Bedfordshire Police Headquarters
Bridgebury House, Woburn Road, Kempston, Bedfordshire, MK43 9AX
Bridgebury House, Woburn Road, Kempston, Bedfordshire, MK43 9AX
The Home Office unveiled Safer Streets in January 2020. The project aims to help Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities and their partners to secure extra funding to support initiatives to make the streets of England and Wales safer.
To date, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Bedfordshire has secured over £1.8m of funding through the safer streets fund and details of previous schemes can be found on our website.
On 25th July 2022, it was announced that Bedfordshire OPCC has been successful in their bid to secure just over £1m in the latest round of the governments Safer Streets funding initiative.
Funding has been provided for the following initiatives:
Primary Bid – Bedfordshire wide (£729,932)
This bid will look to target Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) in public places and feelings of safety from VAWG, but it is expected that this will also have an indirect impact on other areas such as anti-social behaviour (ASB), serious violence, robbery, gangs and criminal exploitation. Further information about VAWG, how to report an incident or find support can be found on our website.
Secondary Bid – Luton (£294,000)
This bid will look to address neighbourhood crime and ASB within Luton South Ward.
PCC Festus Akinbusoye said:
“We want to work together across Bedfordshire to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG) and raise awareness about unacceptable behaviour such as sexual harassment.
“We know that much of this behaviour is driven by male perpetrators, and a key part of this work will focus on encouraging men to step up and speak out about bad behaviour and ways to challenge it. We all have a responsibility to tackle this.
“This does not mean that men are never victims of violence, or that women are not sometimes perpetrators. However, local and national data shows a clear disproportionality along gender lines.
“Our bid aims to utilise the funding to reach and support the largest number of victims, perpetrators, and communities across the county with the aim of educating, raising awareness, improving the feeling of safety in public spaces, and increasing reporting of violence against women and girls.
“Any victim of violence and abuse deserves to access support and help and this money will help us deliver a number of initiatives across the county to make women and girls feel safer.”
Please email Saferstreets.bedfordshire@beds.police.uk for any enquiries regarding Safer Streets.
Bedfordshire Police HQ
Bridgebury House
Woburn Road
Kempston
Bedfordshire
MK43 9AX
Tel: 01234 842064
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