Saturday, June 23, 2007
Neighbourhood Action Panels (NAP)
The first Neighbourhood Action Panel (NAP) meeting was held on 15th May. We met the new Inspector, Mark Watson, who replaces Inspector Jacobs now that he has retired. The new sergeant, Tim Marshal was unable to attend thorough illness. At this meeting, the role of the Neighbourhood Action Panel was discussed.
The “specific point of contact” (SPOC) has been renamed the “Neighbourhood Specialist Officer”. This is still Pc Bagley. (I hope you’re keeping up with the jargon and acronyms… Tee hee)
Why set it up?
Under the Crime and Disorder Act, Neighbourhood Policing has to be rolled out across the country by January 2008. Part of this requires the police to engage with the community they are policing. For this, Neighbourhood Action Panels are being set up. The aim is an informal liaison with the police and interested bodies to help focus some attention on local issues.
The way it works
Each Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) has a Neighbourhood Action Panel (NAP) made up of Key Individuals in the Neighbourhood (KIN). KIN should be as representative of the locality as possible. eg Residents, people who work in the neighbourhood, or own businesses, Churches and other religious bodies, Parish councils, youth groups, etc, ie anyone who has in interest in that neighbourhood. The NAP will include one police officer.
Basically NAPs are locally based partnerships. The aim is community engagement, discussing the local issues which local people are concerned about. The NAP will meet about every 8 weeks to discuss the issues which are most concerning the neighbourhood, ie the Policing Priorities.
These concerns will be sampled by doorstep questionnaires from the PCSO asking people what their concerns are, and a form available from various sources like the shop, maybe online, and the NAP meeting itself. There is a facility to leave comments on this blog, if you wish. I may convert the Feedback Forum to be the NAP feedback area.
The NAP meetings will be held every 8 weeks or so, and will be advertised in the Press (and on this Blog, hopefully). The first part will be open to the public for discussion and feedback. Then the NAP will retire in private to discuss matters arising from the meeting itself, feedback forms, emails to the police, the Parish Councils, NHW coordinators etc, and list the three Policing Priorities which the community wants to be addressed.
This list of three Policing Priorities will then be taken to the Joint Action Group (JAG), which in Maldon meets weekly. It will be decided how best to tackle the issues, and who should be tasked with tackling those issues. They will also give feedback to be presented at the next NAP meeting.
The Priorities will also be advertised on the Essex Police Website. On the page about Great Totham NPT
Prior to the next NAP meeting, the police will tell us what has been done to address those issues.
Some points about the NAP
It is important that everyone feels represented by this panel. It is not intended to supersede other community engagements with the police, like NHW and Parish Council meetings, but to supplement them. It is important, too, that the meetings are not dominated by one group alone.
One factor which is evident, is that Wickham Bishops is a separate NAP, yet we share many of the same problems. It would make sense for some of these issues to be tackled jointly. It may be that the overlap of the Neighbourhood Watch interests will help in this respect.
The “specific point of contact” (SPOC) has been renamed the “Neighbourhood Specialist Officer”. This is still Pc Bagley. (I hope you’re keeping up with the jargon and acronyms… Tee hee)
Why set it up?
Under the Crime and Disorder Act, Neighbourhood Policing has to be rolled out across the country by January 2008. Part of this requires the police to engage with the community they are policing. For this, Neighbourhood Action Panels are being set up. The aim is an informal liaison with the police and interested bodies to help focus some attention on local issues.
The way it works
Each Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) has a Neighbourhood Action Panel (NAP) made up of Key Individuals in the Neighbourhood (KIN). KIN should be as representative of the locality as possible. eg Residents, people who work in the neighbourhood, or own businesses, Churches and other religious bodies, Parish councils, youth groups, etc, ie anyone who has in interest in that neighbourhood. The NAP will include one police officer.
Basically NAPs are locally based partnerships. The aim is community engagement, discussing the local issues which local people are concerned about. The NAP will meet about every 8 weeks to discuss the issues which are most concerning the neighbourhood, ie the Policing Priorities.
These concerns will be sampled by doorstep questionnaires from the PCSO asking people what their concerns are, and a form available from various sources like the shop, maybe online, and the NAP meeting itself. There is a facility to leave comments on this blog, if you wish. I may convert the Feedback Forum to be the NAP feedback area.
The NAP meetings will be held every 8 weeks or so, and will be advertised in the Press (and on this Blog, hopefully). The first part will be open to the public for discussion and feedback. Then the NAP will retire in private to discuss matters arising from the meeting itself, feedback forms, emails to the police, the Parish Councils, NHW coordinators etc, and list the three Policing Priorities which the community wants to be addressed.
This list of three Policing Priorities will then be taken to the Joint Action Group (JAG), which in Maldon meets weekly. It will be decided how best to tackle the issues, and who should be tasked with tackling those issues. They will also give feedback to be presented at the next NAP meeting.
The Priorities will also be advertised on the Essex Police Website. On the page about Great Totham NPT
Prior to the next NAP meeting, the police will tell us what has been done to address those issues.
Some points about the NAP
It is important that everyone feels represented by this panel. It is not intended to supersede other community engagements with the police, like NHW and Parish Council meetings, but to supplement them. It is important, too, that the meetings are not dominated by one group alone.
One factor which is evident, is that Wickham Bishops is a separate NAP, yet we share many of the same problems. It would make sense for some of these issues to be tackled jointly. It may be that the overlap of the Neighbourhood Watch interests will help in this respect.
# posted by Evelyn @ 10:11 AM 
