Safe in Central Beds

Community safety is a lot more than bobbies on the beat these days. A lot depends on police partnerships with other service providers like local government. Here is CBC's community safety partnership vision from its recent News Central magazine. Download the full edition at
News Central Online

Central Bedfordshire is a safe place to live and work, and although crime levels are low the fear of crime can be disproportionately high. Increasing public confidence and reducing the fear of crime is a priority for the Central Bedfordshire Community Safety Partnership (CSP). We use consultations and engage with residents at community events to understand their concerns. This helps us ensure we are focused in the right areas and able to offer reassurance where and when it is needed.  

With our communities the  Central Bedfordshire CSP  has identified the following  three priorities for 2013-2014.  

1. Reducing anti-social  behaviour (ASB) We will identify and intervene at hot spot locations to reduce incidents of ASB and repeat victimisation. We will support vulnerable victims through the Anti-Social Behaviour Risk Assessment Conference and work with offenders to stop them from offending again.

2. Reducing offending,  specifically substance  misuse and youth offending We will reduce offending by identifying and working intensively with repeat offenders and young people on the cusp of offending behaviour. We will continue to support Integrated Offender Management, which focuses on the small number of persistent offenders who commit the most crimes, and promote the work of the Substance Misuse Recovery Hubs.  

3. Reducing violence against  people, specifically from  domestic abuse and night  time economy We will support and protect victims of domestic and sexual abuse. We will work with partners and licensees to reduce disorder and violence in our town centres and increase the number of active businesses in the Pubwatch and Radio Link schemes.  

We hold ‘Pride In’ events - a joint partnership and community approach to deal with specific community and environmental issues. The CSP engages with local residents and businesses to provide support, and we work together to build confidence in the area. The CSP is committed to these engagement events and we will continue to hold ‘Pride In’ events during 2013- 2014.  

visit www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/community