Community Safety Partnership Audit Draft Report

Private and Confidential

COMMUNITY SAFETY PARTNERSHIP AUDIT DRAFT REPORT

Three Rivers

Kate Broadhurst

September 2004

CONFIDENTIAL

Private and Confidential

Executive Summary

This is the third Crime and Disorder Audit produced by Three Rivers Community Safety Partnership. The purpose of this audit is to inform the partnership and local communities about crime and disorder in the district and to assist in the process of compiling the new three-year Community Safety Strategy for 2005 to 2008. The Strategy will outline how the Partnership will seek to deliver sustainable reductions in crime and disorder and respond to local concerns.

The Crime and Disorder Audit will examine both national priorities and local concerns in Three Rivers, identifying issues for consideration as priorities in the new strategy. The audit will also examine substance misuse within the district, by consulting with stakeholders, young people and drug and alcohol users.

Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International Ltd was commissioned to conduct the audit on behalf of the community safety partnership and have used a range of quantitative and qualitative methods to research the crime and disorder issues in Three Rivers. These included:-

Data from a wide range of sources; Police, Local Authority departments, Probation service, Health services, Voluntary sector.
A community safety survey of a random selection of the community, with booster samples to local schools and the business community
Consultation with hard to reach groups on community safety,
Interviews with substance misuse service providers and Hertfordshire Drug Action Team members,
Consultation with young people on substance misuse
Interviews with drug and alcohol users on substance misuse
Survey of ward members

The main findings of the audit are summarised below within a number of main headings.

Understanding Crime and Disorder

It is still true to say that Three Rivers has a low crime rate for all crime types when compared against other districts in Hertfordshire and the County as a whole. However, during the current strategy period the level of recorded crime in Three Rivers has risen. In particular theft from vehicles, domestic burglary and violent crime all display higher rates.

There have been significant increases in the rate of vehicle crime: theft of is up by 45 per cent to 4.2 offences per 1,000 population and theft from is up by 30 per cent to 11.7 offences per 1,000 population. Areas that are hotspot areas for theft of a vehicle are Ashridge, Abbots Langley, Northwick and Langleybury. The trend in Rickmansworth, Bedmond and Croxley Green was downward. Areas that are hotspot areas for theft from a vehicle are Rickmansworth, Chorleywood and Sarratt. Figures for Northwick, Penn, Chorleywood West and Maple Cross and West Hyde are down.

There have also been increases in burglary rates: burglary dwelling is up by 17 per cent to 5.7 offences per 1,000 population and burglary other is up by 5 per cent. Areas that are hotspot areas for domestic burglary and often burglary other as well are Maple Cross and West Hyde, Rickmansworth West, Chorleywood West and Penn where the rate was above the county average. Figures for Rickmansworth itself show a downward trend.

Overall there have been increases in violent crime. Robbery is only slightly up and the rate remains very low at only 0.5 per 1,000 population. That said, Croxley Green North and South have seen incidents occur this year whereas the problem was absent in previous years. There has also been a rise in the number of offences of robbery in Rickmansworth and Bedmond.

Violence against the person has risen by 273 per cent to 9.6 offences per 1,000 population. Again areas that present the most problems are Northwick, Ashridge and Rickmansworth. There has been a fall in offences in Rickmansworth and Bedmond.

Domestic violence appears to have shown an increase in the number of offences recorded by the police from 125 to 320 offences which could be a positive indicator of greater confidence in the criminal justice system.

Statistics on hate crime are limited. The West police area (this includes Three Rivers) had the highest number of racially motivated incidents between Jan and September 2004. Most were criminal damage or violent offence. There were 70 offences of homophobic crime recorded between April 2003 and February 2004 – of which only 16 related to the West area.

There has been increase in sexual offences from 10 to 43 offences. The rise in rate is significant even though numbers remain small. A breakdown by area indicates that offences are highest in Northwick and Maple Cross and West Hyde.

In terms of anti social behaviour, there was an increase in criminal damage of 47 per cent - a rise of 472 offences. Hotspot areas were Rickmansworth, Ashridge and Northwick. There was a rise in community disorder from 58 offences to 72 offences per 1,000 population. Hotspot areas were again Ashridge, Northwick but also Hayling. Interestingly, the level of fixed term exclusions were high in Northwick and Hayling which may point to a link between exclusion and ASB.

Understanding Substance Misuse

From the information collated for the literature review, police and other local sources, it would appear that whilst there is a problem with drugs and alcohol in Three Rivers, it is certainly far less acute than that experienced in other areas of Hertfordshire, and in many cases not as severe.

There was a relatively low level of drug offences in the district throughout 2001/2 to 2003/4, although figures do show an upward trend. The number of drug offences committed in the district in 2001/2 was 43, increasing to 62 in 2002/3 and 66 in 2003/04, which equates to an overall increase of 35 per cent over the three year period. In terms of problem locations, Ashridge appears to have an increasing number of drug offences per 1000 population as does Croxley Green South, Langleybury, Leavesden, Northwick and Rickmansworth which all showed a general upward trend.

The largest weight in seizures came from Croxley Green and Carpenders Park where the most common substances seized were tranquillisers, cannabis resin and cannabis herbal.

The main drug of choice for service users in Three Rivers is heroin which is in line with the County picture. Judging by the prices for drugs being quoted by the professionals and users themselves, and the fact that they have reduced considerably over the last ten years, drugs are becoming more readily available in Three Rivers and the outlying areas in the County and are much cheaper in real terms. Most worrying is the increase in the use of Crack Cocaine as a drug of choice used in conjunction with Heroin.

Whilst there are a number of different agencies working with users, many of whom claim a good success rate, sustainable long term funding is clearly an issue as the client base increases. It is also clear that there are not nearly enough facilities and those that are operating, are only dealing with a small proportion of the overall problem.

Understanding the Fear of Crime

Across all forms of consultation issues of disorder and anti social behaviour caused local residents greater concern. The residents’ survey showed the issues most likely to be reported as a very big or fairly big problem were:

Vandalism
Groups of youths
Rubbish and litter
Joy riding
Under age drinking in public

The issues most likely to be reported as a very big or fairly big problem by the young people’s survey were:

Rubbish and litter
Vandalism
Groups of youths
Graffiti
Crime in general

Significant number of local residents and young people responding to the survey felt that crime had either gone down or stayed the same (48 per cent of residents, 39 per cent of young people) compared with the County average (44 per cent). Respondents from Croxley Green South and Northwick were more likely to feel that the crime rate had gone up than other parts of the District.

Almost 50 per cent of respondents to the residents’ survey thought levels of disorder had gone down or stayed the same. This is slightly higher than for crime and is interesting given the earlier responses to whether residents regarded various issues to be a problem in the local area. Those that were considered a bigger problem namely vandalism, groups of youths, rubbish and litter, joy riding and under age drinking in public all have strong ties with disorder. As such one might expect more to have thought disorder levels had risen. Interestingly only 40 per cent of young people thought disorder had gone down or stayed the same.

The community favoured:

More police foot patrols
More activities for young people
More job opportunities for young people
More leisure facilities
Better public transport
Money for schools
Improved street lighting

As improvements to service provision.

By way of summary, when looking across all categories of crime and disorder respondents to the residents survey were most worried about being affected by high volume crimes (house and other burglary, theft of and from a vehicle and card fraud). Those categories that they were less worried about were those we know are underreported (domestic violence, racial or homophobic attack) and begging.

Respondents to the school survey were most worried about robbery/ mugging, theft, assault, and gangs of young people. Young people were least concerned about people riding on footpaths, skateboarding, homophobic attack and uncontrollable pets.

Respondents were asked how many of the incidents of disorder experienced were reported to the police or another organisation. Only two per cent of resident respondents reported all incidents to an organisation. A further two thirds of respondents reported some of the incidents; however almost one third did not report any. This compares with only one per cent of school respondents reporting all incidents and 64 per cent reporting some. Thirty five per cent reported none.

Respondents to both surveys were asked how many of the crimes they had experienced were reported to the police or another organisation. Almost half of the respondents to the resident survey (43 per cent) reported all of the incidents; and, a further third reported some of them. However 19 per cent said that they had reported none of the offences supporting the research that police recorded crime statistics are likely to underestimate the true level of crime. In the school survey, only 16 per cent reported all of the incidents, although 58 per cent had reported some of them. Over a quarter (26 per cent) stated that they had reported none of the incidents.

In all circumstances and impacts, crime and disorder has affected Three Rivers residents responding to the household survey to a lesser extent than the county levels where statistics are slightly higher. This may well be due to the lower levels of crime and disorder experienced in the District.

In certain circumstances crime affects young people’s behaviour to a greater extent. This is the case with their greater reluctance to go out in the day and at night. Across the other behavioural changes, young people are more resistant and less likely to change their behaviour as a result of victimization.

The older respondents were most likely to be worried about being affected by:

Distraction burglary
Mugging or robbery
Vandalism to their houses
Graffiti
Litter and rubbish
Begging
Skateboarding
Riders on paths
Dangerous driving

The older respondents group were the group least likely tofeel safe during the day in:

Parks
Subways
Country Lanes
Leisure centres

The older respondents group were the group least likely tofeel safe during hours of darkness in:

Town centres
Village centres
Parks
Subways
Country lanes
Leisure centres
Pubs

The younger respondents group were the group most likely to be worried about being affected by:

Sexual assault

The younger respondents to the resident survey were the group most likely to have experienced:

Vandalism to cars
Nuisance or rowdy behaviour
Street drinking
People using or selling drugs
Gatherings of youths
Motor crime (thefts from or of motor vehicles)
Credit card fraud
Assault (very similar rate to the middle age group)

Female respondents worried more than male respondents about being affected by:

Distraction burglary
Other thefts
Credit card fraud
Assault
Mugging or robbery
Sexual assault
Arson affecting their home or in public places
People dealing or using drugs
Prostitution and kerb crawling
Dangerous driving
Gatherings of youths

Female respondents were less likely than their male counterparts to feel safe in the following areas during the day:

Parks

Subways
Markets
Country lanes

Female respondents were less likely than their male counterparts to feel safe in the following areas after dark:

Town centres
Village centres
Housing estates
Subways
Markets
Bus stations
Railway stations
Country lanes
Car parks
Shopping centres
Leisure centres
Pubs
Secondary Schools
Parks

The members of minority ethnic groups were:

More likely to be worried about racial or homophobic attack and prostitution.
More likely to be affected by prostitution, theft of a motor vehicle or racial attack
Less likely to feel safe in housing estates during the day

There was no significant difference between the majority and minority ethnic groups in terms of their perception of how crime had changed in the last 3 years or in their responses on feeling safe in the areas specified in the survey during the hours of darkness.

Understanding the offender

From the information collected for the audit, a rough[1] profile of offenders emerges. Assuming that information from the Probation Service, (which is general for the whole of Hertfordshire) applies equally to Three Rivers, then the average offender in the district is likely to be:

Predominantly male
Probably unemployed or a student
Un-married, either single or divorced, mostly without dependants
Under 30 years of age

If under 18, there is a high probability that offenders will come from Hayling, Maple Cross and Northwick Areas.

If offenders are under the age of 18 years, and have been ‘flagged’ as persistent offenders, there is a higher chance that they will come from Hayling.

Most young offenders will commit more motoring offences than other kinds, and will be aged around 15 - 16 years when they first come to the notice of the Youth Offending Team. Most offenders will be committing their offences close to their homes, schools or places of work.

Very few will be under the influence of drugs at the time of their arrest, more will be under the influence of alcohol. A very few will have or admit to having gambling problems.

For enquiries about this audit or to find out more about Community Safety initiatives in Three Rivers, please contact:-

[1] ‘Rough’ in as much as any ‘average’ profile of offenders can be accurate. Nevertheless this profile will give an indication of where the main priorities should be directed.