Police announce new investments to make Merseyside a 'safer place to live, work and visit'
Merseyside Police has pledged its commitment to making the area 'a safer place to live, work and visit'.
The new Chief Constable has been laying out plans to prevent crime, by reaching young people before they become victims or offenders.
Serena Kennedy took over the role 20 months ago and has ploughed resources into additional neighbourhood policing and increased school based officers.
A new 'prevention strand' has also been created with a focus on reaching people before they go on to offend.
Those prevention measures include:
Early Help teams who look to identify and address vulnerability at an early stage by working directly with families and individuals in order to safeguard and tackle the root causes of problems before they become established.
Investment in dedicated schools’ officers who will be embedded in schools across Merseyside and supported by education specialists in partner organisations to work with children and young people.
A 'Prevention Hub' to help embed the new approach to prevention throughout the whole organisation. That might be through signposting to another agency or by adopting a longer-term partnership evidence-based, problem-solving approach.
A Youth Intervention Unit (YIU) to identify young people who are at risk of committing a crime or reoffending and diverting them, with the support of Youth Justice Services.
An Integrated Offender Management (IOM) partnership approach to crime and reoffending threats faced by local communities, providing rehabilitation through positive support and a targeted response to those who continue to offend.
Problem-oriented policing, which enables a problem-solving approach to be taken to address issues within communities and find long-lasting solutions.
Officers and staff dedicated to designing out crime before it happens - this could be through simple measures, such as cutting back overgrown shrubbery, or bigger projects alongside partners to design new build housing projects that help protect areas from being vulnerable to burglaries and robberies.
Investment into a licensing team to specifically target problematic licensed premises across Merseyside to help reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.
The first dedicated Rural, Wildlife and Heritage Crime Unit in Merseyside, created in response to direct feedback from rural communities that they feel vulnerable to being targeted by criminal gangs. Approximately 50% of Merseyside is classed as rural and these areas are often targets for serious and organised crime groups who target their high value belongings in robberies and aggravated burglaries.
Police Community Support Officers within our force Missing Persons Unit dedicated to care homes. Statistics suggest that around 73% of missing people on Merseyside are under 18 and around 50% are from care homes (including foster homes).
Chief Constable, Serena Kennedy said: "I firmly believe we have to be more preventative to stop people from losing loved ones; to prevent people becoming involved in, and being affected, by serious and organised crime and anti-social behaviour; and to prevent more people becoming victims of crime in Merseyside.
"By intervening early and thinking about problem solving we can prevent problems from escalating, improve life chances and support communities in the future, which will make a huge difference to all of our communities across Merseyside.”
Merseyside’s Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell added: "It’s a priority in my Police and Crime Plan and it’s a priority shared by local people - more than 96% of whom told me they want the police to focus on crime prevention initiatives.
She continued: “Prevention is at the heart of good policing. So, I warmly welcome this launch, and the work being led by the Chief Constable, to embed this approach within Merseyside Police, putting it at the heart of everything we do."
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