Intelligence-led Business Process:
Producing a strategic assessment that works at both county and CDRP-level - Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Community Safety Partnership
What they did
The Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Community Safety Partnership produces a county-level strategic assessment every 6 months, encompassing the individual strategic assessments for each of the county’s six CDRPs. This gives both a county and a district view of crime and disorder in a single document. The strategic assessment is fully embedded within the county’s partnerships, informs their strategic planning and is used to direct their resources to best effect. The process is supported by Project Amethyst, a geographic information system (GIS)-based information sharing ‘one-stop-shop’ developed to collect, map and share local data and partnership information.
What it involved
Project Amethyst was initially established with support from the Home Office and Government Office for the South West, and is now funded by the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund (SSCF) and the police through the LAA. The development and production of the strategic assessment is undertaken by the three person Amethyst team, which sits within the County Council. This team consists of a manager, an analyst and a support officer, who, in order to resolve any data-sharing issues, are employed by the police. An estimated two months’ effort is required for the production of each strategic assessment.
What impact it had
The Amethyst system provides a problem-solving analytical capability across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, allowing patterns of crime and the underlying causes to be identified. The approach has led to more informed decision-making, effective targeting of resources and cohesive partnership working.
The Amethyst system provides a central hub for the collection of data from both partner and external agency sources and produces ‘problem solved’ analysis on that data down to a very low level (postcode and Lower Layer Super Output Area). From this information, strategic assessments have been produced on a six-monthly basis since 2004, with refinements based on the experience of previous years.
Lessons learned
The first assessment combined partner data from the police, Youth Offending Team, DAAT and local authority with socio-demographic data, in line with the Safer and Stronger Communities block of the LAA. The second strategic assessment took the problem-solving analysis to a more detailed estate level, and the third saw the introduction of the identification of priorities for problem-solving. The forthcoming fourth strategic assessment will provide an LAA overview alongside individual CDRP information.
