Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) are statutory partnerships
which were formed as a result of the
Crime &
Disorder Act 1998. The Act said that "Responsible authorities
have a statutory duty to work with other local agencies and
organisations to develop and implement strategies to tackle crime
and disorder including anti-social and other behaviour adversely
affecting the local environment as well as the misuse of drugs in
their area. (s6, Crime and Disorder Act 1998 as amended by s97
& s98 Police Reform Act 2002 and s1, Clean Neighbourhoods &
Environment Act 2005)"
The 'responsible authorities' which have this duty include:
police forces, police authorities, local authorities, fire and
rescue authorities, local health boards (LHBs) in Wales, and
primary care trusts (PCTs) in England.
The responsible authorities are required to work in co-operation
with probation boards parish councils, NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation
Trusts, proprietors of independent schools and governing bodies of
institutions within the further education sector, to work closely
with
Drug Action Teams in two tier local authority areas and to have
developed integrated working arrangements in unitary authority
areas. They are also expected to invite a range of local private,
voluntary, other public and community groups including the public
to become involved in the audit & strategy development
process.
In Suffolk there are 5 CSPs covering: Babergh, Ipswich, Suffolk
Coastal, Waveney and Western Suffolk (comprising the Forest
Heath, St Edmundsbury and Mid Suffolk areas).
Until 2006 CSPs had a responsibility to carry out an 'audit' of
crime, disorder and substance misuse problems in their area in
order to focus their work. As a result of the
Crime
and Disorder Act Review this has changed slightly and CSPs will
have to carry out a 'Strategic Assessment' of these issues every
year, which will include community intelligence.
CSPs work closely with
Safer
Neighbourhood Teams to ensure that they are tackling problems
which are of greatest concern to local communities, as well as
tackling the problems identified through analysis of intelligence
and data.
For further information please use the
Community Safety Partnerships Directory (PDF,
316KB)