PATREC Research into Integrated Crime Prevention Strategies for Rail Station Environs: Preliminary Findings Trudi Cooper1, Terence Love3, Fred Affleck2, Angela Durey1 1 Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, Australia 2 Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia 3 Design Out Crime and CPTED Centre Contact person: Dr Terence Love admin@designoutcrime.org PATREC Research Forum 19 September 2006

Problem People gather in and around railway stations Some people’s 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?

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

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

Four stage research project plan Problem scoping Plan ‘pilot’ interventions Undertake interventions Evaluation and final report

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

Map

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Research pitfalls Potential misunderstandings about goals, priorities and roles of other agencies Miscommunication if issues are oversimplified and viewed only from perspective of each agency’s 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)

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

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

Social Action method ‘Social Action’ methods were used in facilitating collaboration, action planning and and as the framework Based on Friere’s ‘Participatory Action Research’ approach

Armadale Main issue: Fear of assaults by other patrons, especially intoxicated patrons Survey of young people’s 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

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

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 TG’s New zip card distributed by youth services includes info about rights and responsibilities on trains and local youth services

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

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

Conclusions – interagency collaboration 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

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

Conclusions – positive public 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

Conclusions – managing interagency 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.

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