Saturday 7th October 2017 9.45am to 3.30pm at The Studio, Cannon Street, Birmingham
We were again back at The Studio on Cannon Street for our 2017 conference which was well attended with 56 delegates from our BOSF Member groups, our partners and experts from Community Safety.
It was a day packed with networking and information. We have looked at all the feedback which can be viewed here and will again be seeing what improvements we can make for next year. The Programme for the day was:
9.45am Registration and Refreshments
10.30am Introduction and Welcome by the Conference Chair
10.35am What is a “safer” open space? Results of the survey
11.00am Partners – working together to make safer open spaces
Q&A panel and presentations
- Dog Wardens
- West Midlands Fire Service
- West Midlands Police
- West Midlands Wildlife Crime Officer
- Northfield Environmental Forum
“Just a Minutes” – your chance tell the conference about how your group has made your open space safer.
12.30pm Networking Lunch
1.30pm Parks and Open Spaces for All….how do we share space?
One person’s antisocial behaviour is another person’s passion – how do we share the space? A practical workshop
2.45pm What next – making new connections and partnerships
3.00pm Networking tea – meet the Community Safety organisations – discuss the issues you are dealing with. Talk to other groups about solutions that have been found
Registration Activity
During registration we asked everyone the question about which of the issues in parks that were highlighted on the survey do they see as:
- A Crime
- Antisocial Behaviour
- Just Annoying
The results were collated in to a report that has been sent out. Click here to view the Table of Results and as a Graph.
Presentations
The presentations and Just a Minute’s in the morning were all about Community Safety in our Parks and Open Spaces.
Emma Woolf BOSF started off the day with the results from our BOSF Community Safety Survey, completed by the Friends and Community Groups for Birmingham’s parks and open spaces. Click here to view the presentation. The full report of the results is also available by clicking here.
John J O’Neill Dog Warden/Enforcement Officer spoke about the Birmingham Dog Wardens. The contact Information for reporting any dog related incidents are as follows:
- Contact centre Telephone number 0121 303 6007
- Or via the internet at www.birmingham.gov.uk/straydogs
- Out of hours telephone number 07500 553 000
When making a report the following information will assist us in dealing with the incident:
Location- Time
- Date
- Description of dog/owner
- What the incident is
A contact name and telephone number for the person reporting the incident as this will allow the dog warden to confirm the information. If the incident involves a dog on dog attack we also advise the person reporting the incident to us to log it with their local policing team on 101. Fixed penalty has now risen to £100. and patrols can give out bags and stickers for bins.
PC 0254 Joanne Whitehouse ASB co-ordinator for Birmingham within Birmingham Partnerships, working with the neighbourhood police teams and other partners. She advises on ASB legislation and the variety of civil interventions that can be used when dealing with ASB.
She attends the four Safer Community Group meetings across the City that discusses ASB cases that need a multi agency approach. These can be from individuals to locations. They are also where PSPO’s are discussed and monitored. That does make it sound quite simplified but it obviously encompass a lot more on a daily basis.
Please click here for a list of the current Police Sergeant contact details and below an overview of when to ring 999/101
Advice for calling 999:
- call when it’s an emergency
- a crime is in progress
- someone suspected of a crime is nearby
- when there is danger to life
- when violence is being used or threatened
If you don’t need an emergency response, then you should call 101 or use our online reporting form on our website. This could be to report a crime or to seek advice, for example your car has been stolen, your property has been damaged or you suspect drug use or dealing in your neighbourhood.
Adrian Whitehouse West Midlands Fire Service spoke about that many of the issues highlighted in the survey lead to the fire service responding to incidents, namely 
around rubbish, motorbikes and abandoned vehicles. If they are set on fire then for the fire service they are treated as arson, so we will then endeavour to support and implement interventions to reduce this type of incident.
This type of incident occurs across the Birmingham and if people wish to look at their particular area then visit the West Midlands Fire Service website, “Your Fire Service” then “Your Area” and add the post code and this will give all the incidents we have attended in the area over any given time.
We currently have a referral pathway for rubbish and abandoned vehicles with BCC Environmental Enforcement, but the public can also refer through the council website.
Arson usually stems from Curiosity/Boredom/Vandalism/General Destruction and the age of the perpetrator can vary, but the majority of persistent fire setters start between 8 to 12 years of age.
We are now working with Police around the links between arson and anti social behaviour which means we both have a joint aim to deal with these incidents. We are developing a programme looking at educating in schools within areas of high activity highlighting the potential risk and the damage that can be caused.
We are also asking the community to provide the intelligence as they are our eyes and ears on the ground. They can also become a community member, again through the Brigade website which will allow people to have a say on how we work as a fire service.
Please click here for a list of the Station Commanders of the 15 stations across Birmingham and their email addresses. Station details can be found on the website.
Nicci Collins Safer Neighbourhoods Partnership Manager – West & Central spoke about Birmingham’s Community Safety Partnership. The main points covered in her talk were:
The four Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSPs) and the wide range of issues, e.g. Domestic Violence, Road Safety, Modern Slavery, Fear of Crime, etc.- The Birmingham Community Safety Partnership (BCSP) http://birminghamcsp.org.uk/ Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) replacing Alcohol Restricted Areas, Dog Control Orders, Gating Orders and similar
- Travellers – Recent Injunction and new ways of working. Section 222 – Street racing and potential impact on off road biking
- Targeted Youth Outreach – to youth-related Anti-Social Behaviour hotspots (reports from public to WM Police). Also reference to recently funded youth outreach project with WMFS around arson in Nechells and working with Police Neighbourhood Team around hotspots.
She spoke about the target-hardening work undertaken around 10 years ago to secure parks and this has almost eliminated vehicle arson in parks. Safer Community Groups – Group of officers meet to discuss cases and hotspots of ASB to problem solve.
In terms of Birmingham City Council key contacts, this is vast and the best place to direct you to is the city council’s website: https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/ This has recently been much improved and most key contact information is available via this site. Plus any calls or emails via these central contacts are logged and monitored to ensure a response.
Penny Moore & Graham Andrews Northfield Environmental Community Forum both spoke about how all the environmental groups in the and around the Northfield District have come together to form the Northfield Community Environmental Forum. They meet regularly across the area, helping each other out, networking, assisting new groups and generally looking at the environmental issues in their area and what help and support they can give. Click here to view their presentation.
Jackie Zammit Peace Education Trainer ran the afternoon session looking at a peaceful way to solve conflicts. Peacemakers educates for peace. Their trainers usually work with both school staff and pupils to develop skills, knowledge, behaviour and systems that develop peaceful learning environments. They are looking now at parks and open spaces and developing this tool for everyday use. There can be conflicts within our sites between different user groups who are just enjoying the space their way.
Click here to view Jackie’s presentation.
During the afternoon all the delegates took part in a number of activities and saw a case study of how Jackie is now working with the Highbury Orchard CIC group.
Connect with us
@BOSFonline