What is Community Safety?
" The concept of community based action to inhibit
and remedy the causes and consequences of criminal, intimidatory
and other related anti-social behaviour. Its purpose is to secure
sustainable reductions in crime and the fear of crime in local
communities. Its approach is based on multi-agency partnerships
between the public, private and voluntary sectors to formulate and
introduce community based measures against crime in order to
improve quality of life".
Suffolk County Council has adopted the above
definition of community safety and in partnership with other
organisations, aims to make Suffolk an even safer place to live and
work.
Role of Suffolk County Council
Suffolk County Council's role in improving
community safety for the people of Suffolk is recognised at two
levels: in partnership with other organisations and
cross-directorate within our own organisation.
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (amended by the
Police Act 2006) placed a statutory duty on the County
Council, District/Borough Council, Police, Fire Service and Primary
Care Trusts to form a partnership to tackle crime and disorder
(Community Safety Partnerships - CSPs). It also placed a statutory
duty on these bodies to consider crime and disorder within their
own organisations under Section 17.
Suffolk County Council has an important role to
play in making Suffolk Safer. No one agency is solely responsible
for making this happen but by working together, pooling resources
and a strong commitment, Suffolk County Council can contribute
significantly to a
Safer Stronger Suffolk.
The Community Safety Unit (CSU)
Part of the Chief Executives Service Office, the
Community Safety Unit is co-located with Suffolk Drug and
Alcohol Action Team in the Suffolk County Council
Headquarters in Ipswich.
In addition to a team of core staff who have a sole
community safety brief, the community safety unit also has members
of the team working on specific areas of community safety: