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Crime and disorder

image of police vanThe Crime and Disorder Act 1998 placed a duty on local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRP’s) to conduct a community audit every three years. Its purpose is to establish a detailed picture of the nature and extent of crime and disorder and its impact on people living in the community.

This information enables partnerships to form a three-year strategy to deal with the identified issues. On the Island the CDRP has joined with the Drugs Action Team to form the Safer Communities Partnership, a multi-agency group now responsible for setting and delivering this strategy. The Partnership commissioned Portsmouth University in December 2004 to undertake its audit. Research was completed and extensive surveys were conducted with members of our Island community, including 1170 responses from young people, 736 from adults and 84 from business.

The audit confirmed that while the Isle of Wight remains an attractive and relatively safe area with low (and falling) crime rates, there are issues that will remain a challenge to the Partnership e.g. some of the structural problems which confront the Island, and which ultimately have an impact on crime and disorder. These problems stem from the nature and extent of employment, education and training opportunities and the impact and nature of both people moving to the Island and the loss of young people moving to the mainland.

The audit, taken with other crime data, has resulted in the development of a three-year strategy designed to deliver tangible benefits to the community. This includes a framework of six themed areas for action:

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• Managing the night-time economy
• Violence
• Overall Crime
• Anti-Social Behaviour and Disorder
• Services for Young People
• Partnership working and   communication

We will be publishing our strategy on this site shortly, but in the meantime a copy of the executive summary of the audit can be accessed below. If you are interested in
reading a full copy of the audit you will find copies available at your local library.

Related Links
Executive Summary (pdf doc)Executive Summary Doc2 (pdf doc)

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