About us
We bring together Community Safety Partnerships from across the district and borough councils. Including Sussex Police, West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, the Integrated Care Board, the National Probation Service and other key agencies.
Our purpose
The Safer West Sussex Partnership (SWSP) is a multiagency group with a statutory duty to work together to tackle and reduce:
- reoffending
- crime and disorder
- anti-social behaviour
- alcohol and substance misuse
- any other behaviour which has a negative effect on the local environment.
Our role is to add value to the work already undertaken by individual agencies or localities and look at overarching issues affecting more than one area that require collaboration to address.
The partnership also allows us to ensure funding opportunities are maximised to help create safety and wellbeing in the spaces and places our communities spend their time.
Overall, we are seeking to support safer, stronger and more resilient communities. We will achieve this by focusing on the particular risks and issues faced by our vulnerable residents and communities.
More information can be found in our Terms of Reference.
Our priorities
In the 2021-2025 County Community Safety Agreement, a number of priority groups and themes were identified as key areas of focus for the SWSP.
Our priority groups are:
- children and young people
- working age adults
- older residents.
Our key areas of focus are:
- violence and exploitation
- social inequality and hate crime
- preventing radicalisation and violent extremism
- domestic and sexual violence and abuse
- substance misuse
- digital safety.
Our members
The members of the SWSP group are:
- West Sussex County Council
- Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) of all district and borough councils in the county - see below for more information
- Sussex Police
- Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner
- West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service
- Public health
- NHS Sussex
- National Probation Service
- voluntary sector representation (currently the Council for Voluntary Service).
Partnership structure and governance
Scrutiny
The Safer West Sussex Partnership is subject to annual scrutiny from West Sussex County Council's Environment and Communities Scrutiny Committee. They are responsible for the overview and scrutiny of the Crime and Disorder functions of the Crime and Disorder (Overview and Scrutiny) Regulations 2009.