Community Safety & Crime Prevention

What information do we collect?

• Our Community Safety Team collects information relating to community safety, crime and disorder and ASB concerns and incidents so that we can work with our partners to resolve any issues or queries.
• We collect personal data relating to witnesses, victims, potential victims, alleged offenders and perpetrators of crime and anti-social behaviour. We also collect data on vulnerable and potentially vulnerable individuals.

Why do we collect this information?

We collect this information to protect our communities from harm with the emphasis on the prevention of crime, disorder and ASB incidents. We have a statutory duty to develop and implement strategies to: -

• Prevent and detect crime
• Reduce crime and disorder in the area
• Combat the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances
• Reduce re-offending in the area

• We are also committed to dealing with anti-social behaviour such as environmental issues, neighbourhood nuisance and disorder.

What is the legal basis for processing personal data?

Most of our Community Safety work is carried out to fulfil one of our appointed public tasks, assigned to us under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended by the Police and Justice Act 2006 and the Policing and Crime Act 2009) and the ASB Crime and Policing Act 2014. However, we sometimes use other legal bases for processing your data:

• Legal obligation
• Law enforcement

Sometimes, we may process data which includes information on sensitive matters, such as your ethnic origin, political or religious affiliations or your health status. This is legally classed as 'special category' data. We take care only to process it with an appropriate legal justification. Very often this is for 'reasons of substantial public interest'. Where the processing is necessary for law enforcement purposes, we might justify our processing as being in someone's vital interests, or for the safeguarding of children or other people who are at risk.

Public task

We have public roles regarding the safety of people living in Redditch. 

Security and safety: Much of our work is about undertaking projects to make neighbourhoods safer, for instance by improving visibility, lighting and landscaping, or by installing security equipment such as door locks and window alarms in people's homes. We collect the names, addresses and dates of birth of the residents, and sometimes details of vulnerabilities qualifying them for assistance. Often, such projects are carried out in partnership with other agencies.

Anti-social behaviour: Information about anti-social behaviour comes to us from sources including the police, other residents and our elected members. We process as much information as will enable us to investigate properly. This includes people’s names, addresses, dates of birth and details of personal circumstances, sometimes including health conditions.

Domestic abuse: Information about domestic abuse comes to us from the police, and from our direct contact with victims, to whom we offer support services. In addition to reports of specific incidents, we collect details such as names, addresses, dates of birth and details of personal circumstances.

Legal obligation

We collect in-depth personal information if the law requires us to. As well your name, address and date of birth, we may need to collect information about your life history or home life. This information usually comes from the police or other agencies, but only if there is a clear need for us to have it. For instance, we are legally obliged to process details of:

• People named in domestic homicide reviews – we are legally required to convene these reviews under Section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004
• Any requests for help with a community safety issue, including safeguarding concerns, and complaints or compliments about our services – we are legally empowered to pass on information that comes to us in such requests, under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998

Law enforcement

Where necessary, the police pass us information to help us tackle suspected harmful, dangerous or illegal activities such as modern slavery, organised crime or violent extremism. The information varies but may include names, addresses and details of people’s life histories and vulnerabilities. It can also include; unproven allegations, information relating convictions, penalties, details of conditions or restrictions placed on an individual as a result of the criminal justice process and civil measures that may lead to a criminal penalty if not adhered to.

Personal data will be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 Part 3 - Law Enforcement Processing.

How do we obtain this information?

We collect this data direct from individuals and from partner agencies, such as other local authorities, West Mercia Police, Fire & Rescue Service, National Probation and NHS Trusts.  We also collect data from CCTV recordings, other council departments and directly from the community including community forums and voluntary groups. We are a member of the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership (NWCSP) and also take a lead on tackling anti-social behaviour. We collect information from these forums.

How do we share personal data?

We share personal information with partner agencies. Any sharing of data is undertaken using secure lines of communication or face to face where all parties in attendance are part of; and compliant with the NWCSP Information Sharing Protocol. In some cases, we will share information with third parties who are not partner agencies but have an interest in the particular matter. In such a case, we will only share information that is necessary and will ensure that the data is handled confidentially and securely and in accordance with the data protection legislation.

For instance:

• In the case of projects to improve safety and security, we share the names and addresses of residents with project partners, and businesses that carry out the work
• We share information relating to suspected anti-social or criminal behaviour with the police - we may need to work with other local authorities, external support services or other agencies, too
• We share information relating to domestic homicide reviews with the police and the Home Office
• Information relating to victims, witnesses or refugees accessing our services comes to us from the police, or government agencies and may be shared with other local authorities (for instance, if someone moves from one area to another)

How do we keep information secure?

We take appropriate steps to make sure we hold records about you (on paper and electronically) in a secure way, and we will only make them available to those who have a right to see them. Our security includes:

• Encryption
• Access controls on systems
• Security training for all staff

How long do we keep your information?

Generally, we keep information for 6 years after we close a file. But sometimes this period can be longer or shorter, if legally justified. All information will be held securely and destroyed under confidential conditions.

Are any automated decisions made using this information?

No decisions around this information are made by automated means.

Your rights

This information will not be shared/sold to any other service/organisation unless we have a duty to do so under law.

This data will not be transferred outside of the EEA.

No decisions around this data are made by automated means.

Your statutory rights and other privacy information is available here