Safer Neighbourhoods

What is a Safer Neighbourhoods Team?

Safer Neighbourhoods Teams (SNTs) provide communities with a dedicated team of officers who are visible, accessible and known to local people. They work closely with partner agencies (statutory and voluntary) and the local community to tackle the crime and disorder concerns and issues identified within the neighbourhood.

A Safer Neighbourhoods Team is made up of Police Officers, Police Community Support Officers, Special Constables and other police support, and also includes partner agency staff, such as neighbourhood wardens. The structure and staffing of individual SNTs will vary according to local need and available resources.

I've heard about Neighbourhood Management teams – is this different?

Not really, because we are all working towards the same goal – to build safer, stronger communities and make your neighbourhood a safer place to live.

In many areas of the county, we are working together with our local authority partners as a single team, aiming to tackle the wide-ranging issues that affect people's quality of life. Whether this is crime, disorder, social, economic or environmental problems, the aim is to work with the community to find effective, long-term solutions.

In these areas, the multi agency teams may be coordinated by either a police sergeant or by a local authority neighbourhood manager, with residents and agencies working together at a neighbourhood level to tackle the issues that matter.

Why are Safer Neighbourhoods Teams being introduced?

The Government has given a commitment that by 2008 every area in England and Wales will benefit from a dedicated, visible, accessible and responsive neighbourhood policing team that will work with the community to identify and respond to local concerns and priorities.

All 43 police forces are now implementing their Neighbourhood Policing programmes. In this county, these teams will be known as Safer Neighbourhoods. They are being phased in gradually, with all teams due to be in place by the end of 2007. As a sign of the Police Authority’s commitment to local policing, the Authority has set a target of 280 Police Community Support Officers in Norfolk by March 2008.

In Norfolk the Local Area Agreement, set up between Government and county partners, has given additional impetus to the implementation of Safer Neighbourhoods Teams as part of the multi-agency Neighbourhood Renewal ambitions.

What is Neighbourhood Policing?

Neighbourhood Policing is part of the Government's Police Reform agenda and the drive to deliver citizen-focused policing. It aims to provide a policing service that puts community concerns and priorities at the heart of local policing, working through a genuine partnership with local people, other agencies, community groups (such as Homewatch, Residents’ Associations, etc) and other parties.

Neighbourhood Policing is about local policing – but not solely about the ‘police’ because providing long term solutions to community concerns about crime, disorder, anti social behaviour and environmental issues cannot be achieved by the police alone. Very often the police are the agency who are called to deal with incidents and nuisances, but they can only deal with the ‘symptoms’ at the time of initial attendance. It is only by police and partners working together with the community to identify and tackle these crime and disorder problems that such problems can be ‘solved’.

It means taking an intelligence-led approach to neighbourhood issues, and putting the right resources in the right place to deal appropriately with the particular problems of different communities. Most importantly however, it is about doing all this in partnership with the community, which is why engaging with communities is fundamental.

What is different about Safer Neighbourhoods Teams?

As well as providing communities with a policing team that is local, visible and well known in the area, Safer Neighbourhoods Teams give the opportunity to local people to get involved in community safety and to influence the services provided by police and partners in their neighbourhood.

Discussions take place between the police, partners and local people to decide what the priorities are and they work together to tackle those problems and find effective long-term solutions. This enables police and partners to respond effectively to the crime, disorder and quality of life issues that the community itself has identified as a particular concern.

Which areas will Safer Neighbourhoods Teams cover?

All parts of the county will have a Safer Neighbourhoods Team. Norfolk Constabulary, Norfolk County Council, and the county's seven district and borough councils have worked together to identify the areas that each team will cover.

However, different communities have different requirements and the area covered by each team will take account of local need and available resources.

Who is in a Safer Neighbourhoods Team?

Typically, Safer Neighbourhoods Teams will be made up of uniformed police officers, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and Special Constables, and may well also include wardens, neighbourhood managers, housing managers, youth workers and other authority figures who work within local communities.

• Police officers – Safer Neighbourhoods Team officers are dedicated to a specific area and will not taken away to duties elsewhere except in a real emergency. They are familiar and accessible to their local community.

• Police Community Support Officers – uniformed members of the team who provide a visible, reassuring presence in the community, helping to tackle low-level crime and anti-social behaviour to help improve people's quality of life. They have a range of powers that can have immediate impact on dealing with problems of nuisance behaviour and disorder. PCSOs are important in establishing close links with people and groups who work, live and operate within our communities.

• Special Constables – volunteers who have the same powers as regular officers and wear a similar uniform. They too have an important role in dealing with crime and providing a visible presence in the community.

• Partners and volunteers – such as neighbourhood managers, neighbourhood wardens, youth outreach workers and community development officers, who may be employed by the local authority, housing associations or community groups, or other authority figures such as security guards, park rangers or environmental health officers. Volunteers, such as members of Homewatch and members of the Norwich and Norfolk Volunteer Association are also important. All of these provide additional ‘eyes and ears' in the community and play an important role in forging links and improving communication with the local community.

What is meant by ‘working with partners'?

To be successful, Safer Neighbourhoods Teams cannot work in isolation. The Police, local authorities and other agencies must work together with the community to help create a safer environment.

This is the key to this partnership approach. In some areas teams will work closely with those who deliver and are responsible for local services, including local authorities and public bodies such as Primary Care Trusts, Social Services and the Fire Service amongst others.

In some areas, Safer Neighbourhoods Teams will work with other agencies as a single neighbourhood management team, tackling crime and disorder and other quality of life issues in line with local priorities, policing targets and neighbourhood renewal requirements.

Three multi agency ‘Partnership Tasking and Co ordinating Groups have also been established within Norfolk to ensure that effort is co-ordinated between agencies. These groups include senior managers from many different agencies and provide oversight and management of the teams as well as ensuring that community issues are addressed in the most effective way.

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