Research into Integrated Crime Prevention Strategies for Rail Station Environs: Preliminary Findings

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Research into Integrated Crime Prevention
Strategies for Rail Station Environs Preliminary
Findings

• Trudi Cooper1, Terence Love2, Fred Affleck2,
  Angela Durey1
• 1 Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, Australia2
  Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia
• PATREC Research Forum
• 19 September 2006

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Problem

• People gather in and around railway stations
• Some peoples behaviour
• Is loud, possibly anti-social but not strictly
  illegal
• Perceived as threatening to others
• Causes fear that deters some people (including
  young people) from using the rail system
• How can agencies work together to address public
  safety concerns?

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Why is interagency collaboration important?

• In rail environs, experience indicates that
  uncoordinated single agency responses
• Move problem behaviour from one location to
  another at considerable expense
• Increase youth alienation, which may increase
  anti-social behaviour
• Lead agencies to blame others for problems

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Research objectives

• Improve perceptions of safety in rail environs
• Develop collaborative relations between PTA
  staff, relevant local government agencies,
  community agencies and non-government youth
  workers.
• Identify and test interventions to reduce
  conflict between
• Young people
• Other members of travelling public
• PTA security staff
• Develop positive changes that will be sustainable
• Develop transferable model of interagency
  collaboration

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Four stage research project plan

• Problem scoping
• Plan pilot interventions
• Undertake interventions
• Evaluation and final report

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Problem scoping

• Four high incident locations identified by PTA
  from incident statistics
• Problem scoping with PTA AND agencies in each
  area used Soft Systems Methodology
• In-depth semi-structured interview with Senior
  Transit Guard (TG) Manager to gain understanding
  of perspectives of PTA on issues in each of the
  four locations.
• In each of the four local government areas Focus
  groups with youth workers and other relevant
  community organisations, to gain understanding of
  perceptions of issues, incidents, and causes of
  issues at each location (referred to as local
  group)
• Combined data provided rich pictures of
  problem contexts for each of the 4 locations

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Map
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Intervention planning-1

• Researchers facilitated meetings between local
  groups and PTA representative(s)
• Differences in purpose, priorities, interests and
  preconceptions of agency representatives were
  made explicit and acknowledged
• Meeting participants examined, discussed,
  elaborated and corrected the information in the
  rich picture for their location

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Intervention planning -2

• Participants identified collaborative
  interventions
• Social action facilitation was used to enable
  participants to
• Share and clarify goals, perspectives and
  priorities
• Identify most pressing issues for change in each
  locality
• Clarify parameters for local collaboration
• Identify and plan actions as a group to positive
  improve the local situation

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Project implementation

• In each of the four locations
• Partner agencies collaborated to develop locally
  relevant projects in accordance with their
  existing work priorities
• A small amount of seeding money to help with
  non-recurrent expenditure
• Groups met regularly to
• Review progress
• Identify barriers to implementation
• Adjust interventions

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Evaluation

• The final report will
• Document the research
• Describe the findings
• Make recommendations for future directions

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Research assumptions

• Success depends on accurate holistic
  understanding of cultural environment factors
  that shape anti-social behaviour
• Opportunities missed when individual agencies
  unaware of how they affect other agencies
• Collaborators would have
• Apparently shared goals such as desire to
  improve community perceptions of safety
• Initially, different understandings of what these
  entail

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Factors shaping research - 1

• OCP funding requires action research
• Interagency collaboration notoriously difficult
• Need to support participants avoid adopting
  solutions prematurely based on superficial
  understanding of contexts
• Need to collect full breadth of knowledge
  available from participants

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Factors shaping research - 2

• Need to help participants overcome feelings of
  hopelessness because problems seem intransigent
• Strategies to assist youth development and
  support community safety
• Agencies collaborate in discussion, but will take
  responsibility for, and manage, own projects

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Research pitfalls

• Potential misunderstandings about goals,
  priorities and roles of other agencies
• Miscommunication if issues are oversimplified and
  viewed only from perspective of each agencys
  central concerns
• Group dynamics and interagency politics
• Individual agencies dominate discussions or
  exclude others
• Inaction because problem(s) seem too complex and
  intractable
• People try to shift the problem to another
  agency (related to feelings of helpless ness/
  hopelessness above)

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Research method

• The research combined
• Soft Systems Method for contextual data
  collection, analysis, choosing interventions
• Group facilitation using Social Action method for
  supporting inter-agency collaboration, resolving
  group conflicts, overcoming apathy and
  hopelessness, and as a foundation for sustainable
  outcomes

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Soft system method (SSM)

• SSM used with participants to explicate
• The variety of problem issues
• The relationships between agencies
• Environmental issues (urban planning etc)
• Organisation issues (e.g. rostering TGs)
• Management and power issues
• Identifying potential actors and strategies
• Identifying which transformations were beneficial
  and possible
• Identifying different perspectives and ways of
  looking that different participants brought to
  the table
• Used SSM rich pictures in problem scoping,
  intervention planning and evaluation

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Social Action method

• Social Action methods were used in facilitating
  collaboration, action planning and and as the
  framework
• Based on Frieres Participatory Action Research
  approach

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Armadale

• Main issue Fear of assaults by other patrons,
  especially intoxicated patrons
• Survey of young peoples perceptions and
  experiences of train travel, safety and security
• Trial of collaborative project by Drug Arm to
  provide an on-train service for drug and alcohol
  affected young people Friday and Saturday nights
• Liaison with the PTA community education project

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Gosnells

• Main issues graffiti, station avoidance, rail
  track crossing, cultural issues, media perception
  of TGs
• APLOs to become involved in TG cultural awareness
  training
• New zip card distributed by youth services
  includes info about rights and responsibilities
  on trains and local youth services
• Liaison with planners about future development
  and design out crime initiatives
• Liaison between youth agencies and PTA community
  education section about track safety

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Joondalup

• Main issue assaults on TGs, importance of
  consistency and continuity
• Informal liaison between shopping centre
  security, detached youth work team and TGs.
• Liaison between Joondalup Youth Support Services
  and TGs
• New zip card distributed by youth services
  includes info about rights and responsibilities
  on trains and local youth services

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Midland

• Multiple issues stolen identity, fines, family
  violence, conflict young people TGs, escalating
  offences, lack of Indigenous TGs
• TGs have become involved with PCYC and Corridors
  College
• Practical solutions found for stolen identity,
  personal details, and response to fines
• Brokered three way partnership between PEEDAC,
  CYTS and PTA for Indigenous pre-TG course
• Future issue safe-house for young people

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Other outcomes

• Liaison between community agencies and PTA staff
  resolved important issues for individuals
• Voluntarily involvement of some TGs with youth
  organisations
• Provides forum to raise public concerns and
  enable constructive problem solving
• Demonstrated responsiveness builds broad-based
  public support for the TG role

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Conclusions interagencycollaboration outcomes

• Active resolution of problems has increased
  confidence of community organisations and is
  crucial to building a culture of public support
  for PTA staff
• Agencies have greater understanding of goals and
  priorities of other organisations
• Changes to participants perception of issues and
  approach to problem solving
• Greater awareness of how decisions and
  operational choices positively or negatively
  affect work of other agencies
• Research project has addressed sources of past
  misunderstandings

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Conclusions young people

• Positive outcomes for young people, some concerns
  that young people raised have been quickly
  resolved by TG managers
• Has increased the confidence young people have in
  the fairness of TGs
• Communication channel will improve relationships
  between TGs, youth services and young people in
  longer term
• Safety concerns of young people similar to those
  of older people
• Young people supportive of TGs

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Conclusions positivepublic regard

• Public regard for PTA transit guards and the work
  that they do is improved by
• Positive relationships with a range of community
  organisations
• Channel to raise concerns before they create
  adverse publicity
• Speedy resolutions of practical problems raised
  by youth workers and community representatives

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Conclusions managinginteragency collaboration

• Resources and time are required to establish and
  maintain relationships
• Requires on-going conflict resolution
• Takes time to find people who want to try to
  address problems are flexible in
  problem-solving and are senior enough to make
  changes within their own organisation.

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Recommendations

• Community liaison becomes major part of role of a
  senior TG manager
• Community liaison should be used as a direct
  means to positively influence public opinion,
  improve public support for TGs, and to counter
  negative publicity from hostile media and from
  other hostile organisations