Gosport Crime and Reduction Disorder Partnership Strategic Assessment Review Period: 01/06/08 – 31/05/09 Produced: September 2009

Aim… To provide a summary of the overall picture of current, emerging and established crime and disorder and substance misuse trends within the borough. The Strategic Assessment will provide recommendations and outline suggested amendments to Gosport’s Community Safety Plan.

Community Safety Plan Current Priorities Violent Crime – Assaults and Domestic Violence Anti Social Behaviour – Criminal Damage, Arson and Rowdy & Inconsiderate Behaviour Alcohol and Drug Related Offending Re-Offending – Prolific and Priority offenders Prevention – First Time Entrants Community Engagement – Reduce the Fear of Crime and Increase Public Confidence

Crime and Disorder Overview Crime levels within Gosport have fallen over the past three strategic years by 7.2% (556 offences) from the base line year of 2006/2007.

Crime and Disorder Overview continued… House Burglary, Other Theft and Handling, Shop Theft and Fraud & Forgery are the four crime categories to have seen increases from the previous Strategic period to the current period. Shop theft is the only crime category of those listed above to have seen consistent increases over the past two years.

Criminal Damage and Arson During this strategic period there were 1739 Criminal Damage and Arson offences a decrease of 3.8% from 1805 crimes for the 07/08 period and still well below the baseline strategic year of 06/07 where there were 2131 offences. Gosport’s Community Safety Partnership had a target of a 4% reduction which was easily achieved with 1688 offences recorded during the 08/09 financial year a 9.7% reduction from 1869 offences recorded during the 07/08 financial year. The level of recorded Arsons over the past three years has increased. During the 06/07 Strategic period there were 61 offences, 49 offences in the 07/08 period and 82 recorded offences during this review period. This increase is due to an ongoing series in the Elson area which started in November There are seasonal increases in Criminal Damage in the spring and October/November correlating with Halloween and Bonfire Night, with decreases seen locally in the Summer.

Anti Social Behaviour 3338 Anti-Social Behaviour occurrences this review period a reduction from the previous review period of 23.7% (791 fewer occurrences). Rowdy and Inconsiderate occurrences account for 85.8% of recorded Anti-Social Behaviour incidents. 51.8% of people think that teenagers hanging around the streets are a very big or fairly big problem in their local area. 44.1% of reports referred to youths when looking at Anti-Social Behaviour occurrences. A peak in Anti-Social Behaviour offences has been recorded in April, levelling out over the summer months with August experiencing the second highest number of occurrences, and December and January recording the lowest number of incidents. There is a distinct correlation between peak location for Anti-Social Behaviour and Criminal Damage offences.

Violent Crime 1677 (23%) Violence Against the Person offences this Strategic period representing a 26.1% (424 crimes) decrease in offences since the last reporting period. Of the 1677 offences within Gosport 44 (2.62%) were serious violent offences. Of the remaining 1633 Violence Against the Person offences in the District 1305 (77.8%) were Actual Bodily Harm with the remainder being Common Assault and Harassment, Alarm or Distress incidents. Alcohol and drugs continue to be a contributory factor, with 30.5% (513 offences) of Violence Against the Person crimes being committed under the influence of either alcohol or drugs. Between 01/04/08 – 31/03/09 there were 186 Domestic Violence incidents assessed as very high risk within the Gosport area. Within Central OCU there were 56 Domestic Violence cases reviewed at the Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC), of these 20 (35.7%) were repeat cases.

Over arching themes Alcohol - The number of recorded alcohol related crimes and alcohol related violent crimes in Gosport is significantly worse than the national and regional average. Drugs - During this strategic period there have been 185 drug offences which represents a 5.12% reduction when compared to the previous review period that had 195 offences. Of these offences 29 were Class A offences, 85 were Class B and the remaining 71 were Class C offences. Prolific and Priority Offenders (PPOs) - Gosport and Fareham currently has twenty-seven Prolific and Priority Offenders PPO, seventeen of whom are currently in custody. First Time Entrants (FTE) - Gosport has performed well during the last two financial years with 156 FTE in 06/07 and 143 FTE in 07/08 representing an 8.33% decrease over the two year period. Community Engagement - Community Engagement Plan now in place.

Emerging Issues - RISKS Rowner Renewal project – Fear of crime increases in Criminal Damage and ASB. Bus Rapid Transit scheme – Community Tensions increases in Criminal Damage and ASB. Gosport’s custody suite will be significantly reducing its hours in October This closure may have an impact on the Districts capacity to deal with local demand due to Officers being taken away from the borough. In the last year the Drugs Intervention Programme (DIP) has experienced funding cuts which may diminish drug treatment capacity within Gosport. The Hampshire County Community Safety Group is currently considering a development to the delivery of PPO schemes and associated services at an OCU level. There is currently a County wide strategic review of Community Safety. The current economic climate may be linked to increases in acquisitive crime and drink and drug related offending.

Considerations for the refresh of Gosport’s Community Safety Plan Shop Theft has been identified as an emerging issue within Gosport that needs to be monitored closely over. A Problem Profile needs to be produced to establish the extent of the problem within the district and how best it may be tackled by the partnership. Feedback from the recent ‘Have Your Say’ event suggests that Gosport residents would like: Greater visibility of the Community Payback scheme working in Gosport and a continued focus on prevention work with young people in Gosport, local issues such as speeding cars etc need to be incorporated at a local level. A single confidence target should be adopted by Gosport’s Community Safety Partnership to ensure that all partners are working towards the same goal, to significantly increase public confidence – NI21. Adoption and implementation of the Community Engagement Plan which is intrinsically linked to the public confidence target. Community Cohesion should remain an integral part of the Community Safety Plan, which aims to support the local community, recognise that diversity exists and actively promote a more cohesive Gosport.

Suggested Areas of Future Focus Criminal Damage & Arson Anti-Social Behaviour Assaults Domestic Violence Substance Misuse Re-offending & Prevention Community Engagement Community Cohesion