Comment

Representation ID: 361

Received: 12/01/2010

Respondent: Essex Police

Why Community Safety from a policing perspective is so important
. Safe communities are a pre-requisite to achieving sustainable communities, by encouraging community cohesion and stability, resident well being and overall vibrancy. While a degree of criminal and anti-social behaviour can be designed out of new development, design measures alone will not address community safety fully. Neighbourhood policing is a national initiative aiming to put communities - their needs, their issues and their priorities at the heart of local policing. This is achieved through active collaboration between police, partners and the public to solve local crime and disorder problems, improve the quality of life for residents across the neighbourhood and increase feelings of security. To provide this form of policing effectively and to achieve one of the Government's central objectives for the spatial planning system, a physical presence within existing and new neighbourhoods is necessary, together with new or expanded support facilities elsewhere to help facilitate the delivery of crime-free environments.
. Crime and disorder has a tangible impact on economic growth, social exclusion and quality of life. With the creation of new neighbourhoods and expanded communities the pressure on existing policing infrastructure and resources will increase, necessarily compromising the ability of the service to deliver safe and crime-free environments as required by PPS1, and to deliver an effective Police service as required by the Police Act 1996.
. Without a tailored range of community safety measures to address these pressures:
. Crime trends will rise
. Police response times will reduce
. Fear of crime will increase
. Community cohesion and well being will suffer
. Expectations will not be met
. Negative perceptions are formed
. New inhabitants and businesses may choose not to move to an area; existing residents and businesses may move away.

The task is therefore to ensure that with grow there is clear recognition of the important role the police will play in helping to deliver sustainable communities.

Community expansion must be supported by proactive development control policies that help to design out opportunities for crime and critically there must be recognition that expanding communities precipitate a direct need for additional policing infrastructure necessary to deliver a police presence within new communities.

The planning system and the development industry have a central role to play in this regard; without engagement the ability of the police to deliver against statutory and spatial planning objectives will be severely compromised.