Dorset Community Safety Partnership (CSP)

Once a quarter I chair the CSP in Dorchester. This is a statutory body which is responsible for partnership working within the districts and boroughs of Dorset and agencies with specific duties in the community safety field like Police and Fire services and their authorities. My patch does not include Bournemouth or Poole. This is something I have been involved with since 2007 when I was set the task of amalgamating the East and West committees and forging a common approach to local working so that all involved worked to common strategic goals based on a comprehensive evidence process. Another key issue was to reduce the number of meetings attended by expensive personnel leading to duplication and confusion of overall aims and objectives. Top down targeting and prescriptive working practice were the order of the day and so together with a very professional team of like minded officers we set about using common sense, business approach to the task of delivering a bottom up evidence based and innovative management system .Today I saw the fruits of our endeavours in that overall crime events in Dorset have dropped like a stone. Community Safety Officers are at the heart of our success who together with lead members has delivered the most spectacular results working with the police. Actual figures are currently restricted but in the first quarter of this year results we have really hit the button. Notional financial savings can be calculated and added to those recorded last year run into millions. No complacency though this is an onging and changing working environment but it is so satisfying to see simple but strategic management process deliver benefits to the community. Dorset is a safer place than five years ago.