•   Domestic Burglary

•   Vehicle Crime – Principally theft of and theft from

•   Anti Social Behaviour

•   Environmental Issues

•   Domestic Violence

•   Hate Crime

•   Public Place Wounding

•   Alcohol Related Violence

•   Opportunities for Young People

As with previous years, 2007/8 was a productive and busy year seeing many partnership, community safety interventions by the LDG across the Constituency.

One of the key pieces of work underpinning a lot of the LDG’s activities, was a quarterly tactical assessment.  This work identified hotspots, patterns of offending, as well as raw data on the LDG’s priorities, such as domestic burglary, wounding and public place wounding.  With this the LDG was able to deploy resources and target activities as efficiently and effectively as possible.

With the LDG being served by two working sub-groups, based around Domestic Burglary and Criminal Damage & Violence, much of its work was channelled through these.  In terms of domestic burglary, the focus of the group was around the high levels of offending in the Bournbrook Neighbourhood, home to a large proportion of the University of Birmingham’s 25,000 students.

Through this group, Operation Atching 1 and 2 were successfully run.  These two operations, provided funding for target hardening of alleyways and other potential vulnerable access points, as well as providing crime reduction and awareness messages to residents, home visits and door knocking and high-visibility, high intensity patrols. This was complemented by the delivery of CompuTrace a tracking device for laptops.  In all nearly 1500 devices were installed in laptops in the area, which also included over 750 home visits, providing additional opportunities to advise vulnerable residents.

Further work has seen the surveying of empty properties and letting boards, delivery of leaflets and home-visits in connection with the Guild of Students’ community wardens.  Environmental issues, such as Letting Boards and fly-tipping/rubbish have also been progressed via the group, to decrease the general vulnerability of the area.  Work with the University of Birmingham has also seen the Accreditation Scheme supported, with a direct link now in place between responsible landlords and letting agents and the LDG.

The results of this activity have seen Burglary in the neighbourhood fall by up to 40% from 2006/7 and for the Constituency generally by 14.2% for the same period.  This has ensured that the LDG was able to comfortably surpass the PSA1 Domestic Burglary Target of 22%, achieving a total end reduction of 42.3% from 2003/4.

Activity in Wounding and Public Place Wounding has also been very productive.  Operation Wick was coordinated via the Criminal Damage & Violence Group, with very positive results.  The operation, between West Midlands Police and the Joint Licensing Task Force, targeted pubs and schools where violent crime was most prevalent, enforcing licensing conditions.  It ran between September and January, making a substantial impact on the Constituency’s Public Place Wounding offences, with Selly Oak being one of only two Constituencies to surpass the reduction target of 19.2%, achieving a reduction of 23.9% compared to 2003/4.

With regards to wounding offences, which is made up of a large proportion of domestic violence incidents, work was carried out by the LDG to raise awareness, support victims and tackle repeat incidents.  In terms of awareness, a campaign across the Constituency was run in the lead up to Christmas, with posters, survival cards and leaflets distributed to every Constituency front-line service as well as pub-watches to target both victims and offenders.  The LDG also funded activities with victims of domestic abuse, via the work of the Allens Croft Project.

In the final quarter of 2007/8 an alcohol arrest referral scheme was put in place.  The scheme, run by Aquarius, provided the opportunity for counselling and advice on alcohol for those admitted to the custody blocks over the weekend, as well as victims and perpetrators of domestic violence, with referrals via the E2 OCU’s domestic violence team.  The combination of the LDG’s projects and activities had similar reductions in wounding as with public place wounding, with Selly Oak being again only one of two Constituencies to surpass the PSA1 target of 18%, achieving a reduction of 18.3%.

Criminal Damage was also addressed by the LDG with one high profile activity in particular standing out.  The first of these, “Teen Scene” addressed both anti-social behaviour and criminal damage and the LDG both provided funding and the vital link between Youth Services and the Police, to set up a new youth club.  The youth club running alongside a Dispersal Order and area, diverted teenagers who were otherwise being caught up in crime and anti-social behaviour into positive activities, being so successful that up to 70 would be attend.  Due to its success, it is also now being looked at Nationally by the Police as a model of good practice.

With much good work already established in 2007/8 one of the key priorities for the group is to be build on what was achieved.

The alcohol arrest referral scheme now in place in the E2 OCU, is being looked at with regards to implementing it across a wider area to also include the E1 OCU.  Aquarius who is running the scheme is also being tasked with training licensed premises in areas where underage drinking and alcohol related violence are problematic.  In addition youth outreach work is being developed, again to address the issue of underage drinking, which impacts on anti-social behaviour and criminal damage.

Funding for the long-term continuation of the scheme in the custody blocks and via the domestic abuse unit remains a priority.  In addition to this though links to the magistrates courts are being developed which would see the scheme run alongside fixed penalty notices and conditional charging.

Further partnership activity and involvement of key organisations, such as the Health Service and Licensing, which have not previously been regularly involved with the LDG are being explored to maximise the impact of harmful drinking, violent crime, anti-social behaviour and criminal damage.

The Selly Oak LDG has also been one of the main drivers behind the creation of a Birmingham South West Domestic Abuse Forum, which brings together agencies from Health, Housing, Police, BASBU, Education, Third Sector and BCSP to address Domestic Abuse across Northfield, Edgbaston and Selly Oak.  This group, recently launched should go on, to address Domestic Abuse awareness campaigns, the effects on children and young people, voluntary sector funding, inter-agency communication, offender management and many other crucial factors involved in domestic abuse.

A new CCTV scheme in Bournbrook is also to be launched, providing coverage of the area’s nighttime economy, addressing alcohol related violence and criminal damage in particular.  The scheme will provide live monitoring by both West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council.  It is the first in the city to take advantage of recent 3G technological advances and provides many additional features, which will help deter and detect crime and disorder in the Bournbrook area.

With a new action plan now in place for 2008/9, three working groups have been created to deliver on the LDG’s priorities.  These are Violence & Vulnerability, which will address Public Place Wounding and Domestic Violence, providing the conduit between the Constituency and the South West Domestic Abuse Forum.  The acquisitive crime group will tackle domestic burglary and vehicle crime, particularly in Bournbrook where offences are the highest.  A third group, Neighbourhoods & Communities, will deliver on the LDG’s promise to improve those neighbourhoods most affected by anti-social behaviour, environmental problems and deprivation.  This third group has the potential to make real changes to the experiences of the Constituency’s residents, bringing the LDG and residents closer together.

In all, the future for the Selly Oak LDG looks very positive and the challenge is to carry on where it left off in 2007/8.

For further information about the work of the Selly Oak Community Safety Partnership (LDG), you can contact Austin Rodriguez, the Constituency’s Community Safety Coordinator.  This can be done via phone, 0121 303 9744 or e-mail, austin.rodriguez@birmingham.gov.uk.