Issue - meetings

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee welcomed Irene Elwell,Public Protection Team Leader and Chief Inspector Chris Abbott to provide an overview of the Community Safety Partnership.

The previous Crime and Disorder report was presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in July 2020. Within, it stated that the Council would actively engage with the Community Safety Partnership. In addition to Chorley and South Ribble Council’s. the Community Safety Partnership was made up of the County Council, registered social landlords, drug and alcohol services, the Citizens Advice Bureau as well as volunteer, community, and faith groups.

For the previous two years, resources have been allocated in response to the pandemic and its implications. Work had continued to focus on reducing knife crime and antisocial behaviour and Prevent work.

A new three-year Lancashire Strategic Assessment was recently published which included crime and its impact on Community Safety. Efforts had been taken to strengthen the Partnership, and the Responsibly Authorities Group had been reestablished to meet twice a year.

A Monthly priorities meeting to be held monthly that featured the local police analyst report. The first to take place the week commencing 31 January 2022. One of the first priorities was to develop an action plan for serious and organised crime referrals. Other fixed items on the agenda include safeguarding and Prevent.

Due to the unprecedented nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was acknowledged that the Community Safety Partnership became reactive rather than proactive, and a further update was offered for a future Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

To reduce knife crime and anti-social behaviour, Operation Edge was still ongoing. The JJ Effect had been expanded into Chorley and South Ribble high schools, the programme in cooperation with the police provides support and education to young people around knife crime, grooming and criminal exploitation. To combat violence against women, Operation Night Guardian was underway with plain clothed officers in premises to quickly respond to reports spiking.

Lancashire Talking pushed to target areas that lacked police visibility to address concerns raised.

Overall, a decrease in reports of crime, and antisocial behaviour in Chorley.

Members raised concerns related to cross border crimes from Greater Manchester, reports of car crime and drug dealing. With reports of drug dealers targeting schoolchildren. It was explained that reporting every instance was crucial to build a case. Efforts have been made to prevent criminals crossing the border from Greater Manchester into Adlington. Arrests had been made relating to burglaries and car crime, with the suspects responsible for 56 burglaries in a week in the Bolton area venturing into Adlington. Further ongoing work was in process building intelligence.

The Rural Task Group was raised by Members and the role they played. It was clarified that the task group was only 4 officers and were extremely productive and was recently rewarded for recovering more plant and farming equipment than any over force in the country. It was recgonised that the 4-person Rural Task Group couldn’t engage with all 3000 farmers at once, but  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56