Contact : Jill Lovelock, Ext: 7591 e-mail address [email protected]

Rod Goldup, Ext 6220 e-mail address [email protected]


(With the concurrence of the Chairman under Section 100(B) (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972, this matter is included on the agenda to ensure that arrangements to manage and operate a scheme of Accredited Community Support Officers, within Property Business and Regulatory Services proceed expeditiously)

1. Summary

The following decisions were taken:

i) That henceforth Accredited Community Support Officers be known as Accredited Community Safety Officers

ii) That a scheme of Accredited Community Safety Officers, to be managed and operated within Property, Business and Regulatory Services be approved along with the formal release of the budget provision identified for this purpose

iii) That a detailed report be submitted to the July 2004 meeting of the Cabinet on the objectives, structure, core duties and processes of the Accredited Community Safety Officers

iv) That a progress report be produced following the roll-out of the Accredited Community Safety Officers.

2. Reason

2.1 The County Council and local residents attach great importance to community safety and reducing antisocial behaviour. Dealing with crime is one of the Cabinet's four priorities. Accredited Community Support Officers will provide a presence in local communities with a wide range of powers to deal with antisocial behaviour.

This supports aim 4 of the Corporate Strategy, building strong and safe communities.

3. Other options considered and rejected:
Not applicable.

4. Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or a member or officer consulted - Not applicable.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standard's Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor T K Thornber CBE

Contact : Jill Lovelock, Ext: 7591 e-mail address [email protected]

Rod Goldup, Ext 6220 e-mail address [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1. The Cabinet has agreed to introduce Accredited Community Support Officers (ACSOs) and has allocated £1m in the budget from 2004/05 to implement a scheme.

1.2. This decision recognises the importance attached by the Council and the community to community safety and reducing anti social behaviour, supports aim 4 of the Corporate Strategy, building strong and safe communities.

2. The Scheme

2.1. Hampshire Constabulary operate an accreditation scheme which confers on ACSOs powers normally available to constables. The County Council, as employer, has to be accredited to operate the scheme and individual ACSOs also have to be accredited. The purpose of the scheme is to "contribute to community safety and security and combat crime and disorder, public nuisance and other forms of anti social behaviour."

2.2. The scheme is formally called `Accredited Community Support Officers' but local areas use alternative names, such as Southampton City Patrol. It would be helpful to have discussions across the County on nomenclature to see if there is any value in standardisation.

2.3. The role of ACSOs within such a scheme would include:-

_ interventions - enforcement notices - issue of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) dealing with low level anti social behaviour

_ monitoring compliance with enforcement interventions

_ uniformed presence to make communities feel safer and deter anti social behaviour

_ evidence gathering for enforcement and offences

_ information source and sign posting for Council services

_ liaison with police and ACSOs and wardens in localities.


Information supplied by the police with estimated costs of salaries, training and uniforms, but without accommodation, management and support indicate a cost of £61k per officer for 3 years.

2.4. The powers available to ACSOs are:-

_ issue of FPNs for dog fouling

_ issue of FPNs for littering

_ power to stop cyclist riding a bicycle on a footpath and issue of FPN

_ power to request name and address for Fixed Penalty Offences and Offences that cause injury, alarm and distress to another person or damage or loss of another's property

_ power to request name and address of a person acting in an anti social manner

_ power to confiscate alcohol from young people or being consumed in certain public place

_ power to confiscate cigarettes and tobacco from young people

_ power to require the removal of abandoned vehicles

_ power to stop a vehicle for emissions testing

_ power to control traffic for purposes of escorting exceptional load

_ issue of FPNs for throwing fireworks in a thoroughfare

_ issue of FPNs for trespassing on a railway

_ issue of FPNs for throwing stones at trains and other things on railways

_ issue of FPNs for consumption of alcohol in designated public place

_ issue of FPNs for behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress

_ issue of FPNs for buying or attempting to buy alcohol for consumption in a bar licensed premises by a person under 18.

_ issue of FPN in respect of failure to secure regular attendance at school of a registered pupil

_ issue of FPN for knowingly giving false alarm to the Fire Service

_ issue of FPN for wasting police time or giving a false report

_ issue of FPN for using a public communications system for sending messages known to be false to cause annoyance

2.4.1 The above is a list of powers that could be included in an accredited scheme. The County Council will wish in development of its scheme, to concentrate on particular issues and specific powers. While the above list represents a comprehensive statement of potential powers, the County Council will, through its training and deployment staff, be able to focus on specific areas, bearing in mind that a number of existing District Council staff and other officers will also have some of these powers.

3. Application of scheme in Hampshire

3.1. The police recommend that ACSOs are deployed in sufficient numbers to be noticed and for reasonable periods of time in any specific locality to maximise effectiveness. This implies groups of say five ACSOs in teams, targeted at hot spots where intelligence indicates anti social behaviour, vandalism, low level crime and fear of crime is highest and employed at times of the day and week when incidents are most likely to occur. The officers will be the public face of the County Council within the community.

3.2. Currently, although the police log calls on reported antisocial incidents there is no County wide picture on hot spots. It is hoped this will be available later this year. In the meantime, advice will need to be sought from local District Commanders.

3.3. The recent MORI residents survey asked about key achievements for the County Council and its partners, and second highest was creating a safer community. This was mentioned most by respondents in New Forest, Havant, Basingstoke and Eastleigh.

3.4. County Council records of vandalism on council property indicate hot spots at Havant, Basingstoke and Gosport.

3.5. There will be supporting information held by Districts and local community safety partnerships on hot spots, which need to be built into the assessment of where teams are to be targeted.

3.6. Several Districts are also considering the establishment of ACSOs, some building on existing teams of officers, and it would be helpful to have early discussion with them so it is clear how the available powers are used in any particular area to avoid duplication or confusion by the public.

3.7. The new powers available to the County Council under the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003 in respect of interventions and enforcement are currently being explored. These are areas, for example dealing with truancy, where current policies and practice in prevention and action need to be reviewed alongside enforcement powers potentially available to ACSOs to ensure there is a consistent and agreed approach across the spectrum from prevention to enforcement and with roles and responsibilities clearly defined. Work is underway to develop a clear and consistent approach for the County Council in exercising the new powers, so there can be agreement with other agencies on a co-ordinated and consistent use of the powers, to make best use of expertise and avoid duplication. Local community safety partnerships already have considerable experience of dealing with antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) and this will be helpful in developing the County Councils approach to these powers. Consultations will be taking place within the County Council and with local partnerships, to identify local actions that can be taken to improve performance in tackling antisocial behaviour

4. Management and Operation of ACSOs

The Regulatory Services within PB&R already has a range of functions that are similar to or, overlap with, the roles of ACSOs (e.g. under age alcohol sales). To enable the maximum impact from the resources available it is proposed to manage this new function through the management arrangements for PB&R. This will also allow the function to be established and make use of that department's extensive transport and office functions.

4.1 Scope of the function

The role and powers of the ACSOs are set out above in 2.3 and 2.4. Full accreditation of these officers will allow the full range of enforcement activity to be undertaken. Regulatory Services already work to an Enforcement Concordat (established by the Government and endorsed by the County Council) that recognises an escalation of enforcement powers in any given situation until the matter of concern is resolved. The ACSOs will be expected to use all methods of intervention to resolve local issues with formal legal action being used as an ultimate sanction.

4.2 Operations

The ACSOs will operate throughout Hampshire. Whilst they will be allocated to a particular geographic team, they will be expected to cover any part of the County as priorities demand, and as the service develops.


Mobility of ACSOs will therefore be crucial to operational effectiveness and with the `high visibility' aspect of the role, suitably `badged' transport will be provided for operational use.


The hours of operation will need to be flexible to deal with the full range of (anti-social) behaviours. Contracts will not specify a normal working day but simply indicate an average working week of 37 hours. ACSOs will be expected to work afternoons, evenings and weekends as a matter of course with an inclusive salary to avoid overtime payments and allowances.


ACSOs will work `from home' to maximise operational time, with existing office accommodation in the county being used as drop-in facilities and for team meetings.

4.3 Command and Control Arrangements

Initially it is envisaged that the Community Support Officers will use our existing base of offices and depots, hence avoiding any increased costs and budget provision for office accommodation. Discussions are taking place with existing organisations to look at the most effective way to deploy staff in this area and the importance of having flexible shift patterns and easy movement of staff across the county.

The existing office infrastructure already has both IT and Telecommunications arrangements that would be adequate for the initial deployment of staff. Supplementary communication equipment will be necessary (for example two-way radio contact) and mobile communications equipment.

PB&R also has two existing contact centres, one in Regulatory Services and one used extensively for Property. These will be capable of adaptation for use with ACSOs. During the coming weeks, as the recruitment process begins and during the training period, final arrangements will be made for the command and control arrangements for the deployment of the staff. This approach reflects the importance of ensuring that the vast majority of the budget provision is used for the recruitment of staff and that managerial costs are kept to a minimum.

4.4 Structure and Management

It is proposed (initially) that four teams be established based on North, Mid, South East and South West Hampshire. This will allow for local identity and intelligence whilst also providing a critical mass of staff for an operational team. Each team will comprise 5 to 10 ACSOs together with an operational Team Leader.

A new managerial post of Community Safety Manager will be established, reporting to the Community and Business Support Manager. The Community Safety Manager is likely to be appointed/seconded from within Regulatory Services facilitating a quick take up of post with experience of regulatory enforcement and County Council procedures.

4.5 Staff Development and Training

The ACSOs will need to progress through the Police accreditation training scheme. Details will need to be agreed with Hampshire Constabulary and some of the first year funding will be used to support this. Health and Safety awareness will be a key aspect of the planned training.


In due course, ACSOs will be integrated into the PB&R personal development schemes. In particular, Regulatory Services have considerable experience and procedures in place ( to BS 9001) in investigation skills and evidence gathering. There is also significant legal processing experience although some further capacity may be needed, dependant on the number of FPN issued. ACSOs `Authorisations' will be integrated into the existing Regulatory Services system.


All ACSOs will need to be checked through the Criminal Records Bureau. Regulatory Services have a procedure in place for this as most Trading Standards Officers are regularly CRB checked for their various roles with children. ( Junior Citizen, Lifesmart and under-age sales).

The County Council has to be accredited as a suitable employer, and the Chief Constable states in the scheme that he considers the County Council to be a fit employer to supervise the carrying out of functions of ACSOs.

4.6 Other Agencies and the intelligence led approach

It will be vital to work with a wide range of other agencies both for co-ordination of activity and for intelligence gathering. These will be:

_ Hampshire Constabulary

_ Hampshire County Council

_ Youth Service

_ Education Service

_ Social Services

_ Property Services

_ District Councils

_ Community Safety Partnerships

_ Parish Councils

_ Age Concern

_ Neighbourhood Watch

Social Services and Regulatory Services, through the Protecting Older People Project, have already established many of these contacts and in some cases, have remedial provisions for anti-social behaviour in place through the Probation Service who provide free labour from those on Community Service Orders to remove graffiti and clear overgrown footpaths.

4.7 Publicity and public contact

Opportunities for publicising the activities of the ACSO team will be maximised. PB&R has a well established procedure for planning and publicising activities and this will be used to maximum effect.

Public contact will be encouraged through all County Council contact mechanisms and in particular, the Regulatory Services website, the Advice Lo-call telephone number and the recently introduced Text messaging system.

4.8 Outcomes and Performance indicators

Over time a suite of performance indicators will be established based on:


_ Priority problem areas

_ Geographical locations

_ Individual incidents dealt with.


Regular progress reports will be brought to Members as the service is rolled out.

4.9 Recruitment, Training and Implementation

The project will begin following Cabinet approval with the initial recruitment phase. Once this is started further work can be done to establish Management and Training arrangements as staff take up their posts. During this phase it will be possible to liaise with and communicate to other organisations more detail of our proposals. The final stage of roll out and implementation will be the launch and roll out of the services.

A separate report from the County Treasurer elsewhere on the agenda identifies £1m from the County Council's budget for 2004/5 for ACSOs. The Cabinet is asked to approve this report as formal release of the budget provision for this purpose.

Recommendations

That:

1. The arrangements to manage and operate ACSOs within Property, Business and Regulatory Services be agreed and implemented, and the formal release of the budget provision for this purpose be approved.

2. A progress report be produced following the roll-out of the ACSOs.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

File Location

None