Tendring Community Assets Full Final Report

44 11.5.4 Tendring Community Safety partnership has had a strong focus on County Lines and on the impact of drugs on the local community and it raising awareness of County Lines, Cuckooing and the impact on vulnerable young people and adults across the District. There is a lot of activity in schools to raise awareness of the risks of county lines and vulnerability. Since May 2014 Operation Raptor, an anti-gangs project from Essex Police, has made more than 663 arrests and seized drugs with an estimated street value of more than £1million. Many of these have been in the Tendring Policing area. 46 This highlights the need for awareness raising among other vulnerable groups (particularly children leaving care, living in unstable families or feeling excluded, people with mental health problems, people with learning difficulties) at places where they go. This is best achieved through community groups and schools who have regular contact with these vulnerable groups, helping them to understand and recognise the warning signs and discussing strategies for self-protection and support to keep safe. 11.5.5 Tendring Community Policing Team has a Facebook page and twitter account to engage with the local community. Their aim is to:-  Make sure the Tendring district is a safe and pleasant place to live, work and visit  Detect and prevent crime effectively through partnership work, efficient and proportionate investigations, high visibility policing and by using support from specialist colleagues.  Community engagement and involvement enables them to work effectively, using local information and intelligence, whether about anti-social behaviour, abuse or exploitation, drug dealers and gangs and/or any other issues 11.5.6 With its high proportion of older people, there is a comparatively higher risk of vulnerable people being targeted by rogue traders. Tendring Neighbourhood Watch is run by a committee of six volunteers and a group of volunteer street coordinators. Membership is increasing (now approximately 3000). Neighbourhood Watch spends time trying to make people aware of the scams and cold calling prevalent in the district and giving advice to keep safe and secure. Tendring District Council is issuing advice to residents about how to deal with doorstep traders safely, and to prevent them from potentially falling victim to scams, working in partnership with Essex Trading Standards. Again, many community organisations for older people and vulnerable groups can be used as channel to raise awareness and keep people safe. 11.6 Drugs and Alcohol 11.6.1 There are strong links between drug and alcohol use and crime, so by tackling these, particularly drug use, community safety can be improved. Equally, drug and alcohol related conditions and accidents take their toll on health services, family life, friendships, mental health, employment and housing. 11.6.2 There were 194 arrests for drug possession in Tendring in the year to September 2015, down 23% from a year earlier and accounting for 7.9% of all arrests across the county. 11.6.3 From population and drug prevalence figures for North East Essex (mid 2014), it can be estimated that there are approximately 947 individuals aged between 15 and 64 using opiates and/or crack cocaine. Research indicates that Opiate/Crack-cocaine users (OCUs) are proportionally much higher in the 35-64 age group. 47 The figures in the table below 46 NLA Presentation: Gangs and Gang Activity: Within the Tendring District, Tendring District Council 47 Estimates of the prevalence of opiate use and/or crack cocaine use (2016-17), Gordon Hay, Anderson Rael dos Santos, Howard Reed, Vivian Hope, Public Health Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, March 2019