More than 60 people attended the ninth Annual Community Safety Seminar held by Aberdeenshire Community Safety Partnership at Kemnay Church Centre on Saturday, 28 March, 2009.

The seminar included workshop sessions on Domestic Sprinkler Systems, Community Safety Analysis and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. Several partner agencies were represented at the the event including Grampian Police, Aberdeenshire Council and Grampian Fire & Rescue Service.

William Munro, Kincardine and Mearns Area Manager with Aberdeenshire Council, chaired the event. Mr Munro is also Chair of the Aberdeenshire Community Safety Partnership.

The keynote address was delivered by Colin Mackenzie, Chief Executive of Aberdeenshire Council who spoke of how the voluntary work of the local Community Safety Groups was appreciated and how important to the area it was to have people feel safe in their own communities. He also spoke of the challenges ahead for Aberdeenshire Council in light of the credit crunch and for the need to continue to work closely with partners.

One runner up prize of £100 and a certificate was awarded to The Brighter Horizons project in Banff which has been developed in response to the lack of facilities for young people in the evening after school.

The second runner up prize of £100 and a certificate was awarded to Daviot School Bike Safety Initiative which has been delivered by pupils of Daviot School along with their teachers, parents, Grampian Police and the local community.

Presentation of the Certificate of Merit to the Banff & District Community Safety Group for their Hi-visibility Vests project.

Presentation of the Certificate of Merit to Kemnay Primary School for winning a National Speaking event debating the problem of youth crime.

Domestic Sprinkler Systems

Fred joined the Grampian Fire & Rescue Service, (Grampian Fire Brigade as it then was), in 1976 as a Retained Firefighter in Stonehaven, and joined the wholetime service in Aberdeen in 1983.

During this time Fred has served in an operational capacity at three of the four fire stations in Aberdeen City, and also at Peterhead fire station, as well as spells in the Training Department as Retained Training Officer, and in Emergency Planning.

Fred's current role as a Station Manager in Aberdeenshire Command involves a wide variety of duties one of which is Chairing the Aberdeenshire Home Safety Group. One of the aims of this group is to see a reduction in the number of dwelling fires and resulting casualties by promoting home fire safety right across Aberd eenshire.

In 32 years service, Fred has attended countless dwelling fires and has lost count of the number of those that involved injuries and/or fatalities, not to mention the very often severe damage to the properties concerned. Fred has no doubt whatsoever that the advent of domestic smoke alarms in the last twenty years or so have saved many lives and serious injury by giving early warning of fire to the occupants of dwellings where fire has broken out. The downward trend in fire deaths and injuries is evidence of this.

Community Safety Analysis

Craig went to Robert Gordon University 1999 - 2004; attained two degrees - BA in Law & Management and an LL.B. Thereafter Craig undertook a voluntary project in Tanzania, Africa and travelled around for a few weeks upon completion.

On returning from Africa, Craig was appointed by Exxonmobil as an SAP Resolver Analyst, staying at Exxon for approx 18 months, then spent a sabbatical year in Prague, Czech Republic. On his return Craig got the post of Community Safety Analyst, employed by Grampian Police and funded through the Aberdeenshire Community Safety Partnership.

Craig began by highlighting the various phases and processes involved in the analytical process. He then went on to describe the National Intelligence Model, which is the framework in which the Partnership operates. Fundamental to this model is the Tasking and Coordinating function. This demands that analytical documents are utilised in order to inform decision-making, thereby allowing the Partnership to advance on an evidence-led basis. He concluded his presentation with a hypothetical example of a particular crime series: he talked about the stages that he would go through in order to effectively analyse a particular crime series and present his findings to the Partnership.

Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents

Elizabeth Lumsden is the Manager of the recently restructured Community Safety Department in RoSPA in Scotland. She is an Executive Member of the Scottish Community Safety Network. Elizabeth has been with RoSPA for over 14 years and spent 10 years in the Home Safety Department before spending three years as Road Safety Manaqer. RoSPA brought both Home and Road Safety under the umbrella of Community Safety in 2008 and Elizabeth was delighted to head up this new section.

Elizabeth graduated with a BA in Social Sciences and is one of only two people in the UK to have gained a Masters in Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion.