BHCC ASB and Hate Incident Casework Team

Quarterly Report July to September 2013

Introduction

The principle aim of the team is to tackle, prevent and reduce the harm caused by hate incidents & anti-social behaviour (ASB) across Brighton & Hove. The team uses a wide range of tools and powers to support and protect victims and witnesses whilst encouraging and requiring perpetrators to address and change their behaviour.

The Casework Team currently comprises of a manager, a senior caseworker, six caseworkers, a police community support officer and a police officer. The team also receives dedicated advice and time from a council solicitor. The team generally manages about 60 cases at any one time. These tend to be the most serious cases with the most challenging perpetrators and the most vulnerable victims.

The Casework Team operates a duty system through which all incidents and enquiries are triaged. In addition to managing a caseload each member of the team works a shift on the duty desk.

The team uses a balance of enforcement, support and diversionary activities to work with ASB and hate incident perpetrators to tackle and address their behaviour. The team supports victims, witnesses and communities that are suffering anti-social behaviour and hate incidents by implementing Brighton and Hove’s victim and witness service standards to reduce the harm that is being caused.

Dealing with incidents

On 1st of July 2013the Casework Team had 53 open cases, 7 of which involved young people committing ASB or hate incidents.

During this quarter the Casework Team dealt with 181enquiries and reports of ASB and hate incidents through the duty system. Of these enquiries

  • 136 were ASB
  • 27 were hate incidents
  • 18 were not relevant to our service

Of the 181 enquiries dealt with on duty during this quarter

  • 46 became new cases for the team
  • 93 were referred to another service.
  • Advice and guidance was given in the other 42 enquiries.

Of the 46 new cases, 14 were cases involving hate crimes and/or hate incidents. Of these 14 hate incident cases

  • 7 involved racially motivated behaviour
  • 4 involved a hate incident related to the victims sexual orientation
  • 3 involved an incident related to the victim’s disability
  • 1 involved a hate incident related to gender

In this quarter the Casework Team had 211 separate engagements with the victims in their cases and 110 separate engagements with perpetrators in their cases.

The team successfully applied for an ASBO on a 15 yr old female who had caused considerable anti-social behaviour in and around the city, specifically affecting local businesses.

Members of the Casework Team attended 20 Local Action Teams during this quarter

Supporting other services and community engagement

Team members have provided training, workshops and briefings about the work of the team aimed at increasing confidence in reporting ASB and hate incidents. The training incorporates sessions on:

  • Who the Casework Team are?
  • What is ASB?
  • What is a hate incident?
  • How we support victims of ASB and hate incidents
  • How to report ASB and hate incidents

These sessions have been delivered during this quarter to:

  • Amaze (support to parents of disabled children)
  • Care Co-Ops (Supporting people with learning disabilities and mental health support needs)
  • GP surgery staff
  • Housing Adaptations Team
  • Local Action teams
  • Refugee and Migrant Forum
  • Speak Out (advocacy for adults with learning disabilities)
  • Sussex Interpreting Services
  • Victim Support
  • West Pier Project (supported housing for homeless people with mental health issues)

A member of the team now attends the Disability Advice Centre at the Federation of Disabled People once a month to provide an advice, guidance and reporting service to their staff and service users.

Members of the team have been at Pride, Trans Pride, Hate Crime Vigil, the re-opening of The Level, a BME Community Partnership Housing event, and an event organised by Health Promotions and Community Learning Disability Team to promote health and wellbeing for people with learning disabilities.

The team have worked together with voluntary sector organisations, BHCC partners and Sussex Police to set up a “Addressing Disability Related Hate Crime” conference to be held at Hove town hall on 26th November 2013. The team will have a stall and will be facilitating “increasing reporting” workshops.

We met with IMPETUS, a Brighton and Hove based charity which provides direct support
services to local people experiencing disability and/or disadvantage, to learn more about the services they provide. From this meeting we are working on a protocol to ensure that all our service users who have a disability, whether victim or perpetrator, are offered advocacy by IMPETUS staff.

We attended a meeting to discuss Hate Incidents and ASB that occurs on Facebook and other social media, in order to agree a multi-agency action plan to reduce the harm that is caused by this cyber bullying.

During this quarter members of the team have met with the main Registered Social Landlords in the city to ensure robust joint working procedures and information sharing is in place with these key partners and to begin to produce local guidance regarding the use of the new tools and powers in the ASB, Crime and Policing bill due to be law in 2015.

A member of the team worked alongside Sussex Police and EF Language schools to produce a film aimed at increasing the safety of international visitors to the city.

The team completed the Mental Capacity Act 2005 capability framework to ensure competency in understanding the guidance and good practice relating to the act.

We met with BHCC Allotments Team and have agreed a reporting mechanism and victim service standards for allotment tenants who are victims of ASB or hate incidents.

Team members have attended training in:

  • Community Engagement
  • First aid
  • Safeguarding children
  • Supporting behaviour change
  • Thumbs Up – supporting people with learning disabilities
  • Understanding and using psychological interventions
  • Working with interpreters

The team continues to be a lynch pin partner in all ASB and hate incident work in the city.