 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
| A Safer Scotland: Tackling Crime and its Causes |
| Section 1: Protecting the public |
| The public is entitled to expect protection from crime and the Government are committed to building a society in which individuals, families and their communities can live and work without fear of crime. The Government are committed to tackling the unacceptable level of anti-social behaviour and crime on Scotland's streets and to addressing problems of disruptive neighbours. This section considers some of the initiatives the Government are pursuing now to improve community safety and prevent crime in a practical way; it also looks at two areas which give particular cause for concern to the public - drugs misuse and sex offending. |
| Safer Communities Through Partnerships - a strategy for action |
| 1. In June 1998 the Government announced the publication of a strategy for action on community safety. This followed two consultative conferences, one involving local authorities and voluntary bodies and the other with the business community, which showed that the time was right for much closer collaboration locally. The strategy's content was agreed by The Scottish Office, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS). |
| 2. The strategy encourages local authorities to take the lead in forming local partnerships, involving the police and other bodies who can influence community safety. That might include public bodies, such as the health board or Scottish Homes; business interests, such as local enterprise companies or chambers of commerce; and voluntary bodies, such as community councils, youth clubs or neighbourhood watch associations. The partnership might cover an entire council area, or a town or village, or part of a city - any part of Scotland that is able to take effective action to improve community safety. The strategy must be decided locally, in the light of local needs and opportunities, and as part of other local policies. |
| Safer Communities Through Partnerships - |
| A Strategy For Action is a blueprint for collaborative action and is designed to improve community safety in Scotland through partnerships between public, private and voluntary bodies. |
| 3. To support the development of community safety partnerships, The Scottish Office will publish in April 1999 detailed Guidance Notes for local authorities and police forces. As well as providing practical advice on how the partnerships can be established and operated it will also offer case studies and examples of current practice. The Scottish Office and COSLA are monitoring the setting-up of partnerships, to check that they are widely used and make good progress. |
| 4. As a means of providing tangible support to partnerships The Scottish Office will administer a Community Safety Challenge Competition which will help to fund new ideas in community safety. |
| Communities that Care |
| 5. Good results can be achieved by co-ordinating and concentrating resources on small areas with specific problems. Communities that Care (UK) is a charity, established in 1997 on the initiative of, and with funding from, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The organisation's purpose is to develop in the UK a number of long-term programmes to tackle social exclusion and promote community safety using 'risk and protection focused prevention'. |
| 6. As part of the implementation of Safer Communities Through Partnerships, The Scottish Office has agreed to fund the establishment of 3 projects in Scotland for 3 years. Local authorities have been invited to tender for the projects and will be required to provide matching funding. The Government will announce decisions on the 3 locations shortly and will assess the projects once they are in operation. |
| Practical Policing |
| 7. The police have a vital part to play in protecting the public. In recent years, they have taken great care to focus on the communities they serve, so that they can respond to local concerns. Strathclyde Police's 'Spotlight Initiative' is a good example of that approach. The number of police officers in Scotland has substantially increased _ by 11% (1400 officers) in the past 10 years _ and they have been relieved of routine duties by civilian support staff _ whose numbers have increased by 49% (1500 staff). The Government's Comprehensive Spending Review, announced in July, should allow the police to keep their staff numbers at broadly their existing level, while improving efficiency to ensure that the maximum number of officers are engaged in operational duties. |
| The Government have increased funding available for police forces in 1998-99 to £691 million, 2.4% more than last year. Funding for the next three years will rise by 3.4%, 3.8% and 2.8%. These funding levels are set on the assumption that forces will make efficiency savings rising from 1% in 1999-2000 to 2.5% in 2001-02. |
| 8. The Scottish Crime Survey confirms public satisfaction with police performance _ 72% of people said the police did a 'very good' or 'fairly good' job. Scotland is comfortable with the way it is policed, and the Government see no need for a major re-think of policing philosophy _ though continued improvement is both possible and necessary. |
| Tackling anti-social behaviour and crime |
| Anti-Social Behaviour Orders |
| 9. The Government published a consultation paper in September 1997 and made provision in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 for a new civil order - an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) - to help address the problem. Local authorities will be able to apply to the Sheriff for an Order prohibiting an individual over 16 from further anti-social behaviour. It will be for the courts to decide what each Order should prohibit, depending on the circumstances in each case. Breach of an Order will be a criminal offence, punishable by a maximum of 5 years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. Local authorities will be able to apply for Orders from 1 April 1999, and full guidance on their use will be issued in advance. |
| Anti-social behaviour as ground for eviction |
| 10. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 also extended the discretionary grounds available to public sector and other landlords to repossess a house in cases of criminal conduct committed, or anti-social behaviour committed or likely to be committed, in the locality of tenanted property by the tenant, or someone residing or lodging with him, or by visitors to the property. This enables tougher action to be taken against drug-dealers and other criminals. |
| 11. In eviction cases, local authorities are now required to prove only that anti-social behaviour is 'likely to' occur. This makes it easier for those not directly affected, such as local authority officials, to give evidence of the likely effect of such behaviour and is intended to deal with the difficulties often encountered in persuading the victims of anti-social behaviour by their neighbours to give evidence. The new grounds took effect from 1 December 1998. |
| Helping Neighbourhoods |
12. The
Government's zero tolerance approach to crime and
disorder also involves a commitment to tackling low level
anti-social behaviour, which can be very debilitating to
community life. We have, therefore:
|
| 13. The effects of such measures go beyond their immediate aim of reducing disorderly behaviour: there are marked links between high crime areas and those which suffer from extensive low level disorder. |
| Preventing Racial Crime |
| 14. The Government believe that a comprehensive approach is required to tackle racism and are committed to tackling racial discrimination as a high priority. The Scottish Office ethnic minority grants scheme provides funding for projects which tackle racial discrimination and promote racial equality. On a wider front, the Government are considering the Commission for Racial Equality's proposals for amending the Race Relations Act 1976 and have set up the Race Relations Forum to give ethnic minorities a voice at the heart of Government. |
| 15. Scotland's Chief Constables have already developed, and are vigorously pursuing, progressive race relation policies within their forces and are reaching out to the communities they serve. These policies were developed in collaboration with leaders of minority ethnic communities. Police officers are required to give full weight to, and robustly investigate, racial incidents. All Scottish forces currently work to a nationally agreed definition in the handling and recording of incidents of a racial nature that is: |
| 'any incident in which it appears to the reporting officer or the investigating officer that the complaint had an element of racial motivation; or any incident which includes an allegation of racial motivation made by any person'. |
| This approach differs considerably from normal police procedure. The classification of an incident, based simply on perception, is unique within police work. |
| 16. Such incidents in Scotland have been separately recorded by the police since 1989 and figures have risen from 376 in that year to 1093 in 1997. This rise may reflect, at least in part, evidence of increased confidence among those belonging to minority ethnic communities to report such incidents to the police. Much of this increased confidence has arisen from the growth of innovative multi-agency approaches to racism _ partnerships which are underpinned by increasingly good relationships between the police and Scotland's minority ethnic communities. |
| Ban on Handguns |
| 17. The Government pledged to deliver a complete ban on handguns and have delivered that promise. Under the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997, all handguns over .22 calibre were banned from private ownership with effect from 1 October 1997. Building on this, the Government introduced further legislation extending the prohibition to all handguns by banning small calibre handguns from 1 March 1998. This completes the Government's drive to take all handguns previously held under licence out of circulation and thus reduces the risk of their falling into the wrong hands. Now that the ban on handguns is in place, the Government will be looking at the control of firearms - and air weapons - generally, to see if further measures are necessary in the interests of public safety. |
| Following the introduction of firearms legislation in 1997, over 6,000 large calibre handguns were surrendered and more than 1,700 small calibre guns were handed in voluntarily. Further legislation resulted in over 1,000 more small calibre weapons being surrendered. |
| Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Schemes |
| 18. The Government are committed to the CCTV Challenge Competition which is designed to encourage more CCTV schemes throughout Scotland. In the 1997-98 competition 30 projects received grants amounting to almost £1.9 million. 23 projects were awarded £1.5 million in the 1998-99 competition and the winners of the 1999-2000 competition, in which a further £1.5 million will be made available, are being announced shortly. CCTV appears to have been effective in cutting crime, and in not simply displacing it; but further research will be conducted into its effects. |
| Checks on criminal records |
| 19. Checks on criminal records, as part of thorough recruitment procedures, help protect society against people who may seek to abuse positions of trust. At present, access to criminal record information held by the Scottish Criminal Record Office is restricted mainly to the statutory agencies in health, education and social work. Part V of the Police Act 1997, however, provides for extended access to criminal records and planning for implementation is now underway. |
| 20. In addition to this, as a further means of preventing unsuitable persons obtaining access to children, the Government intend to establish a statutory Consultancy Index in Scotland. The Index would hold non-conviction information about people unsuitable to work with children and young people and could be used as part of the process of checking whether individuals applying to work with children were suitable persons. The Consultancy Index will form part of our response to Lord Cullen's recommendation, following the Dunblane inquiry, on the need for a system to check the suitability of those who may have access to children in groups or clubs attended by children on a voluntary basis. |
| 21. The Government are also considering further safeguards to prevent unsuitable persons from working with children in paid or unpaid positions in the public, private and voluntary sectors. |
| Sex Offenders |
| 22. The Government are committed to taking every step possible to ensure that the public is protected against sex offenders and have taken action in a number of ways: |
The Sex Offenders Act 1997 requires sex offenders to register their name and address with the police. Failure to comply with the requirements of the Act is an offence punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine. |
Under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the police are empowered to apply to the Sheriff for Sex Offender Orders to control sex offenders living in the community whose behaviour, while not in itself criminal, is giving cause for concern. The Orders can apply to anyone who has previously been convicted of a sex offence, and can impose whatever prohibitions are considered necessary to protect the public. Breach of an Order will be an offence, punishable with a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment and/or a fine. |
An expert panel, chaired by a High Court Judge, the Hon. Lady Cosgrove, has been established in response to the Chief Inspector of Social Work's report on the supervision of sex offenders in the community, A Commitment to Protect. That report (published in December 1997) was another significant step forward in the Government's drive to provide strong and effective measures for the supervision of sex offenders in the community. The expert panel, which draws its membership from a wide range of expertise in the complex area of sex offending, is taking forward work on the recommendations of the report. It will also advise on any other relevant issues relating to sex offenders and will provide an annual summary of its past and future work, concluding its work in 2001. |
DNA provides the police with a powerful new way of detecting offenders. The police in Scotland have been given extended powers to take DNA samples from sexual and violent offenders who were convicted before April 1996. This enabled thousands of additional samples to be added to the national database which can link an offender's DNA profile with samples taken at the scene of a crime. The provisions were brought into force on 1 November 1997, under the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997. |
In the context of the proposal to equalise the age of consent, which was agreed on a free vote by the House of Commons, The Scottish Office consulted interested bodies in October 1998 on whether there is a need for additional measures to protect young people from those who abuse positions of trust. In the light of the views expressed the Government decided to introduce a limited criminal offence of abuse of trust, and the necessary provisions have been included in the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, which is currently before Parliament. |
| 23. The new extended sentences which are described on page 28 of this paper represent a further important measure for targeting sex offenders. |
| Action against drugs and alcohol |
| Drugs and crime |
| 24. The increasing level of drug-related crime is a major problem which the Government are committed to tackling energetically. Drugs wreck lives. There are many links between drugs and crime and the basic factors that increase the risk of crime are often the same as those which lead to drug misuse. Both problems need to be tackled at their roots by the kind of measures described in Section 2. |
| 25. Drug misusers are frequently also multiple offenders. Besides the obvious offences arising from possession of, and dealing in, illegal substances, they often commit petty thefts and burglaries to fund drug purchase. Drug-taking may also lead to other crimes and anti-social acts, including dangerous driving. Recent research in Glasgow suggests that at one time the City's 8,500 heroin injectors were committing an estimated 2.6 million offences a year, mostly involving shoplifting, theft and drug dealing. The Scottish Office will fund a £50,000 research project in Fife and Strathclyde to provide information about the extent of drug use among people arrested for a range of crimes in these 2 areas. |
| We take very seriously the effect of drug-related crime on our communities. In some parts of Scotland the results of drug misuse have had a devastating impact on the quality of life for individuals and the normal operation of community life. Tackling drug misuse has been a key priority for this Government since coming into office. |
| 26. In recent years the number of prosecutions for offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act has increased dramatically. The number of persons proceeded against for drugs offences rose from 2,842 in 1987 to 8,220 in 1997 _ an increase of 189% over the decade. The use of custodial sentences also increased over the same period. In 1997 15% of drugs offenders who had a charge proved against them received a custodial sentence, compared with 13% in 1987. In 1996, for the first time, drugs offenders became the largest group of persons sentenced to prison for terms longer than 2 years, exceeding the number sentenced to such terms for serious assault or for robbery. This continued in 1997 when a total of 254 drugs offenders were sentenced to terms of over 2 years, representing 27% of all those sentenced to such long determinate sentences. In addition 226 people were sent to prison in 1997 for simple possession offences (mostly for short terms). |
| Drugs offences recorded by the police, 1988 - 1997 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Drug misuse is a world wide menace and the trends in drug related crime and other problems associated with drug misuse are matched across the globe. The Government's strategy is therefore based on a UK and international approach which reaches down into the day to day problems faced in communities hard pressed by drug misuse. |
| UK Drugs White Paper |
27. Scotland
is a full partner in the UK strategy set out in the White
Paper: Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain. The
White Paper sets out a 10 year strategy for tackling drug
misuse. It has four key aims:
|
| The UK strategy aims at a progressive shift away from reactive expenditure, dealing with the consequences of drug misuse, to positive investment in helping prevent them ever arising. This attack on the causes of drug problems will support our attack on the causes of crime. |
| Scotland's drugs strategy |
| 28. Scotland's own drugs strategy, against the backcloth of the UK White Paper, attaches importance to the role of services in both treating drug misusers and bringing relief to the other victims of drugs misuse - residents facing the daily fear of violence and intimidation from drug dealers, young people at risk of being drawn into a cycle of crime, and anxious parents worried about the health and other risks posed to their children by illegal drugs. |
| 29. The Drugs Task Force report of 1994 provides an important part of the current framework for tackling Scotland's drugs problems, and is an important reference point for advice on day-to-day issues. Its recommendations have been substantially implemented. These include the Drug Action Teams set up throughout Scotland to act as the focal point for local action on drug misuse. |
30. Scottish
Ministers have taken a series of drugs specific measures
since coming into office including:
|
| The all- party Scotland Against Drugs Campaign has been refocused, with an emphasis on harnessing business and media backing for a concerted anti-drugs effort in local communities. |
| Drugs action package |
The Government announced in October
1998 one of the biggest ever single drugs packages in
Scotland with the launch of £5 million of measures for
the period up to April 2000:
|
| Drugs Education |
| 31. Within each school there should be a designated member of the senior staff with responsibility for health education. This person will take the lead within the school to ensure that all pupils undertake an effective programme of drug education and that teachers are aware of what is expected of them. A School Drug Safety Team has been set up to review guidelines, to assist teachers to cope with drug related incidents and ensure that everything possible is being done to guarantee the safety of pupils. The Team will ensure that local authorities, teachers, pupils and parents are aware of how best to deal with drug incidents in schools. |
| The Government place a strong emphasis on the need for effective drug education in Scottish schools. It is our policy to encourage education authorities in Scotland to address health education, including drug education, within a comprehensive programme of personal and social education. This approach is designed to ensure that information about drugs is given, not in isolation, but as part of a programme that considers a number of issues relating to sound moral choices and healthy living. |
| Treatment services |
| 32. The Government's strategic aims are intended to recognise the strong association between drug misuse and crime, and their impact on communities, but also reflect the importance of good treatment services. A follow up to the Glasgow research mentioned above revealed that 2,900 heroin injectors treated with methadone committed roughly half the number of crimes, that is 380,000 fewer crimes a year, than if they had not been treated. The researchers also found substantial benefits to health from the treatment, including a 70% reduction in overdoses and large reductions in other serious health problems. |
| 33. There are also cost savings to be won from good treatment services. Independent evidence suggests that for every £1 spent on drug misuse treatment there is a return of more than £3 in cost savings associated with lower victim costs, and reduced demand on the criminal justice system. The total savings to society are even greater. Taking this into account, the Government introduced a new community disposal for the courts which is intended to break the vicious circle of drug misuse and offending - the Drug Treatment and Testing Order (which is described on page 33). |
| Treating drug misusers for their addiction is clearly the right thing to do on health and humanitarian grounds, but it is also the way to make a real impact on community safety |
| Enforcement |
| 34. As well as helping drug misusers who want to kick their habit, Government must ensure that those who trade in drugs are pursued vigorously and brought to justice. Action against illegal drug dealing is high on the police's list of priorities, and initiatives are being taken forward at both national and local level. At national level, proposals are presently being worked up in consultation with the police, local authorities, Inland Revenue and other agencies for a concerted enforcement effort against drug dealers. At local level a number of Police Forces have new initiatives ready to commence or in preparation. For example, Strathclyde Police have launched a 'Spotlight' initiative on drugs and housebreaking. |
| Drugs in prisons |
| 35. The increasing numbers of drug offenders given long prison sentences has led to increasing problems of drug control in prisons. Mandatory Drug Testing (MDT) became fully operational in all Scottish Prison Service (SPS) establishments in March 1997. Designed to send the message to prisoners that drug taking in prison is unacceptable and has an increased chance of detection, the policy is a dual track approach which also offers all who test positive the opportunity to take advantage of support arrangements to help them deal with their drug misuse problem. A random sample of 10% of the prison population is selected for a urine test each month. The first full year of testing saw the rate for prisoners testing positive fall from 31% of those tested in April 1997 to 26% in March 1998, with an average for the year of 29%. |
| A 1998 Prison Survey sought the views of all prisoners and prison staff in Scotland across a wide range of issues, from food, through cleanliness, to relationships. This showed that prisoners' reported drug use had fallen by a little over 2% compared with the position in 1993, from 45% of prisoners reporting that they had used drugs in the last 6 months in prison to 44% reporting this. This should be seen against an almost three-fold rise in the community in the level of drug use over the same period. |
| 36. For those prisoners ready to commit themselves to maintaining a drug-free lifestyle, drug-free areas have now been introduced to 17 of Scotland's 19 prisons and young offenders institutions, fulfilling the Government's Manifesto commitment to provide voluntary testing units for prisoners ready to prove they are drug-free. Two more will offer drug-free places by Spring. By April 2001, 36% of prisoner places will be offered within the drug-free programme, double the current level. Prisoners in these areas agree to be subject to random urine tests, and those shown to have misused drugs are returned to the prison mainstream. |
| 37. The SPS has formed a Drug Strategy Co-ordination Group to co-ordinate the 3 elements of the SPS drugs strategy (deterrence, interdiction and support), and to drive forward this work with renewed vigour. To reinforce the commitment to tackle the problems caused by drugs in prison, the SPS is appointing a Drug Strategy Co-ordinator who will play a key role in this work, and will mount an initiative to further involve offenders' families as part of a range of measures to turn prisoners away from misusing drugs. |
| Next steps |
| 38. Against the background of the UK White Paper, the Secretary of State will shortly issue an enhanced drugs strategy framework. This will take account of advice from the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse, and draw together the themes of the Drugs Task Force report and the outcome of consideration of the UK White Paper. It will build on the most effective measures to cut down drug misuse and will look at how we can make more progress in binding together our national and local efforts to achieve the overall aims of the UK drugs strategy. |
| 39. There are no simple answers to drug misuse. But we can still make our communities, families and young people safer from its ravages. That means helping misusers to move on to better things, stopping others getting hooked, supporting communities in resisting drug misuse and cracking down firmly on the dealers. This will mean safer streets and new opportunities for communities. It is in these communities that many of the answers to the problems can, and must, be found. The Government are determined that communities will have the tools for the job and the support of the Government in partnership. |
| Alcohol |
| 40. Alcohol abuse gives rise to similar problems to those that are associated with drug misuse, including crime. In particular it leads to anti-social behaviour and criminal acts of violence, including domestic violence. Measures have been taken to combat under-age drinking by giving the police confiscation powers and encouraging Councils to put bye-laws in place where these are necessary to prevent nuisance. More work remains to be done to explore the links between anti-social behaviour, crime and alcohol, with a view to reducing alcohol related crime. These issues need to be considered in a wider context and a new Alcohol Strategy for Scotland is being developed. |
|
|
|
