Meeting documents

To note the report and highlight any issues to bring to the attention of the Panel and PCC.

Members noted the report and welcomed the information from each of the Community Safety Partnerships, including information from Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Committees and were impressed with the innovative work being carried out by CSPs.

Cllr Burke expressed concern that she was not a Member of her CSP and that this was an important link to being a Member of the Panel. She suggested that it would be helpful if the Chairman wrote a general letter to CSP Chairman emphasising that this link was crucial. The Chairman commented that this was a matter for individual Councils to address. Cllr McCarthy commented that he was not on his CSP but that this did not hinder the work with the Panel. The Chairman commented that they did not have to be a Member but could observe the meetings to act as a link to the Panel. The Chairman reported that he was happy to write a general letter.

Cllr Webster referred to the perception of crime and that it was important for the police to focus on actual crime rather than reduce the perception of crime. It was important also for Members to have links/or to be aware of the work of other useful bodies such as the Health and Wellbeing Board.

Iain McCracken provided an update on the work of his Council in relation to Domestic Violence and Members noted the following:-

•           The Domestic Abuse Service Co-ordinating Project was initiated in April 2011 as one of the projects funded by the Bracknell Forest Community Safety Partnership to tackle domestic abuse. 

•           It aimed to address a gap in service to standard and medium-risk victims and perpetrators by providing an enhanced level of support to victims as well as provide an enhanced level of management and supervision of perpetrators.

•           The 2011/12 cohort (11 couples in total) was monitored to establish the effectiveness of the approach and results showed a reduction from 69 repeat calls to the police in 2011/12 to 24 calls in 2012/13

•           In 2013 at the Thames Valley Police Evidence Based Policing conference, Professor Lawrence Sherman and Dr Heather Strang of the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge were approached by the Chair of the DASC Project, a police officer with the Force, who proposed to test the DASC programme with a randomised controlled trial (RCT).

•           The proposal was made in order to provide an unbiased and evidence-based evaluation of this multi-agency approach. The proposal was accepted and the author was accepted as the principal researcher for the trial. The trial commenced in 2013, focused on standard and medium harm offenders and victims who are repeat subjects of reports of Domestic Abuse.

•           The intention was to test the hypothesis that "a multi-agency integrated case management system, will reduce both the frequency and severity of incidents. The trial was well conducted: the treatment group received a high proportion of the intended treatments. The control group received "normal" follow up with very little cross contamination. The treatment group received a far greater level of referrals and contacts by the supporting agencies than the control group did.

•           The treatment group had about the same frequency of re-offending as the control group. But a significant reduction in harm. Harm was measured by using the Cambridge Crime Harm Index which gives a weighting to each offence based on its sentencing

•           This is one trial – albeit a well conducted one – and replication will be important.

•       The findings on the effectiveness of the treatments in reducing harm appear to be consistent with findings in treating low harm domestic violence offenders in Hampshire (Operation CARA).

•       DASC provides a promising approach to reducing harm from domestic violence. Combined with the findings from Operation CARA, the DASC project provides an opportunity to improve and develop local strategies to reduce harm from Domestic Violence.

Cllr McCracken reported that this had been an excellent piece of work which could be used by other Local Authorities in the Thames Valley and that he would be happy to send further information to the Chairman.

Cllr Webster referred to the diagram in the CSP report, on behalf of Cllr Patman who had to leave the meeting earlier, saying that the diagram should be amended to show a two way link between Panels and CSP’s. Members noted that this was a diagram produced by the LGA.

Members welcomed the report.