North Yorkshire Council

Thirsk and Malton Area Committee

26 September 2025

Community Safety & CCTV Service Annual Update

1.0       PURPOSE OF REPORT

1.1       To provide Members with an annual update on the work of the Community Safety & CCTV Service in the Thirsk and Malton area.  This will include a focus on Community Safety Hubs, CCTV and the wider strategic Community Safety Partnership   

2.0 SUMMARY

2.1       The report provides an overview of Community Safety & CCTV delivery and priorities.

3.0 COMMUNITY SAFETY HUB FOCUS

3.1       Local issues and delivery

· Youth related anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the Easingwold, Thirsk, Pickering and Kirkbymoorside areas

· Vehicles causing ASB nuisance and environmental ASB at the new Malton McDonalds

· Mental health (MH) impact, adults causing ASB due to non-engagement with MH services

· Queensway, Kirkbymoorside, highest volume in calls to North Yorkshire Police (NYP) for a single street in North Yorkshire, managed through (Multi-agency problem solving) MAPS process and ASB toolkit

· Theft of car roof tents/trailers/diesel

· Damage to various public toilets

· Pickering Castle graffiti/damage

· ASB surrounding the Youth Clubs in Thirsk and Easingwold

· Paradise Fields seeing impact from Youth ASB in Easingwold

            These local issues are being dealt with by joined up working with internal and external partners and multi-agency visits to the locations to provide engagement, awareness and evidence gathering where possible.  Locations are referred onto our Orcuma system and treated as ASB hotspots.

3.2       Ongoing work to tackle local issues

· Project Community – community engagement and reassurance

· Op Alibi for Whitby and Northern Ryedale targeting theft of quads

· Early intervention and reassurance along with physical target hardening

· Two Community Protection Warnings have been served to individuals causing ASB

· Acceptable Behaviour Contracts are in place with those individuals know to be causing ASB, in all areas

· Ensuring safeguarding and MH support agencies are in place

· Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) are being managed and reviewed for breaches in the Scarborough area there are no CBOs in the other localities; new applications are considered as part of a problem-solving approach

· Use of rapid deployment CCTV cameras to tackle ASB and crime

· Working alongside registered social landlords and NYC colleagues/other agencies to deal with ASB, neighbour disputes and community tensions using a problem-solving approach

· Fortnightly MAPS meetings are held to tackle concerns and work collaboratively with other partners and agencies.

· Community MAPS meeting well established in Thirsk, Easingwold and the Ryedale area, engagement around Hotspot locations and support/information available to communities/councillors/town councils/local stakeholders/internal NYC departments

· Target hardening approach – identification of repeat hotspot locations

· High volume callers, working collaboratively to support the caller and reduce the calls to services

· Supporting Police with Op Tornado

· High vulnerability risk assessments from Police and Housing Associations referred to the hub for oversight and interventions where needed

3.3       Community Safety Hub tools and powers

            The Community Safety & CCTV Service, as part of service development, is committed to the continuous professional development of the staff team.  Our aim is to ensure effective use of all tools and powers available to the Community Safety Hubs within the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, and consistent use in the application of these across North Yorkshire.

3.4       Project/thematic work

· A county-wide project around knife bins has been successful within the Thirsk and Ryedale localities.  We have two bins covering Pickering and Malton, and one bin in Thirsk, which were installed mid-February 2025.

Total collected to date: Thirsk 119.  Further update at the meeting on other sites.

· We are currently in the process of rolling out ‘Bleed Kits’ in five different locations around Ryedale in each of the market towns and one bleed kit in Thirsk.  Easingwold currently have a grab bag Trauma pack sighted in the George Hotel which is accessible 24 hours a day. This is alongside the other Community Safety Hubs (CSHs) and in line with the Serious Violence Duty Priority.

· We run events and education sessions around the National Awareness weeks, with the most recent ones being Safeguarding Week and ASB Awareness Week.  We have a calendar of events spanning the full year in line with national awareness weeks.

· Links with Thirsk Neighbourhood Policing Teams and the local housing authorities for the polices week of action, where we are holding ‘Neighbourhood clean-up days’.

· We have worked alongside NYP to run a community competition around the local primary schools in Pickering, Thirsk and Easingwold giving young people the opportunity to design a road safety banner which the winning entry is now displayed across the area’s schools.

· Op Dark Nights, Crime Prevention and target hardening materials delivered in isolated rural areas.

3.5       Community Safety Hub Activity as per Performance Framework

The Community Safety & CCTV Service is currently developing a Performance Framework to enable the Service to evidence performance against identifiable outcome measures.  This will demonstrate the effectiveness of the CSHs against our Key Performance Indicators.

4.0 COMMUNITY SAFETY PARTNERSHIP

4.1       The Thirsk, Easingwold and Ryedale CSHs undertake work that supports the strategic priorities of the North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnership.

4.1.1    A link to the North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnership Strategic Plan 2024 - 2028 can be found here.

4.2       Domestic Abuse

16 Days of Action – 25 November to 10 December 2024

            To support the international campaign at a local level, community engagement events were held across the county, a total of seven events were arranged.  Partner agencies were invited to join the Community Safety Officers at the events and those able to attend included IDAS, Foundation, North Yorkshire Police, NYC Health & Adult Services, St. Giles Trust.  Events were held in locations that generated a good footfall: supermarkets, a stall on Market Day.  At all the events there was a comprehensive range of leaflets the officers were able to handout.  All the events generated good engagement with the public and it was noted that on four separate occasions domestic abuse was disclosed to an officer and appropriate actions were taken to support the victims with advice and signposting.  Comms for the events included posts on social media and internal NYC platforms: Viva Engage, Intranet.

The Thirsk, Easingwold and Ryedale CSHs play a crucial role in addressing domestic abuse by ensuring early intervention, safeguarding and multi-agency collaboration.  The cases that the CSH’s manage on occasions will have a domestic abuse element and this will always need supporting and to be recognised, where appropriate, referrals to be made.

We also campaign and run awareness drop in events to educate and safeguard victims where possible, linking in with partners and other agencies.

Collaborative work with LIBERTY LINKS RYEDALE, our mobile provision providing a gender-specific space for professionals to come together to support isolated women.  Joint discussion around identifying appropriate locations for the service.

4.3       Preventing and Reducing Serious Violence

Thirsk, Easingwold and Ryedale CSHs play a key role in preventing and reducing serious violence through a multi-agency approach that focuses on early intervention, public awareness and targeted enforcement.

Key strategies used to tackle Serious Violence (SV):

· Public Health approach – tackling the root causes of violence, such as deprivation, substance misuse and social exclusion

· Early intervention and prevention – identifying at-risk individuals and providing support before violence escalates

· Multi-Agency collaboration – working with NYP, fire services, probation, youth services and health organisations to coordinate responses

· Community engagement and education – raising awareness about SV, including knife crime and domestic abuse, through campaigns, workshops and drop-in sessions

· Targeted enforcement and intervention – addressing specific issues such as violence in the night-time economy, and violence against women and girls

North Yorkshire’s SV Strategy (2024-2029) outlines these priorities and ensures that interventions are data-driven and evidence-based. 

4.3.1    Night-time economy

            The Community Safety & CCTV Service is working in partnership with NYP, NYC colleagues and additional partner agencies to support the NYP Nighttime Economy Strategy.

            Licensing checks carried out with NYP licensing colleagues throughout the year across all five market towns in Ryedale and in Thirsk.

            Thirsk are active members of ‘Pub watch’ and ‘Shop watch’, which tackle crime and disorder as well as retail theft.  The ‘Watches’ link back to Harrogate CCTV Control Room.

4.4       Standing together to tackle hate crime, radicalisation and extremism

Thirsk, Easingwold and Ryedale CSHs play a vital role in tackling hate crime, radicalisation, and extremism through a multi-agency approach that prioritises prevention, intervention, and community resilience.

· We utilise the Prevent Strategy which is aimed at stopping individuals from being drawn into terrorism

· We work with all local schools, youth clubs and community groups promoting positive values and Community Cohesion

· We work with voluntary groups and voluntary organisations to challenge extremist narratives and encourage open dialogue

· We have held SCaN training sessions within the Pickering, Thirsk and Easingwold locality; the sessions are aimed at professionals and businesses to ensure that they are aware of action that should be taken to both prevent an attack or during an attack

· We seek to educate and raise awareness providing safeguarding and early intervention

· We have tackled graffiti issues displaying hate symbols and provided target hardening advice

· We have also managed complex cases involving individuals suffering hate crime related concerns

4.4.1    North Yorkshire local Prevent Groups and Protect and Prepare Groups

Local multi agency groups have been set up to focus and deliver on ‘Protect and Prepare’ and ‘Prevent’ strands of the CONTEST Strategy.  These groups are chaired by senior managers from the Community Safety & CCTV Team and are supported by a Senior Development Officer and a local group covers the following areas:

· West (Ripon, Richmond, Skipton, including the outer areas of Northallerton)

· Central (Harrogate, Selby, Knaresborough, Ainsty)

· East (Scarborough, Whitby, Thirsk, Malton, Easingwold)

The aim of the local ‘Protect and Prepare Groups’ and local ‘Prevent Groups’ is to work together with partners, communities and businesses to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism, and to identify risk and vulnerability in relation to a potential terrorist attack in North Yorkshire.  This includes the development of short, medium and long-term strategies and action plans to mitigate such risks.  Activities can include local community engagement events, supporting national campaigns, support events (businesses) and multi-agency training opportunities, as well as building on local intelligence to help inform plans, such as the Counter Terrorism Local Profile.  Each of these local groups report on their local activity directly into the York & North Yorkshire Prevent Partnership Board, the NYC Strategic Protect & Prepare Group, North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnership and the York & North Yorkshire CONTEST Board.

4.4.2    Martyn’s Law

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, known as Martyn’s Law, gained Royal Assent on 3 April 2025, after more than five years of campaigning by Figen Murray OBE, the mother of Martyn Hett, one of 22 victims brutally murdered in the Manchester Arena terror attack on 22 May 2017.  Martyn’s Law essentially mandates that public premises with a capacity greater than 200 are better prepared for terrorist attacks and ready to respond. Each local Protect and Prepare Group will help to support the implementation of Martyn’s Laws over the next 24 months within their locality.

5.0 CCTV

5.1       There are currently CCTV Control Rooms in Harrogate and Scarborough, with provision in

Selby being provided by a third party.  Harrogate and Scarborough provide a 24 hour/365-day service. 

5.2       The future of CCTV across North Yorkshire is subject to further strategic review and transformation.  The aim is to review our existing infrastructure, identify opportunities, maximising technology and working alongside our key partners. 

5.3       There are CCTV cameras at Malton and Norton (33), Pickering (12), Kirkbymoorside (1) owned by Ryedale Cameras in Action which are managed by the CCTV Control Room at Scarborough, and 12 cameras at Thirsk from 1 September 2025 managed by the 24-hour CCTV service at Harrogate.

5.4       CCTV Performance

In the period 01/04/2024 to 31/08/2025, the CCTV Control Room in Northallerton monitored total of 134 incidents, 10 arrests, undertaken 29 reviews of footage and provided 22 copies of evidence to potentially be utilised for court proceedings; 13 of which were related to ASB.

For the same period the Ryedale cameras in Action cluster dealt with 223 incidents, undertook 87 evidential reviews and produced 63 pieces of evidence.

There are radio links with the Thirsk Pubwatch groups and Thirsk Retail Crime Group (Shop Watch).

6.0	RECOMMENDATION
	i) As part of annual reporting arrangements to Area Committees, it is recommended that Members note the content of this report, outlining progress of the Ryedale Community Safety Hub and the Community Safety and CCTV Service.

Report author – Rhian Buglass and Helenor Gwatkin, Senior Community Safety Officers

Presenter of report – Rhian Buglass, Senior Community Safety Officer and Julia Stack, Community Safety & CCTV Manager