How to report on areas where you feel unsafe
The past week has made a cool contrast to the sweltering heatwaves of the weeks before and the calmer weather has landed in good stead for the school holidays.
I hope that everyone manages to take some well-deserved time off this holiday season.
In the meantime, I have several initiatives to update you on.
I would like to tell you about the Streetsafe online tool that allows residents to anonymously pinpoint locations where they feel unsafe.
This information will be fed back to police and local partners and used to identify areas where there is anti-social behaviour (ASB) or environment issues such as lack of street lighting, abandoned buildings or vandalism. However, remember the Streetsafe tool should not be used to report a crime.
Feeling unsafe, even if a crime has not been committed, is very much justified. So, all the information provided by the public will be considered along with extensive evidence already gathered by police forces to inform community safety activities.
You can visit the Streetsafe tool via: https://www.police.uk/pu/notices/streetsafe/street-safe.
Continuing on the topic of street safety, I’m excited to share that the Home Office has awarded Somerset Council, North Somerset Council, Bristol City Council and B&NES Council nearly £1.4million in total to tackle neighbourhood crime such as burglary, robbery, theft from a person and vehicle crime.
The fund will be used to support initiatives that reduce ASB and help change attitudes and behaviours towards violence against women and girls.
Finally, I am happy to share the continued success of Operation Scorpion following last month’s week of action.
Working with other police forces and PCCS in the South West, the intensification week targeted illegal drug supply and drug crime across the region.
In Avon and Somerset, there were almost 700 acts of disruption including 17 arrests for drug related offences, thousands of pounds worth of class A drugs and cannabis discovered and 147 visits to addresses of vulnerable people.
Avon and Somerset Police’s work to tackle drug supply, misuse and harm in local communities continues and I urge anyone with any information or concerns about illegal drug activity to report it to the police by calling 101 or reporting online.
❝ I urge anyone with any concerns about illegal drug activity to report it to the police by calling 101.