Community Safety simply means making Havering a safer place to live and work, by:
- Preventing crime and disorder
- Tackling the causes of crime
- Reducing the fear of crime
Crime and disorder:
There is no escaping the fact that crime, disorder and levels of drug use are very low in Havering and the chances of becoming a victim of crime are also small. However we understand the distress caused by crime and are committed to reducing it still further.
We are responsible for running crime reduction initiatives in Havering as well as issuing effective crime reduction advice to residents to help them further reduce the likelihood of being targeted by criminals.
Mainstreaming community safety means that decisions made by all the council's departments have to take safety issues into account as Havering designs crime out of all its developments, buildings and services.
Fear of Crime
Community Safety is not only about being safe but feeling safe. Perception of crime and disorders is an issue of concern in most communities, and directly impact on our quality of life as individuals. Although Havering is an extremely safe place to live, the fear of crime is higher than the probability of being a victim of such a crime.
We are committed to tackling fear of crime through educating the public about the facts and ensuring they are not overtly frightened by stories that might appear in the newspapers and on television or the radio.
We also plan to highlight all the community safety initiatives taking place in the borough and of course we will work hard to identify and tackle potential community safety issues before they become a major problem.
Crime, Disorder and Drugs Reduction Strategy 2005-2008
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 gave us a legal duty to work with other agencies on community safety to reduce crime and disorder. This led to the establishment of the Havering Community Safety Partnership. The partnership has statutory members representing the police, Havering Council, voluntary organisations and other statutory bodies.
The Partnership must conduct and publish an audit of crime and disorder problems undertaken every three years after consultation with local people, groups and stakeholders.
The audit is an assessment of the crime and disorder levels within each neighbourhood and ensures that the partnership tackles the issues it and residents believe are important. The last audit was completed in October 2004 and the next one is due to be completed in 2007.
The partnership draws up a strategy designed to tackle the problems identified in the audit. The Crime, Disorder and Drugs Reduction Strategy is that document.
A message from Havering Council's Cabinet member for Community Safety Councillor Peter Gardner.
Havering is a safe, green outer London borough with vibrant day and night time economies. People flock to Havering for both the shopping during the day and the wide range of pubs, restaurants and clubs during the evening.
It is one of the safest boroughs in London and the chances of you becoming a victim of crime are extremely low.
Like all London Borough's Havering has a number of issues which it is keen to address, these are laid out in the Crime, Disorder and Drugs Reduction Strategy.
The principles behind this strategy are Respect and Responsibility. They are simple words but form the cornerstone of a contract between Havering Community Safety Partnership and residents of this borough.
Simply put, we want to engender respect for oneself and others while at the same time encouraging everyone to take responsibility for their actions.
By stopping to consider how our words and actions impact on others, our shared environment and our collective quality of life each individual has in his or her own way the power to make Havering a nicer place to live.
At the same time the Partnership will continue to fulfil its responsibilities to tackle crime, disorder and drug use in Havering and provide support and help for victims and witnesses of crime.
While we hope to engender respect and responsibility in Havering we accept there will be a thoughtless minority who are incapable of behaving in an appropriate manner.
We are committed to addressing these people's behaviour and have a range of policies and initiatives in place to ensure they do not ruin this borough for the peaceful, law abiding majority of residents.
We believe that Havering has a glittering future ahead and we want residents to share in our vision. Respect and Responsibility is a simple principle that we believe will deliver a better future for everyone. We want you, the residents, to be part of that future.