Progress continues to be made in five key areas of community safety and justice in the city according to a new report.
Partnership working is helping to deliver reductions in crime and levels of domestic abuse, develop alternatives to short-term prison sentences and remand, and to boost road and community safety.
Kevin Cordell convener of Dundee City Council’s community safety and public protection committee said: “We work closely with Police Scotland, the criminal justice system, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and other key partners to make Dundee a community which is healthy, safe and confident and which has an excellent quality of life.
“The priority areas of work and the key targets we have set ourselves as a city are very much reflected in the positive progress being demonstrated in this report and while it is great to see, we must all continue to work hard to push on with the advances that have already been made.”
Covering the period 2019/2020 the report highlights a number of on-going or newly implemented initiatives successfully aimed at reducing most types of crime. These include work by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, “county lines” and “cuckooing” operations, and actions against human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.
In response to domestic abuse across the city, there was a particular focus on targeting perpetrators and providing helpful support to victims, again with a range of initiatives being maintained or developed.
Chief Superintendent Andrew Todd said: “On a daily basis our Police officers, staff and Special Constables carry out initiatives in collaboration with our partners to achieve the best possible results for our communities and people at risk. We are all absolutely committed to improving outcomes for the people we serve, developing interventions and effective responses to protect vulnerable people and help reduce crime further.
“At this unprecedented time, partnership working has never been so crucial and I can provide every assurance that we remain focussed on keeping our communities safe, deterring and detecting crime and supporting vulnerable people alongside other vital organisations.”
Partners continue to develop interventions across the criminal justice system in order to ensure that timely, proportionate and cost-effective responses are delivered which increase community safety and improve outcomes for adults who offend. These have included programmes to address sexual offending and unpaid work initiatives.
In November 2019, the Safe Drive Stay Alive Roadshow was presented at the Caird Hall to 1216 S5 pupils from across the city, as well as students from Dundee & Angus College. In addition other road safety initiatives have also been delivered.
The report, which will be considered by the Community Safety and Public Protection Committee on Monday (January 11), also highlights activities in community safety including work with young people on anti-social behaviour and the grassroots engagement of community wardens.
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
