Safer Devon Partnership (old page)

The Safer Devon Partnership (SDP) is the statutory County Strategy Group which provides the strategic leadership for addressing community safety matters across Devon in order to achieve better outcomes for vulnerable people living in vulnerable places.

The main aim being for partners to work effectively together to enable the people of Devon to feel and be safe in their homes and communities.

The vision for the Safer Devon Partnership is: Working together to make Devon feel even safer.

Safer Devon Partners are committed to:

• working innovatively together to address the key vulnerabilities in our local communities;
• making informed and evidence-based funding, resourcing and commissioning decisions in partnership;
• investing in Prevention and Early Intervention;
• using our collective intelligence to understand the effectiveness of the interventions we are undertaking as a partnership.

You can find more information about Safer Devon on our public facing website.

You can also read more about our priorities and work below.

• Our Priorities

  The Safer Devon Partnership’s current priorities are to prevent and tackle hidden and visible harm, including addressing the root causes of:

  • intra and extra-familial violence and abuse;
  • problem drinking and problem drug use;
  • exploitation;
  • offending and reoffending, with this cutting across the above priority areas.

  Find more information about our priorities, principles and accountabilities on our public facing website.

• Governance

  Our partners include

  • the four Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) in Devon;
  • the County Council;
  • the Police;
  • the Fire and Rescue Service;
  • the Clinical Commissioning Groups;
  • Public Health;
  • the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner;
  • the National Probation Service;
  • the Dorset, Devon and Cornwall Community Rehabilitation Company;
  • Her Majesty’s Prison Service;
  • and the Youth Offending Service.

  Strategic direction is set by the Safer Devon Partnership Board and Executive Management Group which is made up of chief officers from all of the aforementioned partner agencies along with the chairs from the four CSPs.

  The Safer Devon Partnership Operational Delivery Group supports the SDP Board and Executive Management Group in fulfilling its vision, principles and accountabilities. It also provides support and challenge to the delivery of best practice across Devon-wide community safety services and initiatives.

  A number of Sub-Groups and Partnerships have been established to drive forward work in relation to addressing various significant threats. These sub-groups/partnerships are accountable to the Safer Devon Partnership Board.

  Safer Devon Partners also work closely with a number of other county-wide and peninsula Strategic Partnerships and Groups on a range of shared priorities.

  The Safer Devon Partnership supports the work of the Devon and Torbay PREVENT Partnership to fulfil statutory duties resting on specified partners (including local authorities, education and childcare, healthcare, prisons and probation, and the police) to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” (Counter Terrorism and Security Act, 2015). Find out more about our work under the PREVENT duty.

  You can view a diagram demonstrating how we work on our public facing website.

• Campaigns

  In addition to those listed below, we periodically run and support a number of public facing campaigns. You can find further information on

  • our public facing website
  • our Facebook account
  • our Twitter account

   

  Be Curious

  The Be Curious campaign aims to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation (CSE), modern slavery and violent extremism in Devon. The aim of Be Curious is to encourage people across the county to look out for signs of exploitation in their communities.

  The Safer Devon Partnership, Devon Safeguarding Children Board,  Devon and Cornwall Police and local authorities from across Devon  have come together to raise awareness of three issues affecting our communities:

  • violent extremism and radicalisation;
  • child sexual exploitation;
  • modern slavery.

  The aim of Be Curious is to encourage people across the county to look out for signs of exploitation in their communities.

  Violent Extremism

  Child Sexual Exploitation

  Modern Slavery

  Useful phone numbers

  • Modern slavery helpline: 0800 0121 700
  • Child sexual exploitation helpline: 01332 585371
  • Anti-terrorist hotline: 0800 789 321

  More information

  • Be Curious information document (for professionals)
  • GOV.UK – Modern slavery
  • NSPCC – Child sexual exploitation
  • Devon & Cornwall Police – Violent extremism and radicalisation

   

  Online radicalisation campaign

  Our online radicalisation awareness campaign seeks to raise awareness about the risks of radicalisation, and in particular the role the internet (through social media, online gaming etc) often plays in that process. The campaign includes a short film warning people of the threat of radicalisation.

  Radicalisation is the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and extremist ideologies associated with terrorist groups. People can be radicalised in many ways, either through the internet or social media, by family members or friends, or direct contact with extremist groups.

  Those who wish to radicalise others encourage individuals (and sometimes groups) to develop support for extremist ideas; these may be political, religious or other causes. This is often referred to as ‘grooming’.

  While anyone can be susceptible to radicalisation, vulnerable children and adults are at greater risk.

  Find more information about the campaign on our public facing website.

   

  Online exploitation campaign

  Our online exploitation campaign raises awareness of the risks of exploitation through the internet, social media and online gaming during COVID-19.

  During the pandemic pandemic people are spending more time online and are more isolated from friends and family. Offenders are taking advantage of this to groom and exploit people – of any age, gender and background.

  This could involve encouraging someone to take part in harmful activities, or hand over money or other items of value. The offender may seek to influence someone’s views and actions, or groom them into a friendship or sexual relationship. They may give the person gifts, money or a sense of value or importance.

  Find more information about the campaign on our public facing website.

• Resources for partners

  Preventing Exploitation Toolkit

  The Safer Devon Partnership, jointly with the Devon Children and Families Partnership and the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership, has developed an online toolkit to tackle the threat of exploitation. This toolkit will help frontline workers learn about, identify and report exploitation happening in Devon and the surrounding area.

  The toolkit is designed for anyone who, through their paid or voluntary work, may encounter people who are vulnerable to exploitation.

  Find more information about the purpose of the Toolkit.

  Safer Devon and it’s partners have run a series of in person and virtual workshops to raise awareness of exploitation with frontline colleagues and partners. You can find more information and resources on the toolkit.

  View the Preventing Exploitation Toolkit here.

• Data and intelligence

  Our annual Strategic Assessments of Crime and Disorder provide an assessment of each of our high-risk community safety threats in terms of impact, prevalence and trends, intelligence gaps, emerging threats/challenges and the partnership’s capacity and capability to respond.

  Local context is provided to highlight activity in specific parts of Devon and the peninsula that are relevant to that threat. This is followed by an assessment of the moderate and standard threats that we should be aware of within our local communities.

  You can find the latest Devon and Peninsula Strategic Assessments on our public facing website.

• Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs)

  Domestic homicide reviews (DHRs) were established on a statutory basis under section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004). This provision came into force on 13 April 2011.

  The definition of a DHR is ‘a review of the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by:

  • a person to whom he was related or with whom he was or had been in an intimate personal relationship, or
  • a member of the same household as himself,

  held with a view to identifying the lessons to be learnt from the death.’

  The purpose of a DHR is to:

  • establish what lessons are to be learned from the domestic homicide regarding the way in which local professionals and organisations work individually and together to safeguard victims;
  • identify clearly what those lessons are both within and between agencies, how and within what timescales they will be acted on, and what is expected to change as a result;
  • apply these lessons to service responses including changes to inform national and local policies and procedures as appropriate;
  • prevent domestic violence and homicide and improve service responses for all domestic violence and abuse victims and their children by developing a co-ordinated multi-agency approach to ensure that domestic abuse is identified and responded to effectively at the earliest opportunity;
  • contribute to a better understanding of the nature of domestic violence and abuse; and
  • highlight good practice.

  The Safer Devon Partnership administers DHRs on behalf of the four Community Safety Partnerships in Devon. You can find published copies of these reviews, and learning summaries, on our public facing website.