Agenda item

This report presents the Community Safety Annual Report 2025-26.

Recommendation:

That members of the committee consider and comment on the Community Safety Annual Report.

The Head of Strategy and Partnerships presented the Community Safety Annual Report for 2025-26.  This summarised the work of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) over the preceding year and formed part of the Council’s statutory duty to scrutinise crime and disorder activity in the area under the CSP.  The report also set out the community safety strategic priorities for 2026-27.

Members heard that the report highlighted the strong partnership working across the district and focused on the key priorities of the CSP over the year, which were: Burglary, Theft of and Theft From a Motor Vehicle, Robbery, Anti-Social Behaviour, Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls and Hate Crime and Prevent.

The report showed positive progress in a number of areas and proactive work to address a number of challenges which had arisen over the year.  Highlights included the Safer Streets project (which would continue to be delivered this year), the Crucial Crew project (which had been delivered to over 600 primary school children at Watford Football Club), the Community Safety Conference, and installation of 9 new CCTV cameras amongst many other initiatives.

The priorities for 2026-27 were reported as Burglary, Retail Crime, Anti-social Behaviour, Domestic Abuse and Violence against Women and Girls, and Hate Crime and Prevent.  Additionally, the Community Safety Team would be working closely with other partners across the county over the coming year on the establishment of the new unitary authority, ensuring that the Community Safety Partnership responsibilities were fully embedded under the new arrangements.

A Committee Member commented that the new CCTV installation in Abbots Langley had played an important role in supporting investigations (including a fly-tipping incident) and reducing offences in the area.  The effective use of ASB powers, strengthened partnership working, and the importance of the White Ribbon accreditation were also cited as areas of success.

In response to questions from a Committee Member, the Head of Strategy and Partnerships reported that trends were regularly monitored and reviewed through the Community Safety Co-ordinating Group, which met quarterly and included a regular item to look at intelligence and data.  Officers were also looking at using the Council’s GIS (Geographical Information System) mapping tool to overlay data provided by the Police and from other sources such as CCTV cameras onto maps of the district. 

A Committee Member commented that there was a lack of statistical data in the report, and the police had not been invited to attend the meeting.  Therefore, it was difficult to be able to challenge the police in terms of what was happening in the district.  Additionally, the committee had only one opportunity in the year to scrutinise police activity.  The Committee Member expressed concerns about youth restrictions in South Oxhey and continued increases in crime (particularly violence and sexual assault) on Station Road in Kings Langley between January and May compared with the same period in the previous year. 

The Head of Strategy and Partnerships clarified that the report was a general annual overview of the work of the Community Safety Partnership.  Whilst it included information about the effectiveness of various projects, the aim was not to scrutinise the performance of any one partner such as the police.  However, it was open to the committee to invite a community safety partner to attend a meeting in order to scrutinise a particular project or area (e.g. youth crime and anti-social behaviour) if required.  Officers were aware that there had been some increase in youth crime and anti-social behaviour recently and some hotspots, and were working closely with the police and the Services for Young People outreach teams to address this, with positive outcomes already being seen.

In response to a Committee Member’s question about initiatives to address the priorities of Burglary, Retail Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour over the coming year, the Head of Strategy and Partnerships highlighted the new ASB app, which would allow residents reporting incidents of anti-social behaviour to more easily report future occurrences.  It would also allow officers to more easily track where there were hotspots.    The Safer Streets and Crucial Crew projects would continue, as would work with housing associations to address incidents of anti-social behaviour by neighbours.  The Anti-Social Behaviour Action Group would monitor reports of ASB on a day to day basis, and outcomes of all initiatives would be kept under review by analysis of the data provided by the police to the Community Safety Co-ordinating Group.  Initiatives relating to Burglary and Retail Crime included Shopwatch and Pubwatch which were aimed at reducing shoplifting.

In response to a Committee Member’s question about CCTV coverage in Carpender’s Park, the Head of Strategy and Partnerships reported that there was currently one Community Safety Partnership camera, in Delta Gain.  There were only 9 CSP CCTV cameras across the district as a whole.  These were re-deployable (albeit at a cost), and the Community Safety Co-ordinating Group would consider requests to move a camera where evidence and data supported the need for additional coverage or for coverage to be provided in a different location.  Many private businesses also operated CCTV cameras which the police could access.  Residents were therefore encouraged to report incidents of anti-social behaviour as this helped in identifying where the need for CCTV coverage or other responses such as additional patrols was greatest.

In response to a question about initiatives relating to Domestic Abuse against Women and Girls, it was noted that major football tournaments such as the World Cup usually triggered an increase in offences.  The Head of Strategy and Partnerships reported that specific initiatives were run at such times (including currently during the World Cup) which promoted sources of assistance and support.  The ‘Ask for Angela’ safety scheme was also used with pubs and clubs, and the police were undertaking extra patrols of the nighttime economy for the duration of the event.  The Council’s White Ribbon Accreditation was due for renewal shortly, and an action plan was being developed ahead of renewal which would include initiatives for the forthcoming three years.

A Committee Member raised a question about the move in parading arrangements from Abbots Langley and South Oxhey to Rickmansworth and the resulting impact on the visibility, response capability and confidence in the Neighbourhood Policing Team in Abbots Langley and South Oxhey, which was considered to be negative.  It was queried whether the Council would be pursuing a review of the data before and after the parading change and seeking a reversal of the decision by the Chief Inspector to change the parading arrangements.  The Head of Strategy and Partnerships responded that the feedback from the police was that crime was decreasing and good outcomes were being seen, notwithstanding that there had been a small spike in ASB.  The police were therefore positive about the new approach.  Additionally, police operational issues could not be addressed either by Council officers or the committee: the process for scrutiny or complaint about police operational matters was through the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Police and Crime Scrutiny Panel.  In response to a further question as to whether police data relating to the change was, or would be, available, officers responded that no public data was provided by the police other than the official crime statistics which were in the public domain and accessible by councillors.  Whilst the Community Safety Partnership was provided with additional confidential and sensitive information by the police it was not the Council’s data to share.

Another Committee Member commented that the Chief Inspector had attended a special meeting in Abbots Langley to explain the re-deployment model and the reasons behind it and had confirmed that there would be no reduction in policing.  The Chief Inspector would also be attending the Abbots Langley Local Area Forum in October to discuss the impact of the new arrangements.

RESOLVED:

That members of the committee consider and comment on the Community Safety Annual Report 2025-2026 as shown above.