Safer Arun Partnership

The Safer Arun Partnership (SAP) is the name given to the statutory local Community Safety Partnership, and brings together a number of agencies to jointly work to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour across the district.  It is recognised that no individual agency can deal with these issues in isolation.

The strategic vision of SAP is:

  • To reduce the risk of harm to our communities by creating a safer place for people to live, work, and visit.
  • To take a proactive approach to reducing crime and nuisance behaviour.
  • To consider the concerns of local people and to deliver against their priorities as well as those at county and national level.
  • To work together and make best use of partnership resources.

Priorities and the Partnership Plan

SAP priorities 2025-2026

The Safer Arun Partnership has adopted a new three-year partnership plan with effect from 1 January 2026. The plan sets out the partnership's strategic priorities and identifies the core aims and work plans to continue to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour in the district.

The priority areas for SAP for 2026-2028 are:

Antisocial behaviour

Aims:

  • Identify opportunities for early intervention where young people engage in ASB.
  • Utilise all available ASB enforcement tools to reduce community-based ASB.
  • Effectively apply the ASB-related PSPO where alcohol is a factor in nuisance behaviour.
  • Reduce the number of repeat perpetrators of ASB.
  • Use HASBRAC to reduce the number of high-risk ASB cases year-on-year.
  • Use HASBRAC to encourage early interventions between neighbours and ensure that RSLs work in partnership with relevant agencies.
  • Reduce the negative impact of anti-social driving, including the use of e-scooters and unauthorised e-bikes.

Improving overall feelings of safety

Aims:

  • Increase public confidence to report incidents of crime and ASB.
  • Empower local communities to drive initiatives and engagement with services to access the tools to protect themselves and others.
  • Improve community and resident feelings of safety across the district.
  • Build community cohesion through dialogue and understanding to address local tensions or wider conflict.
  • Support businesses to reduce shoplifting, a visible crime that perpetuates a sense of town centres being unsafe.
  • Raise awareness of fraud and scams, focusing on the most vulnerable groups and those susceptible to particular fraud types. 

Serious violence

Aims:

  • Deliver projects to deter the use of weapons. 
  • Work in partnership with the community to tackle violent crime.
  • Promote initiatives that give confidence to victims of domestic abuse to seek support.
  • Encourage the creation of more Safe Spaces in the district and promote their whereabouts.
  • Identify crime hotspot locations and utilise partnership resources to deter activity.
  • Deliver initiatives and projects to protect children at risk of criminal exploitation.
  • Work with the West Sussex VRP to advocate on behalf of Arun residents and the issues specific to our locality.

The partnership plan

In setting its community safety plan, the Safer Arun Partnership undertook a rigorous review of the 2023-2025 priorities and all associated actions and outcomes. In addition, crime data sets, community feedback, and professional insights were all considered during this process and have been invaluable to shaping the new plan.

Read the 2026-2028 SAP Partnership Plan[pdf] 2MB

Anti-spiking ‘HEY!’ campaign

We recognise the dangers caused by spiking someone, whether by drugs or additional alcohol. Spiking is cowardly and our ‘HEY!’ campaign directs its messaging at those spiking, drawing attention to their gutless behaviour.

The act of spiking is a serious crime which can be punishable by up to 10 years in prison. If spiking leads to further criminal acts, such as assault or rape, additional charges and punishment may be applied.

It is unlikely that you will notice anything different about your drink if it has been spiked, so please:

  • never leave your drink unattended
  • do not accept drinks from anyone you don’t know and trust
  • try to avoid drinking too much alcohol which can diminish your senses
  • avoid shared drinks such as fishbowls or jugs
  • stay close to your friends and look out for each other

If you feel that your drink has had an unexpected effect on you, seek help immediately.

If you think a friend has been spiked, you can help them by:

  • alerting venue staff
  • staying with them
  • calling an ambulance if their condition worsens
  • not letting them go home on their own
  • not letting them leave with someone you don’t know and trust
  • preventing them drinking more alcohol

Recent national reports indicate spiking can also occur by injection. Be aware of any sharp sudden pains and, if you do experience this, check the area for an injection site.

Call 999 immediately if you need urgent help.

If you see any suspicious activity, please report if to staff or Police.

If you have any information about who may be committing such offences, report in confidence to the Police or Crimestoppers (0800 555111).

Reducing Youth ASB and Crime in Arun

The Safer Arun Partnership recognises the impact that rising youth related crime and anti-social behaviour has on local communities. Since the start of 2024, there has been a rise in such behaviour and activity in the Arun area and so the partnership has taken a dedicated approach to this issue. 'Reducing Youth Anti-Social Behaviour and Crime in Arun' sets out the partnership's multi-agency response to date.

To further support the partnership's approach to reducing youth related ASB and crime, our Community Safety team invited all 10-18 year olds who live or go to school in the district to complete a youth survey. This encouraged children and young people to share with us their views on where they feel safe or unsafe in public spaces and what elements of these locations impacted their feeling of safety. This is a first step in a wider contextual safeguarding approach being undertaken to allow agencies to make the places young people use safer for them, and to tackle the behaviours which cause concern. The youth survey results are published here: Young Voices Matter - youth survey results.