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Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen has secured extra funding worth £1m to improve safety in public spaces across the county’s rural and urban communities.
The funding, awarded from Round 5 of the Home Office’s Safer Streets scheme, will be used to crackdown on the problems that concern the public most including anti-social behaviour (ASB), neighbourhood crime and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
The County Durham and Darlington PCC and her team submitted plans to the Home Office for three projects which will be delivered over an 18-month period between October 1 2023 and 31 March 2025.
CCTV cameras, both new and upgraded kit, new Neighbourhood Watch engagement officers, defensible barriers to prevent off-bike riding and home security upgrades are just some of the interventions planned as part of the pioneering safety scheme.
More than £200k of the funding will be invested in efforts to crackdown on rural crime and protect people who live in the countryside and their property and livelihoods.
The remainder will be invested in projects to robustly tackle ASB across County Durham and Darlington and VAWG in Durham City.
Commissioner Allen said: “This is a huge sum of money to have secured for our force area. It will allow me to ramp up the improvements, whilst targeting specific hotspot areas to reduce the risk of crime and relieve those who live or work in Durham and Darlington of the problems that impact their confidence and mental health.
“Our communities will welcome this extra investment with open arms as they see more active patrols to prevent, detect and deter crime. They want to see criminals brought to justice and punished for their offending and to know that officers take their experiences of crime and ASB wherever they live very seriously.
“This funding will not only increase the opportunities to secure evidence against offenders it will also help us to prevent crime and protect more people from becoming victims of crime. I am looking forward to bringing our partners together to deliver on these exciting proposals.”
The grant includes £451,149 to tackle ASB across County Durham and Darlington (Blackhall, Wheatley Hill, Thornley, Trimdon Colliery, Murton, Darlington Park East and Banktop). A further £205,428 has been earmarked for the rural areas of Hurworth Burn, Wingate, Station Town, Hutton Henry, Sheraton West, Barnard Castle/Bowes, Whorlton, Cotherstone/The Dales, Gainford, Darlington West Villages and Middleton St George while £343,243 has been allocated for tackling VAWG across Durham City.
Planned interventions include:
County Durham and Darlington
• Deployable CCTV cameras
• Appointment of three ASB/Neighbourhood Watch Engagement Officers
• Purchase and installation of crime security equipment, crime security assessments and advice for burgled households and neighbouring properties.
Rural County Durham and Darlington
• Rural Watch coordinators, an intelligence analyst and admin support officers from the National Farmers’ Union
• Crime prevention equipment including GPS trackers, PIR lights, Rural Watch signage, thermal imaging binoculars, body worn cameras and an air weapon tester.
• Aerial surveillances – drones and pilot licenses
• Upgrades to rural vehicles.
Durham City
• Public Space CCTV and Deployable CCTV cameras
• VAWG Engagement Officer
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