A crime fighting project in the North West has scooped first prize at a national awards ceremony for delivering a 13 per cent fall in criminal damage in Bolton.
The Be Safe Bolton Strategic Partnership fought off competition from West Yorkshire Police and Safer Merton to claim the national Tilley Award for Safer Communities and the £10,000 prize. An expert panel of Home Office and local Government Office judges has deemed them to be the best of the 150 entries that were submitted.
They commissioned a profile of criminal damage in Bolton. Using this information the partnership set up an action plan, focusing on hotspots and persistent offenders and using anti-social behaviour orders and acceptable behaviour contracts, as well as CCTV and environmental work.
The results were impressive: since 2006/07 criminal damage fell by 13.4 per cent across Bolton and by over a fifth in the seven priority areas.
A Distington project that dramatically reduced youth anti-social behaviour by involving young people, police, retailers and local agencies won a regional prize for the North West. Residents of the West Cumbria village identified youth crime and anti-social behaviour as a cause for concern. Villagers set up a Rural Safety Group to properly audit the problem and they identified that lack of youth facilities was a source of the problem.
As a result of their work, a multi use games area was built to help divert young people away from anti-social behaviour. They also engaged young people in a competition to design a Rural Safety Group logo while a local shop deployed classical music to disperse groups of young people. Residents report that the results have been dramatic insofar as anti-social behaviour among young people has fallen.
The Tilley Awards were set up ten years ago to recognise innovative crime fighting projects where police and local community safety agencies are successfully working together to identify and tackle local crime problems.
Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said:
"I am very impressed by the range and quality of entries to this year's Tilley Awards and was delighted that Be Safe Bolton scooped the national award for their achievements in tackling criminal damage.
"We have put in place tough laws and continue to support community groups, but that drive to cut crime is enhanced by the drive by groups like the Distington Rural Safety Group.
"Crime has fallen by a third in the last 11 years but we can never be complacent in the fight against crime and anti-social behaviour.
"There is no one size fits all approach to cutting crime and enforcement is just one part of the solution. By working together and using innovative, sustainable ways to reduce crime and disorder in neighbourhoods we can make further strides in cutting crime. I hope other communities will follow Bolton and Distington's example."
