 2000-01.
- School Arson costs Wales £2.3 million a year.
Over 4,500 calls a year relating to vehicle fires cost Welsh Communities over £18.2 million.
- 531 cases of deliberate fires in private dwellings were recorded with a cost of £9.1 million.
- The cost to the Welsh Community of deliberate fires was estimated to be over £52 million during 2000-01.
- Statistics show that Arson is a growing and expensive problem in Wales; the introduction of ARTs within Wales is a key step in reducing Arson.
Our Function
The North Wales ART is a strategic organisation that has evolved to help partnerships and relevant agencies develop arson reduction initiatives and tool kits.
North Wales ART was established with the short-term aim of reducing certain types of deliberate fires . These fire types are;
- Vehicle fires
- Forest, grass and gorse fires
- Refuse contained fires
- School fires (this was identified after the establishment of the ART in response to a spate of school fires)
In the longer term, the North Wales ART has set objectives to;
- Improve the way deliberate fires are monitored
- Improve inter-agency data collection to help reduce the number of incidents attributed to acts of arson
Reduce the incidents of arson by 30% by 2012 in line with Government targets
- Identify funding opportunities for continued partnership working to reduce arson in local communities
- Develop policies across Wales.
Four key areas have been identified that the Welsh Assembly Government funded ARTs will be involved in across Wales. These are:
- Prevention
- Education
- Detection
- Investigation
|
