Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Spring 2022 newsletter

Safer streets funding helps step up security

Work has been completed on eight state of-the-art CCTV cameras which were installed at the end of March to enhance coverage of Hinckley town centre. Nearly 300 householders have also benefitted from free security upgrades.

Hinckley town centre benefited from £108,000 to reduce crime, create safer neighbourhoods and improve security. The funds were secured from the Home Office’s Safer Streets 2 Fund.

Initiatives also included additional radios for the radio link scheme managed via the Business Improvement District (BID) which will link up businesses, Police and CCTV to ensure timely responses to incidences and increase the chances of evidence gathering and prosecution and funding to remove graffiti. Communities will also benefit from the installation of new police automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.

Further funding, secured from the Safer Streets 3 project, has seen four new cameras installed at Clarendon Park to help reassure park users and increase their safety – two at the basketball court and two at the other end of the park.

The move is part of a wider project which is aimed at reducing violence against women and girls and reducing the fear of crime.

Cllr Michael Mullaney, Executive member for Housing and Community said: “Securing this funding is a welcome boost to tackling anti-social behaviour and crime in Hinckley town centre and will make a difference to our residents and wider communities. It reinforces the council’s investment to improve community safety”.

Stop loan sharks

Blaby District Council residents were encouraged to protect themselves and their loved ones from loan sharks on the lead up to Christmas as part of the #AllIwantforChristmas campaign

The campaign was led by The England Illegal Money Lending Team (ILMT), a national body supported by the government. The ILMT has helped the Resident Support Team at Blaby District Council on several occasions in recent years when clients that Resident Support have been supporting have been embroiled with loan sharks.

Tony Quigley, Head of the England IMLT said: “Illegal money lending is a horrific crime that affects many individuals, their families and entire communities. Borrowing from a loan shark might feel like your only option when you are in a pinch and need cash fast this festive season, but it’s important to remember that these lenders operate illegally and can turn quite nasty when demanding payments from victims."

For more information on IMLT please visit stop loan sharks (stoploansharks.co.uk).

Pop-up police shop in shopping centre

Hinckley police launched a pop-up shop from the 1 of February, initially for three months, in a vacant retail unit at the Britannia Centre, in Hinckley town centre. The pop-up shop has been a great opportunity for our local police beat team to reconnect with the community and for residents to speak with the beat team, raise concerns and get crime prevention advice.

Police Sergeant James Cross added:

We have been really pleased with the interest that the shop has caused locally and hope that with everyone talking about it, that we continue to see the great number of people popping in to see us. Having a presence in the shop has enabled us to receive reports of crimes quickly and we believe that our presence has contributed to a reduction of crime in the Britannia Centre and hopefully has made people feel safer when they are out and about. Due to the success of the pop-up shop, further surgeries will be held in May and June. Officers from the local beat team will be present to assist with any queries and volunteers will be on hand with crime prevention products to purchase. Over 600 members of the community visited between February and April and now it is to be extended until June, I would encourage anyone that hasn’t visited yet to pop in and say hello.

A range of different agencies are also getting involved to give advice and give out crime reduction resources including Victim First, Neighbourhood Watch and Hinckley & Bosworth’s Community Safety Team.

Youngsters win kicks challenge

Well done to the Hinckley Kicks team, a group of budding footballers who have won a football challenge competition run by Leicester City in the Community.

In total more than 70 local youngsters have taken part in a free football coaching programme at Green Towers, Hinckley, where the sessions create healthy competition while helping to improve skills, as well as wellbeing and confidence.

Cory Holas, Community Education Coach for Leicester City in the Community, said: “We wanted to add something new, engaging and competitive to our regular Premier League Kicks sessions, so we started the Kicks Challenge in Leicester & Leicestershire. The winners of the first ever challenge was the group from Hinckley, who won a trip to Leicester’s Ninja Warrior assault course. They also got a new Europa League Football to take home.”

Nick, one of the youngsters who took part, said: “I think the Kicks Challenge is good because it has given me and others something to do. I enjoyed taking part with my friends. It felt good to win because we got a reward out of it.”

The sessions are held Mondays, 4pm  to 5:30pm (term time only), at Green Towers, Richmond Road, Hinckley, LE10 0DZ

To get involved email: luke.dixon@lcfc.co.uk or complete the online registration form (participant.co.uk)

You’re Right That’s Wrong

Blaby District Council and Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council are supporting the You’re Right, That’s Wrong campaign through a series of social media posts and an article in Blaby’s general newsletter.

The campaign is aimed at challenging unacceptable misogynistic behaviour against women and encouraging men to become active bystanders by calling out negative attitudes and intolerable behaviour among their peers when they witness this type of conduct.

The campaign encourages active bystanders to take one of three actions:

• Be direct: if it’s safe to do so, speak up, tell the perpetrator their behaviour isn’t OK
• Get help: from other friends, the police, security guards, bar staff etc. This can be before or after the incident
• Distract: do something to change the situation to get the perpetrator and victim away from each other. When it’s safe to do so, follow up with a conversation

Last updated: 26/05/2022 11:00