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Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships

Summary

• The 1998 Crime and Disorder Act established Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs).
• A multi-agency approach is necessary to tackle crime reduction.
• The CDRP panel should be representative of statutory, voluntary and private organisations with a role in crime reduction.

Why CDRPs Exist

The Crime and Disorder Act, 1998 and in particular Section 17 imposes a duty on local authorities and the police to "without prejudice to any other obligation imposed upon it - exercise its function with due regard to the need to do all it reasonably can to prevent crime and disorder in its area".

There is an understanding that "no single organisation can hope to reduce the incidence of crime. Local organisations need to work together to develop comprehensive solutions to improve the community's quality of life" (Audit Commission).

The Role of CDRPs

In accordance with the Crime and Disorder Act, 1998 there is a Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership for each local authority in the UK. The Police, local authority, police authority and fire authority are statutory members of the CDRP and must be involved. Primary Care Trusts are to become statutory members in 2004. But CDRPs are encouraged to engage with as many local agencies and voluntary groups as possible in order to achieve a truly community-based multi-agency approach to crime reduction.

These partnerships are working to reduce crime and disorder in their area. They are primarily funded by the Home Office and are therefore accountable. CDRP's performance is managed through analysis of their delivery. They use the following process:

• Establishing the type and levels of crime and disorder in their borough through an audit.
• Consulting widely with the borough population to make sure that the partnership's perception of crime and disorder matches that of local people. Minority groups are particularly encouraged to input their views.
• Devising a strategy containing measures to tackle those priority problems, including an action plan, targets and responsible individual/organisation.
• The strategy lasts for three years, but must be kept under review by the partnership.

The work of the CDRPs is parallel to national government strategies and targets and also considers national policing plans.

CDRP Team and Panel

CDRPs usually have a CDRP team within the local authority led by a CDRP Manager. Each CDRP is directed by a panel of local representatives and partners, from which a Chair and deputy chair are elected.

Membership includes:

• Councillors
• Crown Prosecution Service and courts
• Drugs Action Team
• Fire service
• Health authority
• Local authority CDRP team
• Local authority departments, e.g. housing, social services, education
• Other voluntary organisations
• Police
• Police authority
• Probation
• Victim Support
• Youth Offending Team.

Crime and Disorder Auditing and Strategies

Crime and disorder audits vary by authority; information is collected from various sources to support the analysis. A crime and disorder audit generally includes:

• A list of partners
• Information about local crime reduction initiatives
• Benchmarking comparisons against other boroughs/London/England and Wales
• Crime statistics for all crime and broken down by crime types]
• Victim and offender profiles, e.g. by age, gender and ethnicity
• ]A measure of fear of crime
• A cost of crime calculation.

Once the Audit is complete a consultation stage takes place where local opinion (in relation to the audit findings) is gained from other agencies, businesses and the general public. Local concerns are noted and fed into the 3 year Crime and Disorder Strategy.

The crime and disorder strategy identifies key concerns based on the audit and consultation feedback. Actions are specified to address the issues raised. An action plan allocates responsibilities, targets and timeframes. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation takes place to review the strategy and actions coming out of the strategy.

Action Points

• Find out who your local CDRP contact is
• Access your local crime and disorder audit and strategy. This may be available from the community safety page of your local authority website.
• Get in touch with local groups who may share your views on crime and disorder issues.
• Find out how you can feed your views into your CDRP panel.

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Resources

• Home Office - crime reduction
  www.crimereduction.gov.uk
  
•  Audits and strategies on the web
  www.crimereduction.gov.uk/regions03.htm
  
• Crime and Disorder Act 1998
  www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980037.htm

Glossary

• Audit
  An examination and report of crime and disorder data, including numerical data and people's viewpoints
  
• Strategy
  Includes crime and disorder priorities and actions which arise from public consultation on the audit.
  
• Benchmarking
  To measure against other crime rates, e.g. regional, national, neighbouring boroughs, in order to compare with local levels.
  
• Monitoring
  The routine, systematic collection of information for the purpose of checking a projects progress against the project plans.
  
• Evaluation
  Using monitoring data and other information to make judgements on how a project is doing.

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        Find you borough Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership     

Download the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership Factsheet

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