Vantage Technologies’ Sentinel ASB shows success in helping local council manage and reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour, and effectively meet Government reporting targets

19 May, 2008 – An independent Audit Commission report assessing Charnwood Borough Council’s approach to ensuring community safety has described the Council’s approach to tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) by using Sentinel ASB, as being both proactive and effective.

The report outlines how Sentinel ASB, a web-based reporting tool developed by Vantage Technologies, has helped Charnwood to proactively manage and reduce incidents of ASB and successfully deliver statistics on 72 behaviour types - captured as sub-headings under the 16 Home Office classifications of ASB - to central Government.

Sentinel ASB’s multi-agency functionality has allowed key partners including Leicestershire Police, Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing and Community Safety Units to collaborate to tackle the problem of ASB, enabling them to share information about ASB with other agencies within the Borough quickly and effectively.

Sentinel ASB also recognises National Incident Recording codes, allowing the overlay of information with Police data in an easy-to-read format, enabling searches by the Police for a more comprehensive account of reported ASB incidents.  

As a result of sharing and analysing Sentinel ASB data, the Audit Commission has said wardens, Police officers and PCSO’s can now be directed more effectively to specific hot spots, which contributes to the reduction in occurrences of ASB in the area.

Sergeant Paul Kear from the North Community Safety Bureau, Leicester Constabulary said: “As a result or our recent trial in South Charnwood, Sentinel ASB has proved to be a useful tool for the Police in their joint approach with partners to accurately identify, investigate and combat ASB.

Agencies who are committed to solving problems in the community together have to be committed to shared community intelligence and in turn need to give Sentinel ASB serious consideration. Tackling and preventing ASB remains the number one priority for our communities and therefore this will remain a priority for the Government."

The report also highlights residents’ increased confidence in the Council’s ability to manage and deal with ASB. Results from the 2006/2007 best value survey show that 22%, which is above the national average, of respondents felt fairly or well informed about the Council’s approach to tackling ASB in the local area.

Steve Phipps, director of partnerships and customer services at Charnwood Borough Council said:  “Sentinel’s greatest strength is its ability to enable true effective partnership working - this leads to a reduction in ASB.   Working with other agencies helps us to provide preventative and rehabilitative measures which address the root causes of problems, as well as enforcement to treat the symptoms.

“Sentinel ASB is also extremely efficient; all the figures the Council needs for Government reporting can be retrieved with just one push of a button. It really couldn’t be quicker or simpler, and it makes our job a lot easier by saving us a considerable amount of time.”

Charnwood plans to integrate further agencies into Sentinel ASB; this additional input of ASB data will facilitate even more effective partnership working. The Council also plans to interface with other in-house IT systems for a greater collation of data and integrate their call management system into Sentinel ASB so all the information they need is easily accessible via one tool.