I opened this event on Thursday when over 60 delegates from across Dorset attended this conference organised by The Dorset Community Safety Partnership. My opening speech follows :-
Alcohol best practice event March 8th 2012 Weymouth Pavillion.
Good morning everyone, my name is Councillor Ray Nottage; I am Council leader of the Ancient Borough of Christchurch and have held the Chairmanship of the Dorset Community Safety Partnership (DCP) since May 2008.
As you are aware the DCP is a statutory body comprising all Borough and District and County Councils in partnership with Dorset Police, Dorset Police Authority, Dorset Fire, Dorset Probation and Dorset NHS and others including Trading Standards.
You are also aware that Councils have a statutory duty to reduce crime and disorder under section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
DSP has a democratic imperative and uses evidence led initiatives to determine our direction in reducing crime and disorder across the County. Once our plan is agreed it is executed by our ‘plan delivery group’ which is executive based. Community Safety Officers oversee the operations at local levels with our partners. So we are very much a bottom up process that deals with local problems at a local level.
So in short we gather evidence in respect of problems in levels of crime and disorder, we prioritise areas of action, we make plans to reduce those levels, we assess the success of those plans and then we start the process all over again.
Our latest assessment Sept last year showed that what do works and we are making a difference.
Of our seven current priorities, one that concerns us greatly is that which relates to violent crime and its relationship to alcohol consumption. This with connections to night time economies, domestic violence and drug related disorder. Whilst we have made some headway by introducing ‘operation protect’ intelligence led policing based on visibility and early intervention, and other initiatives we still need to be aware of the growing social and community consequences as well as the economic community cost of the abuse of drugs and alcohol. This will require not just Police officers but also Pcso’s, trading standards officers, youth workers and volunteers, all working together. Not forgetting the NHS.
And that’s why you are here today.
Today we will showcase initiatives taken in partnership across the County and I am sure that all those present will share their own project experiences that have made a difference in their areas so that we can pool resources and ideas, aim to avoid duplication and identify gaps in response around alcohol related violent crime in Dorset.
Voluntary organisations will feature in our presentations as they do such a crucial job at the coal face so to speak and as a result we hold them in such high esteem for the work they do. From Pub watch to Street Pastors the voluntary sector has proved their importance.
The work done by Trading Standards through test purchasing activities will be highlighted as sales to minors appears to be falling as the trade takes a more responsible attitude to the sale of alcohol to youngsters. Fixed penalty notices and revocation of licences have played their part but vigilance is still needed to ensure that this trend continues.
The Cardiff Model being run out at Dorchester Hospital funded in part by CSP .
The alcohol brief intervention, being run by EDP to establish over 18 adults drinking trends that foretell problems ahead.
Dorset is a very safe place to live, work and visit and I know that the difference the DSP has made to reduction of crime and disorder contributes greatly to this situation but we have constantly to review what we do and how we do it to meet the challenges which confront us in this ever changing problem of alcohol drugs and domestic violence arena.
Please be innovative and outcome led in your discussions so that with actions derived from today we at DSP can continue to make a difference.
Thank you for listening to me and I officially open this event.
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