Working with partners

Sections

Kent Community Safety Unit (KSCU)

Kent Community Safety Partnership

Local Community Safety Partnerships

Kent Community Safety Managers Network (KCSMN)

2011 Community Safety Conference

Commmunity Payback

Community safety is a large and complex issue, affected by a wide range of social and economic factors. Education, health, housing, poverty, family life, truancy, policing, social exclusion and employment are all factors within community safety, and all play a part in creating and shaping our communities.

It is because the root causes are so varied that we tackle these issues by working with many other organisations that play a part in our communities, as well as with voluntary agencies and local neighbourhoods.

The following groups exist to enhance partnership working across Kent;

Kent Community Safety Unit (CSU)

The Kent Community Safety Unit is tasked with providing assistance and professional advice on community safety to all partner agencies, including community safety managers. The team provides many services to partners and the people of Kent such as:

• Management and support of a wide range of community reassurance pathfinder schemes and projects.
• Provision of external funding and officer support on behalf of Kent County Council to requests for grant aid on crime reduction issues.
• Deliver the Community Warden Service of uniformed wardens which helps to prevent crime by encouraging the building of strong communities and by discouraging low-level, anti-social behaviour.
• Provide funding and managerial support for the county Domestic Abuse Co-ordinator.
• Provision of statistical analysis products to assist district performance monitoring.
• Provide and delivers numerous training packages via the Community Safety Training Partnership.

Kent Community Safety Partnership

Chair: Mike Hill, OBE, Cabinet Member for Communities

The Kent Community Safety Partnership is the top tier of community safety in Kent. It supports and actions the Stronger and Safer Communities theme within The "Vision for Kent", the county wide community strategy which is about the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of Kent's communities over the next 20 years.

The partnership is responsible for:

• Addressing community safety issues through joint working
• Preparing a annual Community Safety Agreement based upon an aggregation of the Community Safety Partnerships (CSP) strategic assessments
• Co-ordinate the work of county wide agencies
• Provide guidance on major cross agency projects and management information support systems
• Co-ordinate partners to achieve county priorities
• Attract resources from appropriate funding streams
• The County Strategy Group should develop links between county wide priorities, Kent Agreement priorities and local Community Safety Partnership's priorities

Local Community Safety Partnerships

Across Kent there are local Community Safety Partnerships (CSP) of which are responsible for community safety. The CSPs are responsible for the over arching strategy for tackling crime and are required to produce a three year community safety strategy.

For a list of these, visit the local Community Safety Partnerships page.

Kent Community Safety Managers Network (KCSMN)

The KCSMN is established by the 12 district Community Safety Managers (CSMs) who co-ordinate statutory Community Safety Partnerships at a local authority area level. The Network aims to improve co-ordination of activity and sharing of effective practice within Community Safety across Kent. The Network provides essential links to key partnerships and organisations including Kent County Council and the Kent Partnership ensuring that:

• Key issues are debated and if necessary a collective stance shared to address these with relevant agencies in the mutual interest of all concerned
• Effective practice through sharing of what works is based around the hallmarks within the national standards
• Sharing of resources to improve service delivery and produce efficiencies for all involved is encouraged
• Co-ordination of community safety arrangements between the two local government tiers occurs

The group regularly shares information on a virtual basis, meets collectively on a formal basis twice yearly and meets within a set of locally arranged cluster groups on a more regular basis (4 – 6 weekly) to provide peer support and raise issues for consideration by the network. The group is also supported by the Central Support team of Kent County Council for data requirements, coordination of some of its activities and communication flows.

For more information on any of these groups please contact the Community Safety Unit at: communitysafetyunit@kent.gov.uk

2011 Community Safety Conference

On the 28th March 2011, a number of public and voluntary sector agencies from across the county came together to look at how they could best work together in the face of reductions in funding they all are faced with. The key message from the recent Community Safety Conference was that greater emphasis on sharing public sector resources would be needed in order to keep residents and local communities safe.

KCC Cabinet member for Customer and Communities Mike Hill, who gave the welcome address at the conference, said:

"We know we are facing tough times economically but despite changes in funding, we are still determined to strengthen services which keep people safe. Our partnerships with colleagues in Kent Police and other local agencies are already very strong and these will now play an even greater role in how we tackle anti social behaviour and threats to local communities. By sharing resources, facilities, information and expertise, we can keep on protecting the county and reassuring residents we are there to help."

If you require any further information about this event please the Community Safety Unit at: communitysafetyunit@kent.gov.uk

Community Payback

In the last 12 months (May 2011) offenders on Community Payback undertook 272,136 hours of work in Kent. Organised by Kent Probation, the work by Community Payback teams included making vast improvements to community facilities, the environment, public buildings, open spaces and local neighbourhoods. Community Payback is one of the 12 requirements of a community order which can include other punishments such as a Curfew with rehabilitation such as drugs and alcohol treatment.

May 2011 - Central and West Kent Community Payback (PDF, 422Kb)
May 2011 - East Kent Community Payback (PDF, 419Kb)
May 2011 - North Kent (PDF, 404Kb)