New £500,000 funding to cut crime and make Derbyshire communities safer

Derbyshire residents are set to benefit from more than £500,000 of funding to help crack down on burglary and theft in crime hotspots.
By Lucy Roberts
Published 31st Jul 2020, 11:28 BST
Hardyal Dhindsa has been awarded funding to improve security in areas particularly affected by burglary, vehicle theft and robbery.Hardyal Dhindsa has been awarded funding to improve security in areas particularly affected by burglary, vehicle theft and robbery.
Hardyal Dhindsa has been awarded funding to improve security in areas particularly affected by burglary, vehicle theft and robbery.

A total of £514,561 has been awarded to police and crime commissioner Hardyal Dhindsa by the ‘Safer Streets Fund’, which aims to stop offences that blight communities and cause misery to victims from happening in the first place.

The money will go towards measures proven to cut crime. These include simple changes to the design of streets such as locked gates around alleyways, increased street-lighting and the installation of CCTV.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The funding will also be used to train community wardens, deliver local crime prevention advice to residents and establish Neighbourhood Watch schemes.

Crime and policing minister Kit Malthouse said: “Persistent street crime and burglary have a corrosive effect on a neighbourhood, leaving people apprehensive about leaving their homes, and afraid of what they might encounter when they return.

“But simple modifications like better street lighting or CCTV can do a lot to prevent crime.

“So alongside more focussed thief-taking by the police, these projects should have a big impact on the communities hardest hit by burglars, robbers and villains in general.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Acquisitive offences are the crimes that the public are most likely to encounter, and they are estimated to cost society billions of pounds every year.

There is strong evidence that these crimes can be pr evented by tactics that either remove opportunities to commit crime or act as a deterrent by increasing the chances of an offender being caught.

The government announced the Safer Streets Fund in October 2019, and PCCs were invited to bid for funding in January this year.

Crime prevention lead from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, Roger Hirst, said: “This funding will support PCCs and their community safety partners to effectively deliver crime reduction activities that will prevent and reduce crimes such as burglary and robbery in the areas that need it most.”