Community safety partnership
Safer Together – Wakefield's Community Safety Partnership
Keeping Wakefield safe
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 places statutory duties on agencies to come together to address crime and community safety with a community safety partnership.
Safer Together brings together agencies who are working to make the Wakefield district a safer place for local people and communities.
Our partner organisations include:
- Wakefield Council
- West Yorkshire Police
- West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Wakefield District Housing
- Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
- National Probation Service
- Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC)/no domain
- Nova Wakefield
What we're doing to keep Wakefield safe
The partnership is committed to:
- reducing and preventing crime
- reducing the fear of crime
- reducing anti-social behaviour
- reducing re-offending
- combating the misuse of drugs, alcohol, and substances
- reducing domestic abuse
- ensuring services are delivered effectively on a local level
Our priorities
Here are the key areas we're currently working on to make Wakefield safer. We want you to feel safe in your local area and we're working together on these priorities every day in your community.
- Serious Violent Crime including a focus on keeping women and girls safe
- Domestic abuse
- Rape and other sexual offences
- Preventing terrorism
- Hate crime
- Anti-social behaviour including arson
Read the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP) Needs Assessment and Response Strategy. This is for preventing and reducing serious violence in West Yorkshire.
Safer Together funding – case studies
Selecta DNA Biker Lite
The lives of resident in parts of the south east area of the Wakefield district have been affected by people illegally driving motorcycles and scooters on roads and in public places.
The Safer Together partnership recognised the impact this was having and has funded initiatives to tackle the issues, including the use of SelectDNA, a spray used by police to tag a person who is riding a motorbike illegally. The spray cannot be washed off and remains on the person's clothing and skin. This evidence helped to convict four people for dangerous driving.
The Partnership this year also began funding West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) to run courses including the Safer Motorcycling programme. The aim is to reduce dangerous driving, collisions between road users and illegal riders as well as stopping the anti-social use of motorbikes.
Another course, Biker Lite, is designed to change the behaviour of young adults around the use of motorcycles and the associated anti-social behaviour.
The courses are in the early stages, but initial feedback suggest some people now better understand the risks of dangerous driving, why their use of motorbikes is anti-social, and for the first time they can see how their actions affect their neighbours.
Smart Water technology – May 2021
The Partnership has agreed to fund £6,000 of 'smart water' technology for use in homes where someone is at risk of repeated domestic violence.
'Smart water' is designed with a unique code that if it comes into a contact with a person, will link them to an incident or crime. The technology can be used to deter domestic incidents, or used as evidence against a perpetrator who has breached an order to stay away from the victim.
Youth workers, PCSOs/PCs – May 2021
An £18,019 grant has been approved to fund additional hours for youth workers, police community support officers and police constables in the district, to help keep young people safe.
During lockdown there have been concerns that some young people may be more at risk and vulnerable to criminal exploitation.
By having more staff on the streets to actively engage with young people in the evening and weekends, the plan is to protect young people from criminals.
Neighbourhood coordination groups – May 2021
The Partnership has awarded a total of £28,000 to fund projects and activities by neighbourhood coordination groups that help prevent or deter crime. Each group will receive £4,000 for projects in their area.
The funding will enable neighbourhood coordination groups to continue to commission Voluntary and Community Sector organisations to deliver intelligence led projects and activities. This will help tackle community safety issues by developing a network of preventative services as a means of early intervention and demand reduction.