West Lothian Council delivers

Crime Prevention and Community Safety

 

COMMUNITY SAFETY STRATEGY

The Community Safety Strategy is to guide partnership work and resource allocation on shared priorities for joint work. The key aims of the Strategy are to achieve reductions in:

• antisocial behaviour
• preventable injuries and deaths
• violence and crime

 ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR STRATEGY 2010-2012

West Lothian council has produced an Antisocial Behaviour Strategy in partnership with other service providers. It will guide partnership work aimed at maintaining and improving the quality of life in our communities.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy contributes to one of the three major strands of the Community Safety Strategy.

COMMUNITY SAFETY DATA AUDIT

The Audit is to provide a detailed analysis of secondary data relating to the main priority areas, including:

• an index of available data as well as extrapolating that which related directly to children and young people
• analysis of quantitative data to demonstrate key issues for the local area
• existing data that are 'fit for purpose' for the Community Safety Partnership
• it has also highlighted specific gaps in the existing data, as it related to equalities issues

 COMMUNITY SAFETY STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT

The data audit and the strategic assessment seek to inform and enable the Community Safety Partnership to:

• understand the patterns, trends and shifts relating to violent crime, anti-social behaviour and preventable injuries and death, including a clear focus on young people and youth issues
• set clear and mutual priorities for the partnership
• develop activity to meet the needs of the local community which is driven by reliable intelligence and to deploy resources effectively
• undertake annual reviews and plan activity based on a clear understanding of issues and priorities

Note that whilst the assessment used partnership data, it also relied on 'reported' crime data from the Police.

WEST LOTHIAN COMMUNITY SAFETY UNIT

West Lothian Community Safety Unit (CSU) was formed in April 2010 bringing together partners with a diverse business remit from Lothian and Borders Police, West Lothian Council and Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue.  Members include experts in fire prevention, crime prevention, road safety, anti-social behaviour, drugs awareness, analytical provision, performance management and community engagement.

All partners are based in the new West Lothian Civic Centre.  In bringing partner agencies together physically, the CSU is seen to be an innovative approach to community safety, which aims to provide positive outcomes for residents in West Lothian by eradicating duplication and ensuring that everyone is working towards clear and shared objectives. The approach recognises that issues such as anti social behaviour cannot be most effectively tackled by one single agency.  

West Lothian Community Safety Unit update March 2011: click here .