Crime
Tilley awards for problem-oriented partnerships
The Tilley awards recognise innovative crime fighting projects where police, community groups and the public successfully work together to identify and tackle local crime problems.
Overall winner
Operation Uncanny is announced as the overall winner for 2010
Operation Uncanny, a project that utilised partnership working, dramatically reducing prostitution in the Spring Boroughs and Semilong residential areas of Northampton, was announced as the overall winner of the 2010 Tilley awards.
The area was identified as eligible for funding as a CASPAR project. The county and borough council members, senior officers from the statutory agencies, police authority and local Housing Association and representatives from Spring Boroughs residents association and Semilong community forum were all involved.
The 'Sex workers around Northampton' (SWAN) partnership provided advice and support on health, housing, drug addiction and education to help the women exit prostitution. Through numerous surveillance operations, an intelligence profile was established linking pimps and drug dealers to the sex trade. This enabled partners to proactively target those providing protection and drugs to women.
In 2002, over 200 prostitutes were known to work in the area 24-hours a day. With all partners actively working together, this has been visibly reduced to nil. There has been no evidence of displacement. Twenty-five premises that were used for prostitution and as Crack houses were also shut down.
The awards ceremony
All 10 national finalists attended a small ceremonial event at the House of Parliament on 8 November to celebrate their achievements and learn which projects had been selected as the top three entries for 2010.
'All finalists should be commended for their achievements,' said awards manager Darren Kristiansen. 'The competition was particularly tough - but the robust analysis, comprehensive response and the number of partners actively engaged in Operation Uncanny’s delivery impressed the final judging panel the most.'
Second place
YNOT Hyndburn Snooker Club took second place. The club was set up in September 2008 after residents in the Church ward of Hyndburn, Lancashire raised concerns about alcohol-related antisocial behaviour and criminal damage. Working with the community, authorities set up a free snooker club which was run by paid staff and volunteers from the area.
After its establishment antisocial behaviour and criminal damage fell by 13 per cent and 27 per cent respectively in Church ward in 2009 when compared with 2008. Police also reported a 30 per cent fall in the number of young people arrested in the area who were considered to be under the influence of drink or drugs during 2008/2009 when compared with the previous 12 months
Third place
Third spot was taken by Talking the hardest: taking on Peckham's gang culture, a multi-faceted project that tackled gang-related antisocial behaviour following a rise in incidents around Peckham town centre. The project which involved the police, council and local schools to gather evidence against a small group of individuals identified as the most influential and active gang members in the area.
Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) were rigidly enforced with any breaches prosecuted. Other gang members were targeted with enforcement where appropriate and support such as parenting orders for those on the fringes of the gang culture to prevent them getting involved. Other measures included offering temporary accommodation to witnesses to prevent intimidation and signposting young people to out of school activities. The project resulted in a drop in recorded crime in the area and saw confidence among business owners and young people rise.
The finalists
The 10 national finalists included projects that slashed youth violence and disorder, reduced distraction burglary, tackled antisocial behaviour and saved thousands of pounds by successfully reducing theft in their areas.
Standalone category
The winner of this year’s standalone category (successfully embedding problem-solving in their area) was the safer capital Cardiff (SCC) partnership. It was nominated for its transforming neighbourhoods model which saw six multi-agency teams set up to cover the same areas as the town’s safer neighbourhood police teams. The teams have regular meetings with police and community safety groups and their own dedicated budget allowing them to respond quickly to any problems with antisocial behaviour or low level crime in their areas.
About the awards
The Tilley awards were set up 12 years ago to recognise innovative crime fighting projects where police, local community safety agencies and the public are successfully working together to identify and tackle local crime problems. More than 110 projects entered this year’s awards.
