Operation Streetsafe

Making a difference

(Date of issue: Wednesday, 6 August 2008)

Carlisle & Eden Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) with partners including Cumbria Constabulary, Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service, Carlisle City Council, Carlisle Housing Association, Cumbria Neighbourhood Watch, Victim Support and Carlisle United amongst others are taking part in a Summer holiday Operation Streetsafe, being held on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 August. During the two days the partners will be visiting approximately 200 households in the Richmond Green area of the city between 09.00am and 1.00pm each day.

Streetsafe is the best opportunity to consult with residents about issues in the community. The initiative provides a high profile police and partnership presence to demonstrate our commitment to working together to improve the quality of life for our communities through reducing crime and anti social behaviour. We take the opportunity to listen to concerns about street lighting, dog fouling, fly tipping, domestic abuse, hate crime etc. We are then able to feed this back to partners and make some immediate and more long term positive impacts in those communities, thereby improving that "feel safe" factor.

For example we;

• Remove graffiti
• Remove fly tipping
• Install smoke alarms
• Remove abandoned vehicles
• Upgrade peoples security
• Provide youth diversion

We tackle local issues at a local level using local staff operations. This highly visible Police and Partnership presence ensures that we have a consistently reassuring uniformed partnership approach to all our house-to-house visits. We will visit each household, armed with a community bag and a questionnaire. Residents are then given the opportunity to discuss community concerns in private with staff, in the sure knowledge that their concerns will be relayed back to the relevant agency as a whole, so that such concerns can be further investigated and actioned as necessary.

David Raven will be joining the City Council Sports and Recreation team for one of several drop in sports sessions that have been organised for local kids at the Yewdale Community Centre, Hutton Way. David will be attending the Thursday session between 1.30 and 2.30pm on 7 August. The sessions will feature a variety of activities including Frisbee challenge; they are being run between 09.00am and 2.30pm on the Thursday and 09.00am and 1.00pm on Friday. The sessions are an ideal opportunity to ask kids what facilities they want in their local area and find out what activities they would like to do and how they feel about where they live. A football exchange is also being held where old hard footballs can be swapped for new soft footballs, these are likely to cause less damage, help prevent injuries and ultimately lead to fewer complaints from residents.

Mary Robinson Chair of Carlisle & Eden CDRP welcomed the initiative saying:

 "partners are committed to working with other agencies to make a difference by addressing the issues that matter to our communities. Streetsafe provides real reassurance to local people of agency activities and available services that are aimed at tackling problems in their area and further embeds the message of respect."

Cllr Olwyn Luckley portfolio holder for Health and Communities said:

‘’Streetsafe is about tackling issues affecting local communities. By working at neighbourhood level with local people, partners are able to build community confidence and work towards reducing crime and anti-social behaviour in that area."

Cllr Colin Stothard and Cllr Joe Hendry Ward Councillors for Yewdale said:

‘’Yewdale is a good place to live. We need to work together to keep it that way. The Streetsafe initiative is exactly the type of project that helps us to do so. We know that this will be greatly appreciated by local people.’’

North Cumbria Police Community Safety Sergeant Tony Kirkbride said:

‘’Streetsafe demonstrates that we are working hard to address local people’s concerns and reduce the fear of crime. Another example of positive action taken with our partners to make the residents of Carlisle and Eden feel safe and secure. A testament to the hard work and dedication of all of the partners involved in helping to make Carlisle and Eden among the safest places to live in the country.’’