West Lothian Council delivers

Crime Prevention and Community Safety

 

Community Safety

National Perspective
The Scottish Government  have set out their 'Vision for Scotland' and community safety comes under the theme of  SAFER & STRONGER - Helping communities to flourish, becoming stronger, safer places to live, offering improved opportunities and a better quality of life.

The 3 main outcomes that community safety cover are:

1. Outcome 8 - We have improved the life chances for people at risk
2. Outcome 9 - We live our lives free from crime, disorder & danger
3. Outcome 13 - We take pride in a strong, fair & inclusive society

West Lothian's link with the Scottish Government
West Lothian Community Planning Partners ensure that West Lothian is delivering on their priorities as agreed by the Scottish Government in the single outcome agreement (SOA) and on target to meet their outcomes.  We 'link' these together with a 'Golden thread'-  from the Government's vision for Scotland, through the local community safety strategy and right down to operational delivery of services on a daily basis by the Partnership. All of these levels deliver against the national objective of a Safer and Stronger Scotland.

Local Perspective
In West Lothian, priority areas are identified by using evidence based analysis. Partner analysts look at all the data and evidence from partners to help identify the priorities for people in West Lothian by carrying out a strategic assessment which is the basis for a community safety strategy.

West Lothian's main priorities include:

• violence
• substance misuse
• antisocial behaviour
• fire and road safety
• public protection

In addition, the police also lead on reducing acquisitive crime and preventing serious organised crime and terrorism.

Cross cutting themes - there are some cross cutting themes which include: deprivation, social exclusion and alcohol misuse.

The outcomes we want for West Lothian communities include:

• reinforce the message that violence within our communities will not be tolerated
• minimise the community and social harm caused by drug and alcohol misuse
• reduce reoffending
• tackle antisocial behaviour
• reduce the incidents and casualty rates of fires and road traffic collisions
• identify risk situations and intervene to protect vulnerable group
• improve information gathering and sharing with the Partnership and the wider community

The flow from the Scottish Government to the tactical groups are as follows:

• The Scottish Government
• Community Planning Partners
• Community Safety Board
• Community Safety Strategic Steering Group
• Joint Tasking Group
• Daily Tasking

ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR STRATEGY 2010-2012

West Lothian council has produced an Antisocial Behaviour Strategy in partnership with other service providers. It will guide partnership work aimed at maintaining and improving the quality of life in our communities.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy contributes to one of the three major strands of the Community Safety Strategy.

COMMUNITY SAFETY DATA AUDIT

The Audit is to provide a detailed analysis of secondary data relating to the main priority areas, including:

• an index of available data as well as extrapolating that which related directly to children and young people
• analysis of quantitative data to demonstrate key issues for the local area
• existing data that are 'fit for purpose' for the Community Safety Partnership
• it has also highlighted specific gaps in the existing data, as it related to equalities issues

 COMMUNITY SAFETY STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT

The data audit and the strategic assessment seek to inform and enable the Community Safety Partnership to:

• understand the patterns, trends and shifts relating to violent crime, anti-social behaviour and preventable injuries and death, including a clear focus on young people and youth issues
• set clear and mutual priorities for the partnership
• develop activity to meet the needs of the local community which is driven by reliable intelligence and to deploy resources effectively
• undertake annual reviews and plan activity based on a clear understanding of issues and priorities

Note that whilst the assessment used partnership data, it also relied on 'reported' crime data from the Police.

WEST LOTHIAN COMMUNITY SAFETY UNIT

West Lothian Community Safety Unit (CSU) was formed in April 2010 bringing together partners with a diverse business remit from Lothian and Borders Police, West Lothian Council and Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue.  Members include experts in fire prevention, crime prevention, road safety, anti-social behaviour, drugs awareness, analytical provision, performance management and community engagement.

All partners are based in the new West Lothian Civic Centre.  In bringing partner agencies together physically, the CSU is seen to be an innovative approach to community safety, which aims to provide positive outcomes for residents in West Lothian by eradicating duplication and ensuring that everyone is working towards clear and shared objectives. The approach recognises that issues such as anti social behaviour cannot be most effectively tackled by one single agency.  

West Lothian Community Safety Unit update March 2011: click here .

Downloadable documents

• Anti Social Behaviour Strategy - 2010-2012 (PDF, 100 Kb)
• Community Safety Booklet (PDF, 1985kb)
• Community Safety Groups - Remit (PDF, 40kb)
• CSP Structure (PDF, 2262kb)
• Managing Anti Social Behaviour leaflet (PDF, 1300 Kb)
• West Lothian Community Safety Unit (PDF, 22kb)