The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) recently hosted an event in Manshead, Dunstable as part of the Safer Streets project.

Residents were invited to come along to St Augustine’s Academy in Dunstable to speak with the multi-partnership team made up of the OPCC, Bedfordshire Police, Central Bedfordshire Council, Bedfordshire Police Partnership Trust, Bedfordshire Victim Care Services, Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service plus other local partners who have been supporting the project.

The Safer Streets team have visited homes in the area over the last few months to raise awareness of the project and encourage residents to come along to the event.

Karen Cotton, Safer Streets Co-ordinator said: “Following another successful multi-agency information pack drop to over 500 households in the Manshead area, the Safer Streets team held a successful community engagement event at St Augustine’s Academy.

“Over 100 residents attended the free event and were able to engage with a variety of partners, discuss community safety issues and learn about support services available to them.

“The Safer Streets initiative has now engaged with a total of over 2000 households in the Manshead area with the final households being visited this week.”

The Police and Crime Commissioner, Festus Akinbusoye won funding from The Home Office last year which has been used to tackle crime by investing in preventative approaches to reduce criminality and increase the level of pride in the community.

The community has seen investments in providing residents with free SmartWater, Ring Doorbells and crime prevention advice, radios for businesses to help to tackle retail crime linked to the Councils CCTV control room.

• Bedfordshire Victim Care Services
• The Bobby Scheme
• Direction 4 Beds – You Turn futures
• Dunstable Good Neighbours Scheme
• NHS Path to recovery
• Better Housing Better Health
• Disability Resource Centre
• Dunstable South Children’s Centre
• Bedfordshire Wellbeing Service
• Dunstable Foodbank

Karen further commented: “The event marked the end of a very successful project.  To date, we have given out over 2,000 Smart Water kits and 134 Ring doorbells have been installed.

“I would like to thank Central Bedfordshire Council’s community safety team who have supported this initiative. Also, our partner agencies below who continue to play vital part in the project.”

Steve Mead, School Business Manager, St Augustine’s Academy said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been able to host the Safer Streets event for the OPCC.”

A local resident said, “This is a marvellous event, it’s been a very useful day, I’ve got lots of information, I’m nearly 80 years old and it has helped to relive a lot of my worries”.

Councillor Philip Crawley said: “I’m really excited about this event today; I think it’s good to bring so many community resources into the public eye and there’s loads of services here to help people.  Thank you so much to the Safer Streets team for hosting this event.”

Central Bedfordshire Council’s Community Safety team promoted local support services available and enabled residents to raise any concerns they had about their local area.

For more information about the Safer Streets project please contact safer.streets@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.