£630,000 grant to make Wisbech and Peterborough a little safer
Darryl Preston, Police and Crime Commissioner with chief constable Nick Dean - Credit: Cambs Police
Wisbech and Peterborough are to share a £630,000 Home Office grant to step up measures to prevent anti-social behaviour.
The Safer Streets Fund cash will pay for extra CCTV, training in schools to identify ‘predatory behaviour’ and video door bells in Medworth ward, Wisbech and central Peterborough.
The money will also pay for two extra officers – shared between the city council and Fenland District Council – for 15 months to tackle anti-social behaviour.
And in Peterborough funding will create a street chaplain scheme – similar to other cities – to support the city’s nightlife and those returning home.
Darryl Preston, Police and Crime Commissioner, said the Home Office funding “will be used to deliver interventions which tackle anti-social behaviour and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)”.
He said the funding follows his pledge in his police and crime plan.
"To date our county has successfully received £1.8m from all four rounds of Safer Streets funding and the money is already making a difference,” he said.
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“For example, thanks to training funded through Safer Streets, CCTV operators were able to prevent a potential rapist from striking and direct police resources to save a woman during an attack.”
The grant is worth £634,285 over 15 months and will pay for a range of new initiatives that also allows for extra mobile CCTV cameras and an additional member of staff who is already trained in spotting predatory behaviours.
There will be training for security industry staff and taxi drivers on how to spot predatory behaviour and what to do when it is identified.
A sexual violence ambassador scheme will operate in three schools to improve young people’s knowledge of VAWG.
And more neighbourhood watch schemes will be set up.
Assistant chief constable Vicki Evans said; “The funding will allow us to step up patrols and work closer with partners to prevent future crimes happening in the first place.
“We will also develop our police cadet scheme within the local areas.
“Hearing today that the plans can now bear fruit and be realised is very satisfying and exciting.”
She said police look forward to “continuing to work with partners, using additional funds to harness existing skills, knowledge and experiences to make our communities safer”.
