Richard has welcomed the additional £729.932 awarded to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in Bedfordshire through the Government’s Safer Streets Fund, which will help to make streets safer through projects to prevent violence against women and girls
This additional funding, part of the £50 million from the latest round of the Safer Streets Fund, will enable the roll out of extra CCTV and streetlighting in communities and expand work to change attitudes and behaviours and prevent these crimes happening in the first place.
This is the fourth round of funding from the Safer Street Fund and takes the total awarded through this fund and the Safety of Women at Night Fund to £125 million.
The Safer Streets Fund builds on the Government’s existing measures to keep our streets safe. Including almost 14,000 more police officers recruited across England and Wales, increasing police funding to almost £17 billion, and preventing 49,000 violent offences across England and Wales since 2019 through Violence Reduction Units - protecting the public and breaking the cycle of crime. This also marks one year since the publication of the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. Since publishing the strategy, the government has delivered a number of key commitments to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere - at home, online, at work and in public spaces.
Richard Fuller MP said:
No one should feel afraid while walking the streets of Bedfordshire, yet for so many people, particularly women and girls, feeling uncomfortable or even unsafe in public spaces has become an all-too-common occurrence.
That is why I am delighted the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire has received £729,932 through our Safer Street Fund, which will deliver necessary measures and engagement projects to change behaviours and prevent crimes being committed across Bedfordshire.
Locally, the funding will support efforts to tackle violence against women and girls and make them feel safer across the county. Projects set to be funded include an education and awareness programme to go into schools across the county, taking Bedfordshire Police’s Project Firefly operation county-wide as well as exploring new ways women and girls can report when they feel unsafe. The programme has been informed by data from surveys, police, Crimestoppers and in consultation with local authorities and women’s charities.
More information can be read here.
