An initiative between City of York Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Police to establish an anti-social behaviour hub in York has been awarded £58,000.
The money has been awarded as part of The Home Office’s allocation of its Police Innovation Fund which incentivises collaboration, supports improved digital working and innovative approaches to improve policing. The award will go towards an IT system capable of case-managing anti-social behaviour across agencies and will help provide extra vehicles in City of York Council’s fleet to enable mobile working and faster response times for community enforcement officers.
The establishment of an anti-social behaviour hub in York is an approach to environmental issues such as flytipping and graffiti, within the city. The ASB Hub is due to open at the council’s West Offices in spring and will involve merging resources, powers and expertise.
The authorities admit anti-social behaviour is still a significant area of demand for both North Yorkshire Police and the council, and has a high community impact in the city. Current annual volumes for York show in the region of 12,000 incidents of anti-social behaviour reported to the police and 3,500 reported to City of York Council. Many of these incidents involve more than one of the services in place to support ASB resolution.
The aim of the hub is to ensure a more efficient, timely and appropriate response to anti-social behaviour within York’s communities by deploying members of a single team of frontline enforcement officers from both organisations.
The proposals will see the introduction of a Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS), which will allow the Chief Constable to grant specific additional policing powers to City of York Council Enforcement Officers. These council officers would be deployed alongside police officers as part of the police Safer Neighbourhood teams ensuring that issues are addressed by the most appropriate agency.
Councillor Linsay Cunningham-Cross, City of York Council’s Cabinet Member for Crime and Stronger Communities, said: “We welcome this additional funding which demonstrates support for our new, joined-up approach to tackling anti-social behaviour in the city. The ASB hub will allow us to deploy frontline enforcement officers from both organisations utilising expertise drawn from a number of services. This ground-breaking approach will see better results for the people of York and allow us to work together to tackle anti-social and irresponsible behaviour more effectively.”
Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, Julia Mulligan, said: “This funding is great news for York and recognises the innovative approach we are taking to tackle an important factor of community safety. Anti-social behaviour is one of the greatest concerns of residents across North Yorkshire and can have a massive impact on people’s quality of life. That’s why, on coming to office, I championed the establishment of an anti-social behaviour hub, so that the police, local authority officers and other partner agencies could work collaboratively and make a real and tangible difference to communities.”
Chief Constable Dave Jones of North Yorkshire Police said: “Working in partnership with other agencies is hugely important. It is both beneficial in terms of sharing information and in providing an efficient service to our communities. We already have excellent working relationships with our colleagues in other agencies and we look forward to seeing this innovative project deliver enhanced services in the City of York.”
