Community Safety - from the NICVA Policy Manifesto
Posted by Feargal O'Kane on Feb 12 2007 under Community safety, Policy Manifesto |
Community safety is an issue which concerns many parts of the voluntary and community sector. There is a general feeling though, that the issue of community safety has a low priority within government and that insuffi cient resources have been made available for implementation of the many strategies related to it. For example, the community safety strategy for older people promised in 2002 has yet to issue for consultation.
There is also a lack of clarity about linkages between the many structures and partnerships dealing with community safety and related issues. The District Policing Partnerships, Community Safety partnerships, domestic violence forums and others while having their own respective clear roles and functions have no structured effective mechanisms for sharing of expertise or collaborative working with other relevant partnerships.
The implementation of the Review of Public Administration, through community planning, provides an opportunity to ensure that time and resources are being used to best effect in streamlined, integrated partnership structures that capture local needs and provide clear accountability.
The fear of crime often has as much of an impact on quality of life as the fact of crime. As the public perception targets young people as a threat to community safety, there is a real need for effective intergenerational work to break down stereotypes and explain behaviours. Schools, the youth service and voluntary and community organisations should all be involved in building relationships which can help to reduce the fear of crime.
Under-reporting of crime is a common concern across the voluntary and community sector and innovative new ways should be sought to encourage people to report crime. This is also connected to confidence in prosecution and conviction rates and these must be pursued stringently, particularly in relation to hate crime in all its forms.
We call on government and political parties to ensure that:
- As part of the implementation of the Review of Public Administration, partnerships should be streamlined, perhaps as sub or themed partnerships within the community planning partnership, to ensure that work on community safety, policing, domestic violence and other areas is connected, integrated and making use of the same information.
- As an interim measure, the voluntary and community sector should be better represented at the strategic level of the community safety partnerships as these are currently imbalanced in favour of statutory agencies.
- Hate crime in all its forms must be effectively investigated and prosecuted. Government must ensure effective support for victims and encourage them to report incidents.
- The domestic violence and sexual violence strategies should be integrated and their immediate implementation properly resourced.
- If there is devolution of policing and criminal justice, this should be undertaken in such a way as to minimise partisanship and ensure the highest standards in the administration of justice.
- The composition of the police and criminal justice agencies should better refl ect the diversity of Northern Ireland.
- There should be a change in legislation to introduce indeterminate sentences for the most high risk sex offenders, as has happened in England. We also need a mature public debate, involving the media, about dealing with sex offenders, accompanied by an integrated policy for their accommodation.
Comments
Leave a Reply
