Agencies working to cut crime

7:59pm Monday 12th May 2008

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AGENCIES which work to reduce crime in Dorset and bring criminals to book are making 'significant progress' in achieving their goals, inspectors say.

A report examines how well the criminal justice agencies in the Dorset area, including the police, probation service and courts, work together to meet the needs of local people.

The report details three key aspects - leadership and partnership working, delivery of successful justice in domestic violence cases and community engagement - and makes a number of recommendations.

They include a need to make sure messages from the Dorset Criminal Justice Board (DJCB) are delivered by the appropriate staff.

In general, inspectors found there is a 'clear vision and strategy' in place, and that chief officers were committed to this strategy.

There are also signs of an 'increasing robustness' in the way the DCJB ensures that potential barriers to delivery are removed.

However, the commitment to joint working is not always replicated at senior management levels and more work needs to be done to ensure that messages from chief officers are acted upon.

There was praise for the speed in which domestic violence courts have been set up in Weymouth and Bournemouth, although some 'operational challenges' were identified.

There is a good communications strategy in place but more work needs to be done to ensure the board engages effectively with the community, the report adds.

The inspection was led by HM Inspectorate of Court Administration with support from HM Inspector-ates of the Crown Prosecution Service, Constabulary and Probation.