Partnership working with BHF - 30/05/2024
“Until recently when partners came together to tackle the issue of anti-social behaviour, our store team felt unsupported by any community services”, says Scott Berney, Head of Safeguarding at the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
Scott explains that the team at the BHF store on Arundel Gate had been experiencing challenges of antisocial behaviour in the community. The store was also experiencing litter and drug paraphernalia on the curtilage of the premises.
Being opposite a 24-hour off-licence, and with a supermarket above the store, the location around the BHF store was becoming a hotspot for antisocial behaviour, and street drinking.
“We’re very proud that BHF is an inclusive employer. This means we have a higher percentage of team members with disabilities than many retail outlets, amongst both our volunteers and our employees. Increasingly, members of our Arundel Gate team were being severely impacted by the challenges of the ongoing antisocial behaviour in store”, continues Scott.
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This issue is not confined to this particular BHF store or Sheffield city centre. Over the past year, retailers saw the number of incidents of racial abuse, sexual harassment, physical assaults and threats with weapons rise 50%, while thefts more than doubled to 16.7m incidents, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade body which represents most major retailers.
The trend has been wider than just larger supermarkets, too. The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), the voice of more than 33,500 shops, said it has recorded its highest-ever levels of shoplifting over the last year, with 1.1m incidents reported to the police.
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Sheffield City Council’s Community Safety Team were altered to the issue and arranged to urgently meet with partners, including the CCTV, ASB, City Centre Management and Licencing teams from the Council, along with the City Centre Neighbourhood Police team, Sheffield BID, and a Local Area Committee representative.
“We’d never experienced this amount of buy-in elsewhere in the country,” comments Scott. “The level of interest and willingness of partners to meet and resolve the issues we were having was great to see, and immediately showed the team in store that their concerns were being taken seriously.”
During the meeting, partners reviewed what had happened to date, the actions each partner had taken, along with what support they could provide to the BHF team going forward.
- The City Centre Neighbourhood Police team confirmed that they would continue to have a regular presence inside and outside the store and would swiftly review any reported incidents.
- Due to the canopy over the store, there was a problem with CCTV visibility. The CCTV team offered to meet the team from BHF and show them around the CCTV room to understand how the city centre radio and CCTV work, and the links to South Yorkshire Police, to help reassure them.
- Sheffield BID offered additional dedicated work to the area, particularly around the rear entrance where there were issues with waste and drug paraphernalia.
- Along with coordinating the ongoing work, the Community Safety team highlighted the Retail Business Guide for city centre business which includes a directory of partners, and how to contact them, with training for staff on issues relating to this cohort of people.
“Agencies and partners are now working hard to build relationships with the in-store BHF team, to make them aware that they’re not alone with this issue. From feeling unsupported several weeks ago, they’re now feeling very supported. And that’s great news for them, for BHF customers, and for anyone who lives and works around the area”, comments Scott.
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The Safer Sheffield Partnership (formerly known as the Community Safety Partnership) has a statutory duty to address and reduce community safety issues in Sheffield. The Partnership is made up of public service organisations in the city, with representatives from the private and voluntary sectors. It is jointly chaired by the Chair of the Communities, Parks and Leisure Committee and South Yorkshire Police Chief Superintendent.
The partnership’s approach is to work together on a set of joint priorities, using resources most effectively. Read more about the Sheffield Crime Reduction Strategy, here: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/pollution-nuisance/safer-sustainable-communities-partnership
Alison Wise for Help us Help, May 2024