| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Traditionally to address a public safety/crime trend/problem, the police would have initiated a project involving a redirection of existing or new resources to address the new theme of offending. Due to the constraining financial landscape this was impossible, so to address the situation Avon and Somerset Police took the bold step of forming a team of Police Support Volunteers (unpaid members of the public), to formulate and deliver a package of specifically themed, safety products to cater for the unique needs of the older adult community (Age 54years+).
This includes a specially trained Public Presentation Team, which provides elder-crime themed presentations to community groups, as well as offering subject-matter-expertise training to law enforcement professionals throughout their region. In 2012, a Senior Minority Outreach Team was added to the suite of available services. This all-volunteer team provide training to diverse groups, who might otherwise be unable to access safety services from statutory or voluntary agencies, due to barriers of language or culture.
The Senior Citizen Liaison Team concept is unique within the United Kingdom and Europe, namely a 100% volunteer team/charity working in strategic alliance with the police service to deliver a public safeguarding service
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The Senior Citizen Liaison Team concept was derived by police officers who noted the requirement to deliver a specialised, senior citizen safeguarding service to vulnerable, elder citizens, but were aware that reduced resources within the police service made this extremely challenging.
To overcome this issue, the initial architects of the concept, developed a community initiative, recruited, trained and accredited volunteers and worked with the police service to establish a safety strategy for implementation. This led to the initiative becoming a registered British charity (No: 1148383) in 2012.
The SCLT Charity is managed by a board of trustees, which has police involvement and complies with all the regulations of the UK Charity Commission as well as the good governance procedures as overseen by the police organisation (Avon & Somerset) in which it is in a strategic alliance.
The Senior Citizen Liaison Team concept has expanded to 2 additional neighbouring police areas, where it has been faithfully replicated and governed along the same lines. The whole populations of these areas exceed 3-million citizens, of which it can be extrapolated that 540,000 people are aged 65-years or over (18% of 3-million). Although the services provided by the SCLT Charity are also beneficial to relatives, carers and others whose lives are adversely affected by these themes.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The Concept Delivery:
The team engage the senior community with their Public Presentation Team (PPT) by giving hundreds of crime-busting presentations to thousands of seniors at community locations where older adults meet and socialise. The PPT offer a catalogue of highly professional presentations, which include audio/video content, which enthuse and engage audiences from across the wide spectrum of society, from higher functioning older adult groups, to others who require specialist engagement, such as Alzheimer’s and Stroke Groups.
Such is the success of the PPT that volunteer presenters have been asked to deliver the safety presentations throughout the UK and in Germany, Holland and the USA in law-enforcement conferences and seminars, as the innovative and holistic nature of the PPT concept has been extremely widely embraced.
In 2012 the SCLT further adapted to the needs of the community by establishing a Senior Minorities Outreach Team (SMOT) led by volunteers with specialist skills in crossing the boundaries of language and culture, to spread the senior safety message to citizens who may not have access to other statutory & voluntary agencies.
The SMOT has seen volunteers attending community events, such as the annual Eid Festival (Cardiff) and the Annual Peace Symposium (Cardiff & London) as well as participating in cultural charity events and even having volunteers embedded at the annual 3-day Muslim ‘Jalsa Salana’ (Festival of Faith), where as many of 30,000 adherents of the Ahmadiyya faith engaged with SCLT volunteers and obtained senior safety advice.
To engage with the wider senior community, the team produce a free magazine, ‘The Senior Siren’ which contains crime prevention and victim support information, as well as lifestyle and health advice. The magazine is delivered via a network of volunteers & partner agencies, which ensure the most vulnerable, receive their copy by hand. The magazine has become one of the most successful magazines of its kind, and is now made available to 250,000 readers, nationwide. The team website (www.sclt.us) receives thousands of weekly hits, worldwide.
The Volunteers:
The volunteers, of whom there are approximately 20; undertake every function of the delivery of the work of the SCLT. This has included the formation of a board of trustees and the establishment of the SCLT as a registered UK charity. The team includes an accountant who acts as treasurer, a musician who performs the role of editor of the magazine and others with transferable skills.
Every member of the team is valued and supported to gain skills and qualifications from their experience with the team. An example is the small team of volunteer presenters of the PPT. All have been mentored by an experienced presenter and have been provided with all the equipment required to deliver exceptional quality presentations. All have the opportunity to attend regular training up-skilling sessions and some volunteers have gone on to become members of the Professional Speaking Association, where the skills that they have acquired with the SCLT have been recognised with professional accreditation.
Funding:
Coming at a time of shrinking public sector budgets, the SCLT was required from its conception, to be 100% self-funding. This was achieved by the volunteer team becoming a registered charity and by applying for grant-funding to cover the initial set-up costs. The SCLT remains extremely financially stable into its 8th year of operation and now has reliable funding streams, such as donation income from supplying guest speaker and presentation services at conferences & seminars, as well as advertising sales within the Senior Siren magazine.
The SCLT is proud to deliver an award-winning crime-prevention and safety-education service in partnership with Avon and Somerset Constabulary, while being 100% self-funding.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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From its outset, the Senior Citizen Liaison Team initiative has proved to be highly adaptable and has been holistically developed throughout its lifetime, as per the requirements and unique needs of the target clients. This is readily visible in the implementation of the Senior Minority Outreach Team (SMOT) which was established and implemented, when it became clear that a tailored protective-services team would be required to improve education transfer with the many vulnerable, elder citizens who were previously excluded from SCLT services due to an inability to engage in English.
Aside from working symbiotically with Avon and Somerset Police, the leadership (trustee board) of the SCLT Charity also forged extremely close links with other statutory and voluntary agencies who shared the same or similar community safety goals. This included members of the trustee team also holding similar, decision-making roles on such bodies as; Age UK Bristol (Charity), Gwent Association of Voluntary Agencies, South West Forum on Ageing and a host of other bodies which were able to offer shared advocacy opportunities for the elder community.
Even after 8-years of operation, the Senior Citizen Liaison Team remains innovative and eager to take up new ideas and opportunities to reach-out to excluded groups. For 2017, the team will introduce a new safety podcast service, which has been designed, funded and implemented by volunteers, to assist in delivering a bespoke audio-safety service to those people (of any age), who suffer an impairment or loss of hearing
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Results:
In 2009 the number of distraction burglaries in the Bristol area reached a high of 137 offences. By implementing the strategies of the all-volunteer SCLT, by the end of 2012 the number of offences had been reduced to 73. A clear reduction of 56%, achieved through their victim-centred approach to helping the elder community overcome their vulnerability
The Senior Citizen Liaison Team is the only such body of volunteers operating in the UK at this time and due to their specialist awareness of deception crime and its consequences in the neighbourhood, they are in great demand to assist other policing organisations who are embarking upon similar ventures. This has resulted in the SCLT network now extending to the Gwent Police and Dyfed-Powys Police areas, where the expertise and skills of the volunteer team has been shared across the wider region.
Since 2009, many tens of thousands of vulnerable elder citizens have benefited from attendance at an event arranged by the Public Presentation Team and the Senior Siren Magazine will have been read millions of times by readers throughout the globe.
In 2015 the SCLT were named as winners of the Lord Ferrer’s Award (The best police volunteer team in the UK) in addition to the European Public Sector Award Certificate of Merit and were recipients of the Queens Award for Voluntary Service (known alternatively as the ‘Team MBE’ – a national honour) in the 2015 Birthday Honours List.
Mark Sedwill (Permanent Secretary of the Home Office) ~ Conferring the 2013 Fighting Fraud Award upon the SCLT in London 2013) ~ “What really strikes you about the SCLT, is that fact that so much has been achieved by people who take pride in volunteering in their own communities”
Prime Minister David Cameron said - upon awarding the project his Big Society Award in 2013 – “The police do a fantastic job keeping people safe but unfortunately tackling crimes like distraction burglaries relies on people having the information and confidence to keep themselves safe. It is great to see officers and volunteers in Bristol giving up their own time to help raise awareness among older, vulnerable people in the local community to prevent them from becoming victims.
Halving the number of distraction burglaries in Bristol is a huge achievement by the Senior Citizen Liaison Team and I’m pleased to be able to give them this award to mark that success”.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Initial obstacles included such basic issues as obtaining funding to resource the requirements of the project. This was overcome by recruiting a volunteer accountant to join the leadership team, who brought their professional skills to bear upon the issue. With a funding strategy in place, the initiative achieved all its financial goals by seeking corporate funding and charitable donations from appropriate, grant-funding bodies, which support safety initiatives.
To ensure the long-term financial health of the team, the funding strategy encompassed a cash-generation programme, which included selling advertising space in its highly regarded magazine, as well as charging for services, such as corporate hosting and after-dinner speaking appearances by its lead volunteers.
Another issue to overcome was the establishment of recognition of the identity of the initiative and subject-matter expertise to ensure that the efforts of the team were taken seriously and trusted by the target audience and clients. This was achieved by the implementation of a carefully thought-out legitimacy strategy, to bolster the reputation of the team and promote its credentials in its area of business.
Actions to address this area included stridently promoting the successes and achievements of the initiative on a local, regional and national level. This involved nominating the team for a number of highly significant, national recognition processes. These were very successful and resulted in the Prime Minister’s Big Society Award (2013) and ultimately the Queens Award for Voluntary Service (2015) – the highest possible award for volunteer teams in the United Kingdom.
These early successes showcased the work and reputation of the initiative and assisted in forming mutually beneficial relationships with partner agencies, who felt confident in working with an organisation, albeit young, but who had received high level, national recognition.
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