THE Craven Community Safety Hub is a small but crucial team in the battle against crime and anti-social behaviour. Jenny Cornish, communications officer at Craven District Council, explains its role.

Based at Craven District Council, Community Safety Officer Stacey Reffin works alongside PC Jonny Stubbs to help tackle issues ranging from anti-social behaviour and vandalism, hate crime and graffiti to human trafficking.

Together they work with other agencies – not just to crack down on criminals, but also to help vulnerable people, including children, who may be on the verge of getting into serious trouble.

PC Stubbs says: “It’s all about partnership working to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. We all want the same outcome and we’re all working together to reach that outcome. It’s our job to prevent smaller issues from becoming bigger problems.”

Recently the team has been dealing with reports of young people climbing on roofs in Skipton – potentially endangering their own lives and causing damage.

“The first thing is to identify them,” says PC Stubbs. “Nine times out of 10 it will be people we’re already aware of from other incidents or reports.

“We’ll get in touch with partners to find out whether anybody is already working with these young people, where they go to school and whether the pupil referral service is involved. And we will try to engage with parents.”

The team will send a letter home to the young person’s parents as a first step. “The majority of the time, this will deal with the issue,” says PC Stubbs. “Often the parents aren’t aware of what their child is doing and as soon as they are aware, it’s no longer an issue.”

If the problems continue, police will make a personal visit to the young person’s home and try to talk to their parents. They will try to find out if there are any reasons behind the behaviour.

“The third stage is we would ask them to attend the police station where they are spoken to about their behaviour and its consequences by an inspector,” says PC Stubbs.

“The fourth stage is an acceptable behaviour contract where the individual is asked to sign a contract stating they will not do certain things; the contract usually lasts for six months, during which time the behaviour is monitored and support given where needed.”

Stacey will carry out the interviews as an impartial officer. “If the behaviour continues we can look at a number of anti-social behaviour orders, injunctions, or potentially criminalisation. They are given plenty of opportunity to change their behaviour,” she says.

The team works closely with North Yorkshire County Council prevention service, which offers a range of schemes and support for young people and families. The prevention service is involved at all stages of the process and referrals into the service are made where appropriate.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service offer a ‘Life Course’ at the Fire Station, which teaches young people about teambuilding skills, the consequences of crime, respect for each other and property.

Stacey says: “These courses are very successful. Spending time with these young people, showing them what they are capable of, and having the opportunity to take part in activities where they are in control, I believe reduces their challenging behaviour. Quite often some of the young people will end up joining the Fire Cadets as well.

“Most of the time they’re not aware that their behaviour is affecting the rest of the community. We try to tackle the behaviour before it becomes a criminal matter.

“There are a lot of intervention tactics we can try. If they don’t take it up, they’ve got to accept the consequences of their actions.”

Stacey also offers training to frontline staff within the council and other partnership organisations, on the Prevent Duty, which aims to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and becoming radicalised.

“Frontline staff from housing, probation, public amenities, waste operatives, mental health, social services and so on – can all be on the lookout for any potential incidents, conversations overheard, or suspicious behaviour,” says Stacey. “A lot of frontline staff visit people in their own homes and this can be key in identifying potential issues.”

In recent weeks the team has been tasked with removing graffiti in Skipton town centre which had been reported as being connected with ISIS. “It wasn’t though – it was just someone’s tag,” says Stacey.

Together with the council’s Cleaner Neighbourhoods team they have also been investigating anti-social behaviour from a den that had been built in Sutton-in-Craven, using materials that had been stolen from a building site.

“We’ve contacted the contractors and they are going to put fencing around the site and the den has been dismantled,” says Stacey.

Then they have been looking into fly-tipping on the moors which included a lot of material used in growing cannabis. “We will go out and look for any evidence which might help us catch the culprits,” says PC Stubbs.

Over the last two years the team has been instrumental in getting Public Space Protection Orders in place, in Coach Street Car Park and the High Street Car Park in Skipton, which aim to tackle anti-social behaviour and prohibit unacceptable behaviour.

The orders were introduced after a number of complaints from residents were received about noise and disruption in the area. Further consultation was carried out and found that within the car parks vehicles were being driven recklessly and playing loud music in a way that disturbed local residents. Anyone found in breach of a given warning can be given a fine or taken to court.

The team also gets together with other agencies at the start of each week to discuss any vulnerable individuals. “They could be victims of crime, or have mental health, drugs or alcohol issues,” says Stacey. “There are all sorts of reasons why people could come to our attention.”

The team holds a long standing multi-agency problem-solving meeting every month, where individuals are discussed that have been referred by any agency. After this initial discussion they often set up separate task groups to tackle the most vulnerable individuals requiring extra support.

The Hub can also get involved with assisting victims of domestic abuse, and is currently running a project to improve home security for residents after a spate of burglaries.

Stacey says: “The key is that we work together with other agencies to tackle troubling behaviour in our towns and villages. Working together, we can solve issues and incidents as quickly and efficiently as possible. North Yorkshire is one of the safest places to live, and we want to keep it that way.”

Councillor Linda Brockbank, Craven District Council’s Lead Member for Resilient Communities, says: “We know how important it is that we work with other organisations in Craven to nip things in the bud before they become more serious. We have a statutory duty to do all we can to prevent crime and disorder in our district, including tackling antisocial behaviour, and we take our Prevent Duty very seriously.

“I’m proud of the work the Hub does within our community to help keep us all safe.”