Safer communities

Our community safety team works in partnership with Thames Valley Police, Vale of White Horse District Council and other agencies to help build confident and safer communities in the Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire districts. Working together to reduce crime, disorder and the fear of crime, these agencies are collectively known as the South and Vale Community Safety Partnership (CSP). 

South and Vale Community Safety Partnership (CSP)

The CSP aims to deliver projects that:

• tackle concerns affecting the whole community (for example, supporting a joined up approach to reducing anti social behaviour)
• support victims or prevent people from becoming a victim of crime or anti social behaviour (for example, funding a dedicated outreach service for victims of domestic abuse and their children)
• tackle offenders or those who are at risk of committing crime and anti social behaviour (for example, developing projects that utilise the services of the Thames Valley Probation Unpaid Work Scheme in the districts)

The Partnership has written a plan for 2012-13 which sets out all of the projects it will be delivering during the year. You can find a copy of the plan on the right hand side of this page.

Community Safety Partnership members

The CSP is made up of representatives from the following organisations:

• Oxfordshire County Council
• Oxfordshire Drugs and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT)
• Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service
• NHS Oxfordshire
• Soha
• South Oxfordshire District Council
• Sovereign Vale Housing
• Thames Valley Police
• Thames Valley Police Authority
• Thames Valley Probation Service
• Vale of White Horse District Council.

Community safety projects

The CSP have enabled many different projects that help support their plan. These are run together with outside organisations and the community.

Here are some examples of projects that have been supported and funded by the CSP:

South and Vale Community Safety Partnership supporting Henley Regatta

Over the five days of the Henley Regatta 2012, the South and Vale Community Safety Partnership (CSP) worked closely with the police to ensure that an enjoyable time was had by all:  

• In 2011, South Oxfordshire District Council introduced a Designated Public Place Order (DPPO) for Henley town, giving police officers the power to confiscate alcohol from people if they are behaving in an anti-social way or likely to create anti-social behaviour in a public place. For a second year in a row, the police successfully used the DPPO to tackle alcohol related disorder during the Regatta.
• CCTV operators provided support for the event by monitoring the cameras in the town centre, ensuring the safety of both residents and visitors.
• The CSP helped to fund additional bus services during the Regatta to ensure that people could get home swiftly and safely.
• Through Nightsafe (a multi-agency sub group of the South and Vale CSP working together to reduce incidents of alcohol related disorder) door staff at local licensed premises handed out lollies in a friendly effort to reduce noise and anti-social behaviour in the town centre.  They were also issued with Nightsafe orange vests (funded by the CSP) so members of the public could easily identify who they were if they needed assistance. 
• As part of Nightsafe, the CSP also provided Spikeys in town centre premises to prevent drinks from being spiked with drugs.  A spikey is a brightly coloured plastic stopper that, when inserted into the neck of a bottle, cannot be easily removed. It creates a seal that helps stop pills and illicit substances being slipped into the drink. A hole in the top of the device is just big enough for a straw to pass through.

Faringdon community mural

A community art project with the art department and students of Faringdon Community College helped to improve the appearance of the underpass, which connects the Lees and Portway.

Some comments on the project

“The art mural on the underpass has put the ‘community’ into Faringdon Community College”

“I have been particularly impressed with the partnership approach adopted. Working with local residents the community college, the Community Safety team and other key stakeholders we have directly addressed the local issue and increased our visibility.”

Community safety working group

The CSP is a strategic group however the working group for the partnership is the Joint Agency Tasking and Co-ordination (JATAC) group. JATAC brings together a wide range of agencies working in South and Vale to tackle community safety problems that can’t be resolved locally due to their complexity, scale etc. This is done through a monthly meeting attended by organisations including the police, Fire and Rescue, the district council, Environment Agency and housing associations.

Information is shared and actions are agreed to jointly tackle the issues brought forward by attendees. There is also a small amount of funding available to help deliver the actions.

For more information about the South and Vale Community Safety Partnership or JATAC, please contact us.