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Burglary Dwelling Scrutiny

The Burglary Dwelling Panel agreed the terms of reference in September 2009 and carried out the fieldwork during the period October 2009 to early January 2010.

Objectives

The Panel aimed to achieve the following:

  • Evaluate the extent to which the Force’s preventative initiatives, including those delivered through partnership working; contribute to the reduction of burglary dwelling crimes in Lincolnshire and, where appropriate, make recommendations as to how these may be strengthened and improved.

Scope

In order to maximise the benefits from the scrutiny process, the Panel explored the following specific areas relating to Burglary Dwelling:

  • Evaluate the activities that are carried out by the Force to prevent burglary dwelling and assess their value and effectiveness across each Division.
  •  Examine how Community Safety Partnerships and other partnerships contribute to the preventative initiatives to reduce burglary dwelling crimes – including an overview of funding and any related delivery plans and marketing strategies/awareness raising campaigns.
  •  Identify the mechanisms that are in place to measure the preventative initiatives delivered by the Force and partners.  Assess the extent to which the initiatives are evaluated in order to monitor their success and cost effectiveness.
  •  Identify the extent to which partners understand police led crime prevention initiatives such as Operation Fusion and assess how they contribute and participate in related activities. Identify any opportunities for further partnership working.
  • Identify good practice and where relevant, make recommendations for improvement and efficiencies.
  •  Link in, but do not duplicate work carried out by the NPIA Capability Support into Serious Acquisitive Crime. 

Findings and Recommendations

The Panel identified the following 8 recommendations.  The Audit, Risk and Governance Committee monitored and evaluated the progress made against these recommendations on a quarterly basis until they were either completed or discharged.

Recommendation 1 - The Force demonstrate how informed decisions are made and how resources are effectively committed to activities that prevent burglary dwelling crimes and update the Authority on any action plans to improve these processes

Recommendation 2 - The Force further utilises Neighbourhood Watch in the involvement of crime prevention initiatives (for example, leaflet distribution).

Recommendation 3 - The Force informs the Authority on how it intends/plans to measure the preventative initiatives associated with burglary dwelling in order to assess their impact, value for money and cost effectiveness.

Recommendation 4 - The Force reflects on the prevention of burglary dwelling ‘evidence base’, including information available from the national resource, to support development plans and indicates how continual improvement will be achieved.

Recommendation 5 - The Panel strongly support the sharing of good practice and exchange of knowledge amongst the Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) and encourage all the CSP Chairmen to meet up on a periodic basis to discuss common issues.

Recommendation 6 - The Force undertakes a review to identify any potential efficiency savings within the crime prevention business area.

Recommendation 7 - The Force provides an update on progress made in satisfying itself that the governance and performance management processes associated with force wide operations on the prevention of burglary dwelling remain effective and suitable.

Recommendation 8 - The Authority is updated on the extent to which PCSOs visit (in appropriate cases) victims of burglary dwelling crime, indicate if this is a corporate initiative across the Force and consider including the performance indicator ‘number of follow up visits to victims of burglary dwelling crimes’ in its performance framework.