Item 14 - Safe DIG Report
West Dunbartonshire Council · 21 November 2024
Back to Community Planning West Dunbartonshire Management Board — 21 November 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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OFFICIAL OFFICIAL Management Board Meeting Development and Improvement Groups (DIGs): Highlights and Issues Report FOR INFORMATION ONLY x FOR DECISION Name of DIG Safe DIG Date of report 28/10/2024 Name and email of lead contact Supt Jon Harris Jonathan.harris@scotland.police.uk 1 Highlights of activity and progress since last meeting On 17/10/2024 the SafeDIG met under the chair of Supt Jon Harris. The action plan was reviewed, updated and amended as appropriate. Actions continue to be progressed and updated through the group. All actions are now on Pentana and will be updated as required. Operation Ballaton, the policing of the general Balloch area and south end of Loch Lomond during the summer months, has now concluded after being a very successful and worthwhile partnership operation. The increased and directed patrols were very well received by the vast majority of visitors and the approach allowed locals and tourists to enjoy a generally ASB free summer in the area. It has ensured all partner resources were deployed in the most efficient and productive manner. The VAWG secondary schools’ competition is concluding with the winners being selected in the coming week. The theme of this competition was ‘what would West Dunbartonshire look like without violence against women or girls.’ The intention was to encourage young adults to think about what was happening and to raise awareness of what is, and what is not, acceptable behavior while asking questions of what may have become normalized behaviors. Police Scotland and partners are contributing to the planning of the 16 Days awareness of VAWG which takes place through November. Work is well under way for fireworks events and Police Scotland and SFRS have been in the schools delivering inputs to maximize the safety of any youths involved with fireworks. A multi-agency Road Smart educational event at Church Street on 25/08/2024 with WDC, SFRS Police Scotland and The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). The event was very well attended with record pre-bookings. Drivers sat through a general road-craft and road safety brief presented by IAM staff. Younger and less experienced drivers were given the opportunity to be the virtual passenger in a vehicle via a VR ITEM 14
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OFFICIAL OFFICIAL Headset when the vehicle is involved in a road crash due to driver distraction, other people in the vehicle, some without seatbelts etc. The participant is sat in the vehicle while emergency services deal with casualties and extractions from the vehicle. All participating drivers on the day are allocated an IAM advanced assessor who sits as a passenger over a pre-arranged route in the driver’s own vehicle. Upon completion of the drive the driver is offered advice and guidance of their driving style and habits. There is no charge for any of the inputs or assessment drives and drivers have the opportunity to sign up for advanced driving courses. All designed to improve driving standards and lower the number of accidents on our roads. Excellent feedback from those involved on the day. Police Scotland and WD Education have facilitated Lived Experience inputs within The Vale of Leven Academy, James Docherty, from the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit has been speaking to youths about life choices, the pressure on youths to get involved in criminality on occasion and how to have a personal exit strategy from situations to keep safe. He touches on gang culture and where being involved in such activity led him to be involved with the criminal justice system for several years. This will be rolled out to other secondary schools. Officers in Police Scotland’s Preventions Team continue to warn of the dangers of fraud in its many guises. They are utilizing social media, the newspapers and also presenting inputs in person to groups including West Dun Carers and Women’s Aid. 2 Outline of any issues/risks and how these are being managed Criminal Justice Social Work have highlighted that more early release of some short- term prisoners are scheduled over the coming months. Partners will be notified when this date is known. In terms of management of these early releases the partners will work together to mitigate risk posed to the public. We are working while being fully aware of the challenging financial situation all partners are facing. This coupled with the ever-increasing demand on sometimes limited resources has galvanized partners somewhat ensuring what we plan to do is worthwhile, achievable and cost-effective. All Safe DIG actions are kept realistic and are adjusted as appropriate to ensure progression. The last Safe DIG meeting fell within the school holiday period and as such reduced the volume of attendees and updates at the latest SafeDIG, limiting the detail in response. 3 Outline of the main outputs expected before next meeting Multi- Agency operation, Operation Moonbeam, will run over the build up to Bonfire Night and for a period thereafter. VAWG – 16 days of action. Numerous events planned, inputs, social media advice,
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OFFICIAL OFFICIAL lighting up of council buildings, pledge cards etc. Increased focus on ASB, partnership work increasing to further reduce ASB incidents which are declining. Joint visits to problematic addresses, ASB coordinating officer to attend the WD ASB Team to offer advice and impact on situations at the earliest opportunity. Re-Launch of the Arrest Referral Scheme at Clydebank Police Station, work sits as part of the Community Justice Partnership. Looking to establish and progress a referral service open to every person in police custody. Initially referrals will concentrate on individuals with alcohol or drug dependency issues. Referrals will go to Alternatives and / or DACA to provide support and counselling with the hope being we can divert people to these support groups and in doing so reduce re-offending and dependency on both alcohol and drugs. Suicide Prevention Working Group continue to work to reduce suicide numbers, a new information sharing document has been agreed and employed to best provide the data to relevant partners. The work of the Drug death review group continues, this group reviews the history of those individuals who have died due to a drugs overdose. The aim of the group is to learn where we can intervene to prevent further deaths, involves Police, NHS, HSCP & ADP. SFRS continue to work with young people and the hope is the Fire Skills course will be re-introduced into the West Dumbarton area soon.
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OFFICIAL OFFICIAL 4 What are your requirements of partners in the Community Planning Management Board? Continued engagement re ASB, West Dunbartonshire have applied for, and been granted, 4 ASBOs in 2024. Support through Education to further roll out the Lived Experience work from the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit to secondary pupils. 5 Please outline any good news story you wish to share See activity section.