The home of the Scottish Community Safety Network
by Dave Shea, Senior National Development Officer OVERVIEW In October 2021, after extensive, systematic, considered discussion of gains and risks – to business and staff – SCSN began a 6 month pilot of 4-day working. We revised our terms and conditions. The organisation’s principles and spirit of working were renewed. An updated ‘How We Will...
For our first newsletter of the year, following two very difficult years, we decided we wanted to try focus on what we’re feeling hopeful about. Here, the SCSN staff team share what they’re excited about in community safety in 2022, as well as their personal hopes for the year! Lorraine I’m hoping for a quieter,...
by Dave Shea, Senior National Development Officer We’re halfway through our 6 month experiment, trialling 4-day working at the SCSN. In this second post (you can read the first here), I share the experience so far, organisationally and personally, and try to predict where this all might lead us. It isn’t an evidence-led piece, it’s...
Its been an exhausting two years for all of us since the Covid 19 pandemic hit us. And just when it felt like we were seeing some light at the end of the tunnel of public health measures and restrictions on our lives, along has come a new variant to upset the apple cart once...
David Barbour, SCSN Communications Officer In October, we ran a webinar on Climate Change and Community Safety. Given that the climate crisis will affect literally everyone, we were aware that it might inevitably impact on community safety too. But it was only when we started giving it some real thought that we began to realise...
By Joana Avi-Lorie Story Weaver at Scottish Communities Climate Action Network I know we are not powerless, but we cannot underestimate the difficulties of changing the stories that makes us think we are. This need to change the story has led many authors, speakers, and community leaders to focus on the empowerment of others, and...
Guest article by Professor Fergus McNeill, Professor of Criminology, University of Glasgow – on the Distant Voices Festival It is probably no exaggeration to say that, for as long as human beings have lived in social groups and have had the capacity to build, they have built both barriers and bridges. We might assume that...
The SCSN Board recently approved a six month trial of a four day working week for our staff team. There’s been a lot of momentum gaining around this idea, with successful pilots having been trialled in other countries, and Scottish Government backing the idea as a way of improving work/life balance of employees – without...
POVERTY AND COMMUNITY SAFETY How do we achieve community safety? To my mind the best way of achieving that aim is by preventing issues from arising rather than dealing with the aftermath. When I was a young police officer, a new recruit, the first thing we learned was the legal definition of a constable as...
Austin Smith, Policy Officer at Scottish Drugs Forum, discusses the link between poverty, problem drug use and Scotland’s high and increasing rate of drug-related deaths. Austin Smith Policy Officer at Scottish Drugs Forum discusses the link between poverty, problem drug use and Scotland’s high and increasing rate of drug-related deaths. The latest drug related deaths...