Tackling Crime

Policeman and Community Support Officers

Oxford Safer Communities Partnership

Visit the Oxford Safer Communities Partnership website to find out how Oxford City Council, Thames Valley Police, Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust and other partners are working to tackle crime and keep Oxford Safe.

This partnership is a legal requirement for local authorities, the police and other statutory organisations to work together to tackle the community safety priorities in the city.

What the Community Safety Team do

Our Community Safety Team are responsible for taking forward the Oxford Safer Communities Partnership Rolling Plan. You can download the plan below:

PDF icon Community Safety Plan 2011-14 (806kB PDF)

We do this by:

managing some of the resources the Council directly invests in community safety e.g. Crime and Nuisance Action Team, Community Response Team, Positive Futures, CCTV, etc.
working closely with other City Council teams, most often housing teams, parks, Environmental Development and Direct Services
managing the budget from the County Council that they have allocated to support the work of the four district community safety partnerships
working closely with our partners to develop delivery plans that tackle our community safety priorities.

More specific examples of the activities of the team:

Nightsafe - The project involves a specific policing operation each weekend that includes extra police officers on patrol, drug dog operations and other pro-active policing activities. Partner officers liaise closely with licensees on the management of their premises, target repeat offenders and run campaigns on the risk and consequences of alcohol misuse.

CCTV - Public space CCTV schemes operate in Oxford City centre, Rose Hill, Blackbird Leys, Barton, Wood Farm and Cowley Road. The monitoring suite is located in St. Aldates Police Station and operates under a national Code of Practice. In addition the suite monitors Oxford City Council tower block cameras.

Neighbourhood Policing - Neighbourhood Policing runs across the city with 22 neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods are merged to form 12 Neighbourhood Action Groups. The NAGs problem solve community safety issues affecting its residents.

Communication - During 2010-11, OSCP took part in a pilot project to improve public confidence in the way the police and local authorities tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. The Safe and Confident Neighbourhoods project uses MOSAIC data to get a better understanding of local communities and their preferred methods of communication. This improves partners’ ability to understand the community safety concerns within neighbourhoods and keep local people informed of progress.

Student safety - Students become an important part of our communities; a valuable asset to the city both economically and socially. However, a large transient population brings its own community safety concerns. The Oxford Safer Communities Partnership (OSCP) developed a student community safety plan. This involved working closely with Oxford Brookes University, the University of Oxford, and language schools.

Sex working and kerb crawling - OSCP focuses on offering sex workers a pathway to change through support delivered by local voluntary sector and public service organisations. Support is coordinated through the Sex Workers Intervention Panel. Enforcement options include tackling kerb crawling in order to protect the communities where sex workers operate.

Child exploitation and human trafficking - These atrocious crimes, although not high in volume, have a devastating impact on the victim. OSCP will develop a local plan so we are able to effectively respond to victims of these crimes and protect those who are at risk of becoming a victim.

Domestic abuse - Domestic abuse has been a priority for some time and has resulted in a network of hundreds of front line domestic abuse Champions across the county. Specialist Domestic Violence Courts were introduced in 2008, with almost 70 per cent of cases brought to court ending in successful prosecutions.

Sexual violence - OSCP became involved in the development of a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) for the Thames Valley. The SARC will provide an enhanced service for all victims, female and male, of serious sexual assault, irrespective of whether they wish to report to the Police. Work is ongoing to prevent sexual violence by informing the public and students of what consent is, and is not.

Honour-based violence - The development of a multi-agency training to enable professionals to respond effectively and support victims of honour-based violence. A small fund has been established to provide crisis assistance for those who have no recourse to public funds.

Positive Futures for young people - A range of activities for young people at risk of offending or living in areas of deprivation in Oxford. The programme includes provision for young people during the summer and Easter holiday periods. Specific programmes includes a knife crime project, sports-based activities for referred young people and a project aimed at young people over 16 who are not in employment, education or training.

Data and research - Data and research enables us to quickly understand long term or emerging trends in crime, and the immediate assessment of daily and weekly variations.

Crime Statistics

Visit the Local Crime Maps pages of the Directgov website for neighbourhood information on crime and anti-social behaviour across Oxford and the rest of the country.

Visit our Statistics and Census Information pages for information on statistics about crime, population, economy, health, housing and poverty in Oxford.