What is Community Safety?
Suffolk County Council has adopted the following definition of
community safety and in partnership with other organisations, aims
to make Suffolk an even safer place to live, work and visit.
“ 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".
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)
The Community Safety Unit sits within the Public Protection and
Social Inclusion and Diversity Directorate and is co-located with
the Drug and Alcohol Action Team, The Social Inclusion Unit and the
Making a Change team.
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: