ASB Awareness Week – Brentwood Community Safety Partnership

Preventing young people from entering a life of antisocial behaviour and crime is the priority of a community group working across Brentwood.

The Community Safety Partnership prioritises intervention work with the youngest residents in the borough, organising mentoring, providing equipment for sport clubs and raising awareness within schools.

Funded by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex (PFCC), Community Safety Partnerships bring together councillors, police officers, fire officers, the probation service and other organisations – including Crimestoppers and Neighbourhood Watch – to work on tackling local crime and disorder and reducing reoffending.

This year, the partnership has been allocated £14,106 from the PFCC’s Community Safety Fund 2022/23.

In Brentwood, partners meet every couple of months to discuss emerging trends and to develop their strategy.

Dan Cannon, Community Safety Manager, said: “We are always looking to the future. Anything we can do to educate young people and to prevent crime and disorder is key. As a group, we decided that prevention is better than cure and so early interventions are vital.

“Community Safety Partnerships are important as it is not just data led work, it is community led. We send out questionnaires to residents to find out about any issues they are having locally. We want to do whatever we can to improve safety and to reduce the fear of crime.

“We work on behalf of the community as we are out there and we hear what is going on. As a group, we come together to work out the appropriate solutions. We have good connections across Essex and into Havering so can share best practise, which works really well.

“Our representatives are phenomenal. We could not do what we do without them. The majority of us live in Brentwood and so we notice things in our everyday life that the partnership can work on. Plus, it is our community and so we care.”

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner said: “The work that the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) do in Brentwood is invaluable. By focusing on early intervention, education and positive role modelling, we can prevent young people from entering a life of crime and stop the cycle before it happens. We know that CSP’s work well in communities and there is real value in partners working together to understand local problems and how to solve them.”

While the partnership’s top priority is focusing on Brentwood’s young people, it also gives talks at lunch clubs, bereavement groups, dementia clubs and in sheltered accommodation.

• Each month, residents are invited to attend Local Community Meetings, held by Essex Police and the CSP, to discuss issues in their area. The next one is being held on May 21 between 1pm and 3pm at St Francis Church, West Horndon.
• Follow the partnership’s work on Twitter @saferbrentwood