Police plan crime flagging system
A complete overhaul of how police in Northamptonshire respond to reports of anti-social behaviour will be launched next month in an attempt to prevent tragedies such as the death of pensioner Mavis Clift.
A Serious Case Review in June last year concluded a catalogue of agency failings meant Paul Barber, 56, was free to petrol bomb Mrs Clift's Kingsthorpe home in the early hours of New Year's Day, 2008.
Barber had waged a campaign of sustained domestic abuse, harassment and vandalism attacks against his wife, Mrs Clift's daughter Susan, in the months prior to the fire and had been arrested 20 times for a variety of offences. He died awaiting a murder trial in March 2009.
At the time Assistant Chief Constable Derek Talbot spoke of his "absolute horror" at the way the case was dealt with but as of April 1, a new system will be put in place to ensure such examples of repeat anti-social behaviour are immediately flagged up.
Chief Inspector Dave Hill, who has overseen the introduction of the recording programme, said Northamptonshire Police would become a leading example of how forces should track repeated cases of abuse.
He said: "Going back to where we were at the time of the Clift case, the system we were using had no way of assessing the seriousness of the 67,000 reports of anti-social behaviour we get each year.
"It was not possible to distinguish between minor cases, for example a fire being set on the side of the road, and the sustained campaign of anti-social behaviour against some victims.
"As of April, anyone who contacts us three times or more in a rolling 12-month period will immediately be flagged up, and a robust action plan will be put in place to make sure the incidents are dealt with appropriately."
Chief Insp Hill added police would be encouraged to use their own discretion when visiting victims, and said: "We want officers and PCSOs to be able to identify when a victim is vulnerable, and what that vulnerability might look like. This is just the start for us in reviewing how all crimes are recorded and tracked."
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