Crime rates drop due to partnership working in South Tyneside

South Tyneside's Cabinet will be presented with the latest report fro the Community Safety Partnership next week, which shows the improvements in reducing offences which most concern residents.

The report highlights South Tyneside as the second best performing partnership from its cluster group of 15 areas.

Key successes highlighted in the report are a 12% fall in the number of anti-social behaviour incidents reported to the police and a 24% drop in youth-related anti-social behaviour cases as well as a 7% drop in the number of deliberate fires over the reported period.

The number of domestic burglaries fell by 13% and re-offending rates dropped by a massive 20%.

The Partnership Board is made up of representatives from the council, Northumbria Police, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group, National Probation Service, Northumbria Community Rehabilitation Service, South Tyneside Homes and the Youth Justice Service.

More than 2,000 staff from key local business sectors have received training as part of the ongoing effort to raise awareness of Child Sexual Exploitation which has resulted in a 53% rise in the number of people reporting their concerns to police.

Despite a 6% increase in crime in South Tyneside – largely due to the introduction of new national crime reporting procedures – 98% of residents in the borough feel safe in their neighbourhood.

Councillor Moira Smith, chairman of the Community Safety Partnership, said: “After seven years of successfully reducing crime by over 43% we knew it was always going to be difficult to reduce or even maintain previous crime trends.

"However, the partnership has continued to see a fall in re-offending and cases of anti-social behaviour which we know concern our residents most.

"We will continue to target those crimes which we know have the most impact on our communities and use all the resources available to make sure South Tyneside remains a safe place for people to live in, work and visit.”

Northumbria Police Superintendent Sarah Pitt, of Southern Area Command, said: “Tackling anti-social behaviour and safeguarding vulnerable people are some of the force’s top priorities and we are glad to see we’re having a positive impact in South Tyneside.

"Multi-agency working is the best possible way to ensure we deliver the best possible service to those living within our local communities and these results are a great example that we are on the right track.

"We have recently made changes that will protect neighbourhood policing in the region that will put safeguarding at the forefront of everything we do. Those changes will put us in the best possible position to support projects like this.”