Under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Crime and Disorder Partnerships have been established in the seven local authority areas in the West Midlands.

The partnerships bring together the relevant Local Authorities with the Police, Probation Service, Health, and sometimes other key partners from the independent sector in a joint strategy to tackle crime and reduce its impact on the community.

Through sharing of information and local crime audits involving extensive local consultation, the partnerships identify the patterns of crime of greatest concern to their respective communities.

Priorities for crime reduction will differ from one area to another. For example, tackling anti-social behaviour on estates may be the key objective in one part of the area. Elsewhere, the emphasis could be on combating burglaries, drug dealing, street robbery or motor vehicle crime. What is important is that all the agencies involved agree on where to focus their time, energy and resources.

Each partnership now manages a Prolific and Other Priority Offender (PPO) scheme, in which the 0.5% of active offenders who are estimated to commit 10% of all crime are actively tackled in a multi-agency approach. This includes the delivery of a ‘premium service’ by which these offenders are fast-tracked into interventions which are proven to reduce risk of reoffending.

Across the West Midlands, Crime and Disorder Partnerships are actively engaged in measures to address racially motivated crime, which has a particularly damaging effect on individual victims and on wider community relations. The Crime and Disorder Act has created the offences of racially aggravated violence, harassment and criminal damage.

Domestic violence is another major area of work with many areas establishing separate working groups. In Coventry, for example, the Domestic Violence Partnership is developing programmes to help abusive men who have not yet come to the attention of the courts.

The Probation Service can provide a significant contribution to each community partnership, including:

• Information about offender profiles;
• Supervision of convicted offenders, including specific programmes of intervention;
• Controls and restrictions on individuals in other appropriate cases.