How can councils help police and crime commissioners?

The LGA has identified hundreds of ways in which councils can help PCCs protect the public and drive down crime. The following list is just an illustration of the vital role councils will be playing, but it demonstrates the huge amount of crossover between the responsibilities and aims of town halls and police and crime commissioners.

A selection of ways councils can help police and crime commissioners:

  1. Councils run planning departments and can work with you to identify the crime risks in specific locations, working out how they could be reduced through changes to the planning process.
  2. Licensing authorities will soon be able to work with you to introduce early morning restriction orders (EMROs) or a late-night levy. These can help to tackle areas with significant alcohol problems and contribute to the costs incurred by both police and councils when tackling drink-related issues.
  3. Councils can have schemes to manage traffic and parking in the borough which can help to address concerns of residents and emergency services and ensure safer streets.
  4. Councils are responsible for monitoring underage sales and can work with the police to combat the illegal sale of age restricted products to young people. This helps to prevent anti-social behaviour and crime, and improves the safety of the community.
  5. Councils are the lead partners in local adult safeguarding boards and can work with you to ensure vulnerable people in your community feel safe.
  6. Councils can support businesses and organisations that want to bring empty shops back into use. An improved street scene makes people feel safer on their streets, and councils can work to ensure these buildings are safe and do not contribute to vandalism, litter and anti-social behaviour
  7. Councils can work with police and other partners to reduce reoffending through integrated offender management (IOM) schemes, highlighting the broad range of support issues required to prevent offenders committing crime.
  8. Councils can work with you to promote community cohesion and harmony by promoting equality, while recognising differences so that everyone takes pride in their community.
  9. Councils can help gather intelligence about ongoing anti-social behaviour through the use of incident diaries.
  10. Councils appoint and pay for coroners' services and can work with you and partners to investigate cases of violent, unnatural or sudden deaths and deaths in custody that are reported.
  11. Councils can fund police community support officers (PCSOs), although there is no legal duty to do so. These officers can help to reduce incidents of crime, criminal damage and fear of crime.
  12. Councils can work with you on rural policing for example through rural beat officers visiting their villages with the mobile library.
  13. Councils can provide cycle training for children and adults, keeping them safer on the road.
  14. Councils have fraud and corruption strategies and can work with you to prosecute employees, members or members of the public that are guilty of fraud or corruption.
  15. Councils can work with you to establish ‘pubwatch' schemes which help to deal with alcohol-related crime and disorder.
  16. Councils can be involved in setting up taxi marshal schemes which reduce illegal pick-ups, control taxi queues and generally help improve the safety of city and town centres at night. This helps reduce the possibility that alcohol-fuelled violence will occur.
  17. Councils run drug and alcohol action teams (DAATs) and can work with you to commission drug services; provide training, information and advice to individuals and groups.
  18. Councils can provide advice and support to those who feel that they are being harassed at home, in the workplace, in public or at school. Councils can work with you and other authorities to tackle harassment.
  19. Councils can organise communities to reduce crime and increase resilience by supporting neighbourhood watch schemes.
  20. Councils can help to reduce rural crime by organising and supporting ‘farmwatch' schemes.
  21. Councils can work with police forces to reduce anti-social driving and strengthen community participation through community ‘speedwatch' schemes.
  22. Councils can provide or commission mediation schemes to help settle neighbour disputes.
  23. Councils can provide support for victims of domestic abuse by running multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs).
  24. Councils can fund and provide refuges for victims of domestic violence.
  25. Councils can commission independent domestic and sexual abuse victim support advocate services.
  26. Councils can fund and provide services for specific types of violence against women and girls in their area, including forced marriage, so-called ‘honour based violence', human trafficking and female genital mutilation.
  27. Councils can organise and deliver domestic violence homicide reviews.
  28. Councils can organise independent custody visitors: members of the local community who visit custody suites unannounced to check on the welfare of people in police custody.
  29. Councils run local trading standards departments and can work with you to tackle rogue traders, loan sharks, doorstep crime, scams, counterfeit goods and product safety concerns.
  30. Councils are responsible for licensing public events and can work with you to ensure events remain safe and do not create problems for local communities. This can involve adding conditions relating to security, noise, closure times and crowd dispersal.
  31. Councils issue licences for premises and individuals selling alcohol. If they are causing trouble, councils can work with you to potentially review or revoke their licence.
  32. Councils have environmental enforcement teams. If individuals or businesses are making excessive noise, councils can work with you to serve a notice requiring them to stop making the noise nuisance.
  33. Councils register food businesses, including market stalls, moveable premises (such as ice cream vans) and domestic premises. Councils can work with you to ensure street trading activities are properly licensed and deal with unlicensed traders.
  34. Councils are responsible for licensing gambling premises, including pubs and clubs with gaming machines. Police have a key role in influencing decisions about licences and providing intelligence.
  35. As licensing authorities, councils can work with you to create safe and flourishing night-time economies through initiatives such as Purple Flag.
  36. Councils can provide road safety education for children.
  37. Councils can provide training courses and education which can help offenders get out of a life of crime and into work, as well as providing young people with better opportunities to get work – all of which can help cut crime.
  38. Councils are responsible for licensing taxis and private hire vehicles, and can work with you if there are concerns about drivers and conditions in an area.
  39. Councils can work with you to reduce overheads by sharing back office services and joint property asset management.
  40. Council trading standards departments can work with you and HMRC to identify and respond to issues with illicit tobacco and counterfeit alcohol.
  41. Councils can provide alley-gating schemes, reducing fear and keeping homes secure from burglary.
  42. Council trading standards departments can help police detect smuggled goods. 
  43. Councils are responsible for regeneration and can work with you to include crime reduction initiatives and design against crime principles in their regeneration programmes.
  44. Councils work with registered social landlords and some have their own housing stock. Councils can work with landlords on initiatives to tackle crime, reduce anti-social behaviour and, where necessary, evict tenants.
  45. Councils have a duty to assess the need for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation. Councils can work with you and provide designated Gypsy and Traveller sites.
  46. Councils have licensing schemes for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and can work with you to set out the minimum standards required and can attach conditions to licences.
  47. Councils have a duty to support people who are homeless or are worried they might become homeless. Councils can work with you to identify individuals at risk to prevent rough sleeping.
  48. Councils work to reduce the number of empty and derelict properties. Councils can work with the private sector and partners to bring these homes back into use.
  49. Councils remove graffiti (although there is no legal requirement) and can help places feel safer by the swift removal of graffiti and keeping streets looking attractive.
  50. Councils are responsible for providing and maintaining parks and open spaces and can work with you to make sure these are safe and well managed.
  51. Councils investigate reported incidents of fly-tipping on highways and public land. Councils can work with you to prosecute offenders whenever possible.
  52. Councils have a duty to remove abandoned vehicles on land to which the public have access and can work with you to prosecute offenders whenever possible.
  53. Councils are responsible for collecting and returning stray dogs and encouraging responsible dog ownership. Councils can work with you to take enforcement action if there are consistent issues with dangerous or out-of-control dogs or if dogs foul in a public place.
  54. Councils provide allotments for local residents and can work together with police through neighborhood task groups to reduce theft and vandalism from allotments.
  55. Councils can pass bye-laws to dedicate particular areas as controlled drinking zones.
  56. Councils work with police to identify, publicise and enforce dispersal zones to reduce anti-social behaviour.
  57. Fire and rescue services can carry out home safety checks advising people how to safeguard their property against both accidental and intentional (arson) fire incidents and minimise the effects.
  58. Fire and rescue services can provide community fire safety education to local youth centres, schools and other community hubs for young people. This helps to encourage vulnerable young people who are known to be involved in deliberate fire-setting to cease offending and re-engage with society.
  59. Councils provide street lighting which can make feel people safer in their streets and discourages criminality.
  60. Councils are the highway authority for most roads in their area and can work with you to issue a temporary traffic regulation order (TTRO) when a road needs to be closed. They can also introduce traffic calming to make streets safer.
  61. Councils have road safety education teams with responsibility for education, training and publicity measures for road and home safety.
  62. Councils can establish Road Safety Partnerships that can work with partners, including the police, to promote road safety and reduce the number of accidents on the road.
  63. Councils host multi-agency youth offending teams and can work together with partner agencies to help reduce offending and reoffending.
  64. Councils host local children's safeguarding boards and can work with you to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in your area.
  65. Councils run child protection units and can work with you to tackle child sexual exploitation.
  66. Councils provide diversionary activities for young people. Councils can work with you to ensure these programmes are effective in reducing crime and operate in the most vulnerable areas and with the most vulnerable young people.
  67. Councils provide Pupil Referral Units, educating the most needy pupils with the most challenging behaviour.
  68. Councils can work in partnership with police to provide safer schools officers, building bridges between young people and the police force.
  69. Councils stage and support a wide range of cultural events and festivities that break down barriers in communities, improve community relations and help to engage harder-to-reach groups in local areas.
  70. Ward councillors can provide a key line of engagement between residents and statutory agencies, and can help problem-solve local issues.
  71. Councils run citizenship ceremonies which contribute to a sense of belonging within a community and more ownership of place.
  72. Councils run community forums to gain a variety of views from different parts of the community. Councils can work with you to ensure common themes feed into your priorities.
  73. Councils manage local strategic partnerships. This brings together a range of partners including the police to discuss matters of importance to the local community.
  74. Councils are required by law to prepare an emergency plan for the local area. Councils can work with you to ensure that resources and experienced people from the council and partners are on standby to respond quickly.
  75. Councils are in touch with their communities through council newsletters and can work with you to ensure local communities know about action being taken to keep them safe.
  76. Councils can provide grants to voluntary and community groups. Many of these groups will work at grassroots level to reduce offending and tackle anti-social behaviour.
  77. Councils can work with faith groups in their areas who often run diversionary activities for young people, and schemes like street pastors. These are people who engage with young people and others who feel excluded or marginalised on the streets, often at night, and this can help reduce crime.
  78. Councils run adult social care departments which provide support to eligible people over the age of 18 who are in need of community care services and services to keep or return people to independence.
  79. Councils administer the ‘Blue Badge' parking scheme, which allows those with severe walking difficulties to park their vehicle near where they need to go.
  80. Councils run day centres and social clubs that offer an opportunity to build stronger communities and provide older people with advice on crime prevention.
  81. Councils can provide support for victims of anti-social behaviour by running anti-social behaviour risk assessment conferences (ASBRACs)
  82. Councils are in part responsible for Mental Health Services. Mental Health social workers have a responsibility to risk assess mental health service users for their ability to live safely with other members of the public.
  83. From April 2013 councils will take on significant new responsibilities for health and wellbeing. Councils can work with you and other partners to provide offenders with mental health, drug treatment and other health services.
  84. Councils manage anti-social behaviour cases through dedicated caseworkers, promoting a multi-agency response and dealing with repeat perpetrators through multi-agency case panels.
  85. Councils can work with you to share advice on commissioning community safety and reducing re-offending projects by potentially establishing joint procurement frameworks which can save money and avoid duplication.
  86. Councils organise multi-agency risk groups to plan against potential disorder at events such as Bonfire Night and Hallowe'en.
  87. Trading standards have national ‘Stop loan sharks' teams (run by Cardiff City Council for Wales, and Birmingham City Council for England) that have vast experience in tackling illegal money lending. They can work with you to identify extortion and protect victims.
  88. Trading standards and police can work together to share intelligence, confront local businesses and consider more formal tools available to both to address community concerns in relation to ‘legal highs'.
  89. Councils can coordinate services locally to help troubled families turn their lives around. Councils can work with you to help make a difference to these families and help save money in policing, welfare and health budgets.
  90. Councils are responsible for the public realm and can work with you to prevent metal theft by sharing intelligence on licensed scrap metal dealers and promoting public awareness.
  91. Councils provide radio link schemes, linking up businesses to enable a network to identify and prevent criminal activity.
  92. Councils can help run fireworks safety campaigns and run organised displays. Where needed, councils can confiscate illegal or underage sales and prosecute people for illegal use.
  93. Councils have a building control department and will work with you to ensure safety in and around buildings and to ensure they comply with building regulations.
  94. Councils provide community wardens that work closely with the police to raise community awareness of problems, such as bogus callers preying on vulnerable people in their homes.
  95. Councils, in many areas, employ town centre managers who can work with you to develop the life of town centres and make them safer.
  96. Councils play a key role in local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) which can help generate local economic growth, providing jobs for young people and therefore helping to reduce crime.
  97. Councils have installed CCTV in town centres, community shopping areas, housing estates, car parks and other council property. This helps to reduce crime and disorder, increases public reassurance and support and enhances community safety.
  98. Councils organise days and weeks of action, focusing multi-agency resources on a particular neighbourhood to increase community confidence and build capacity.
  99. Councils provide analytical support to develop partnership strategic assessments, outlining crime and disorder issues in an area and determining priorities.
  100. Councils provide third-party reporting schemes for race and hate crimes.
  101. Councils organise effective partnership responses to emerging crime and disorder issues through supporting community safety partnerships (CSPs).

16 November 2012

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