nationalCommunitySafetyPlan200811 - Staffordshire County Council

2 NATIONAL COMMUNITY SAFETY PLAN 2008–11
MINISTERIAL FOREWORD
I know that community
safety rightly remains near
the top, if not at the top, of
people’s concerns and
priorities.
Right across Whitehall,
this is something that we
take very seriously. That
is why in July this year
the Government set out
a new vision for tackling crime, disorder and antisocial
behaviour over the period 2008–11 in a new
strategy, Cutting Crime: A New Partnership 2008–11. This
recognises the huge amount that has been achieved
since 1997, and draws its inspiration from you – and
the thousands of local practitioners like you. It’s your
expertise and experience that has helped us in setting
out the scale of our ambition and given us clarity on
the next steps we need to take to sustain progress.
The Crime Strategy is supported by the publication
of a new set of Public Service Agreements published
in October this year. We have radically reduced the
number of targets practitioners have to meet from 110
across government to 30 from April next year. This
approach will have a powerful impact on how front-line
practitioners work and where you focus your activities
and it will give you more of the fl exibility you need to
deliver on what matters to the people you serve locally.
This year the National Community Safety Plan has
been refreshed to refl ect this new vision and objectives,
covering the period 2008–11.
In the two years since it was fi rst published, the
plan has reinforced the message that improving
community safety is something to which a wide
variety of organisations and agencies can – and
must – contribute. We have now won the argument
that real gains in tackling crime are achieved through
partnership activity, but we must keep up the pace and
go further to strengthen community activity, so that
people are empowered and engaged and involved in
solving problems.
There is much continuity with the previous National
Community Safety Plan. But as our learning has
evolved, there are some newer areas of focus where
more gains can be made, such as on serious violence,
counter-terrorism and young people.
Perhaps the toughest challenge of all is the critical
importance of improving public confi dence in our
ability to deliver safety and security in our communities.
As well as continuing to reduce crime, we must make
sure that we are responding to the issues people care
most about so that our work together is really visible
to communities across the country.
Neighbourhood policing shows very clearly one way
in which we can build trust and confi dence, through
visible, community policing. But neighbourhood
policing is about more than the police alone in meeting
the needs of local communities. In his interim report
on policing, Sir Ronnie Flanagan backed the drive for
neighbourhood management of crime and anti-social
behaviour in our communities.
We must keep citizens and communities at the heart of
what we do to improve community safety, and I look
forward to continuing to work with all our partners,
national and local, and with the public, to achieve safer
and more secure communities for all.
Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP
Home Secretary