2024 Safer Communities Awards

The Blaenau Gwent Anti-Social Behaviour Taskforce a partnership between Blaenau Gwent Council, Gwent Police Neighbourhood Policing Team, Tai Calon Community Housing and Blaenau Gwent Youth Services.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Task Force established in February 2024, by Blaenau Gwent Council provides a rapid, co-ordinated and proportionate response to manage risks associated with personal, nuisance and environmental anti-social behaviour cases that have met a threshold for intervention. The overarching objective was to try and reduce the number of ASB incidents utilising whatever tools were available to all partners and work to make the communities across Blaenau Gwent feel safer and more confident in reporting incidents and crimes. Police recorded ASB incidents in Quarter 1 of this year have seen a 34% reduction in Blaenau Gwent.

Kelly John has turned an idea into a successful community project that turned 10 this October. Kelly has been the driving force behind Paws on Patrol since its inception and continues to help grow the scheme and the partnership that supports it, taking it from strength to strength, year on year. The scheme has become a light touch way of engaging with residents on many community safety related issues such as domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour, hate crime and general crime prevention. The scheme now has over 1,600 members, who regularly attend Paws on Patrol events, help to steer wider campaigns and play their part in helping to keep their local area a cleaner and safer place to be.

A partnership between the Swansea Council Partnership & Involvement Team; South Wales Police’s Swansea City Centre Neighbourhood Policing Team; Swansea Council Youth Justice Service & Barod; Swansea Council Evolve Youth Service; Swansea Council Missing, Exploited, trafficked Team; and Gower College Swansea.

City Chill was created to provide diversionary opportunities, create intergenerational opportunities and connect people. It aimed to reduce levels of anti-social behaviour, combat loneliness and isolation and connect people to services. South Wales Police reported a 39.5% decrease in anti-social behaviour incidents in Swansea City Centre.

Operation Riella from South Wales Police tackled acquisitive crime and drug related Anti-Social Behaviour and crime in Bridgend.

The operation was run by the Community Safety Partnership Sargent with a team made up of the crime reduction tactical advisor, school liaison and youth engagement officers, licensing officers, ASB officer and neighbourhood officers who were seconded to the operation. It showed a huge reduction in crime across the town centre including an 80% reduction in robberies.

The Collaboration Station is a One Stop Information Shop partnership between Swansea Council and National Museums Wales. This innovative engagement space came into being due to requests from the local community, who yearned for increased visibility of and access to services. Following on from the success of the Collaboration Station is the development of monthly one-stop information shops bringing together public sector bodies, community groups and charities to network, share information and explore collaborative opportunities. To date, these information shops have seen the participation of over 200 different organisations and 2,500 community members. The vibrant collaboration station has fostered strong partnerships across sectors to increase access and service provision to the community.

Step into Sport is an innovative partnership between Sport Cardiff, Cardiff Metropolitan University, and the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales, delivering positive results in youth offending. In addition to the health and well-being benefits associated with sports, sport is proven to positively address and prevent the risk of Adverse Childhood Experiences and can help young people to develop their employability skills when coupled with training. The clubs involved have been carefully selected and staff have been given training, so they are able to build strong relationships which promote positive behavioural change leading to long-term involvement with sport. The sessions aim to not only develop skills and improve physical health, but also to empower young people to build confidence, motivation and realise their potential for a more positive future.

Crucial Crew, run by Neath Port Talbot’s Community Safety team, is an annual event dedicated to educating Year 6 pupils, aged 10 and 11, in Neath Port Talbot on essential safety skills. Each year, over 1,600 pupils from 50 primary schools participate, making a significant impact on the community. Crucial Crew involves various agencies working together to equip pupils with vital skills. By supporting young people to gain these essential skills, Crucial Crew not only enhances their personal safety but also contributes to a safer, more informed community.

Afternoon Teens is a partnership between Evolve Youth Service, the Partnership & Involvement Team, Ageing Well and Disability Network and Local Councillors.

Afternoon Teens is an innovative project, led by young people, following a violent incident in the community. Many uninvolved young people were negatively targeted across social media, while older community members were frightened and concerned after the incident. To breakdown stereotypes and encourage intergenerational collaboration ‘afternoon teas’ run by teens were launched. These created accessible, safe, warm environments, facilitating conversations, and delivering activities for older community members. This project had a positive impact on all involved, with participants of all ages stating how it had encouraged them to build relationships, celebrate differences, be more confident with each other and consider their place as part of their safer communities.

The Powys Ukrainian Resettlement Team is a specialist team established within Powys County Council. Covering quarter of the landmass of Wales the small team of 7 supports Ukrainian Sanctuary Seekers to become self-sufficient. They maximise the support and safety of Ukrainian guests whilst supporting cohesive communities and minimising the impact on wider public services. The work of the team has met the needs of our Ukrainian Sanctuary Seekers in a holistic manner and has avoided any homelessness presentations. They provide a tailored support package developed using early intervention principles in partnership, to ensure community cohesion, and inclusion.

Food and Fun is a Welsh Government school holiday enrichment programme. This entry highlights best practice from Katie Taylor at Cadle Primary School who used the programme as a platform to embark on an innovative journey to integrate anti-racism education throughout the school and community. It has been a transformative experience with foundations laid for embedding anti-racism education in lessons and school ethos throughout the school year. It provided education to pupils, parents, carers and the wider community about the importance of diversity and inclusion, while offering a safe space for those to speak out about the challenges they face.

Clase Primary School Community Engagement from Swansea Council’s Safer Swansea Partnership. This was a community led project in the heart of the community. Parents and community members were invited to drop-in sessions at the school to meet parents and other community members to discuss the concerns around race hate issues and an escalation in anti-social behaviour involving young people. This was the starting point for the multi-agency approach that was successful in tackling community challenges and came full circle with a community event and celebration in the school 6 months later.

Elizabeth Ward works for the North Wales Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. Her passion and drive really stood out to the judges. She has been instrumental in the implementation of multiple boards and forums and the establishment of Task and Finish groups which are at the forefront of providing tactical advice and helping to steer a coherent and strong strategic voice. With a focus not only on modern slavery but wider vulnerability and exploitation, the judges felt Elizabeth needed to be recognised for the dedication shown to ensuring that North Wales’ partnerships are aligned, that stringent oversight exists and that a coordinated approach continues to be exemplary.

The Right Hook project, run by Cwm Taf Youth Justice Service, is a model that has evidenced success via the Fight for Peace Alliance throughout the World. It is a violence reduction project which uses boxing and martial arts alongside personal development as a tool to divert children who are involved in violence and exploitation. Martin was inspired to take the project forward, even after the country went into lockdown and the Right Hook Project has proven invaluable in providing a building block on which to deliver other interventions.

Custody Services Manager, Ian, and Effective Practice Lead, Whitney, lead a team of Early Intervention Practitioners who are present at all Police Custody Suites across South Wales, every day of the year (except Christmas day) to go into Police cells and offer support to people who are detained by officers. The team know that every contact with someone detained in custody represents an opportunity to help somebody make changes to avoid future similar behaviour. The custody team regularly engage with 12,000 people a year and are frequently referred to as being exemplars of early intervention and prevention work at Police custody, working pre-charge with people who have unmet, and often hidden needs. In the last twelve months they have partnered with Police to extend custody cover, delivering an additional 3,200 hours, reaching 24-hour cover.

The Centre operates in partnership and collaboration with public and third sector agencies providing specialist support to women in Dyfed Powys. The Centre allows women who have been affected by crime to rebuild their lives and develop positive strategies to live without fear and prevent any further interaction with the criminal justice system. Services are trauma-informed, gender responsive, and provide holistic support for women and their families.

This small team of 14 work closely in conjunction with local Neighbourhood policing teams and partners where Organised Crime Groups operate. This is crucial to continue the fight against drugs, provide support and engagement in the locations to restore peace in the communities. The team work tirelessly to bring offenders to justice, disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups that affect all parts of the community, and have had ongoing success in taking drugs and weapons off the street.

This initiative was run by the Cyber Resilience Centre for Wales and Welsh Government National Security and Resilience Division.

The aim of the project was to provide support and training to social care providers in Wales to ensure they were aware of the current threats of cybercrime and raise their awareness of the threat of cybercrime to their organisation. 2,500 staff working within the social care sector in Wales were targeted to receive training. Through stakeholder engagement key partners were also identified in Care Inspectorate Wales and the four Welsh police forces and an engagement strategy was formalised to reach the target and keep the organisations safe.

This initiative is a partnership between South Wales Police, Ospreys Rugby Team and Bridgend County Borough Council. Bridgend and Maesteg saw an increase in youth anti-social behaviour with 320 incidents reported in 1 month. Due to the lack of youth provision, the Ospreys Rugby Club was approached to find out if they could provide ‘Street Rugby’ activities to young people in the areas where the ASB was occurring. The club provided coaches and mentors to the young people involved, and South Wales Police attended the sessions to engage. The project resulted in a request from participants for a rugby match between them and South Wales Police which promoted what had been achieved in such a short space of time. Bridgend saw a decrease of 67% and Maesteg saw a decrease of 72% in ASB calls and funding has been secured to run the initiative again.

This award recognises a partnership involving public and private sector organisations: South Wales Police, Councillors, ASDA supermarket, Dig4Health, and South Wales Fire & Rescue all coming together to tackle crime at Bodringallt Primary School. Issues at the school made national news and seven incidents were reported, including two incidents of arson. A problem-solving plan was implemented involving organisations and community members to prevent further incidents and identify the culprits. The strength of community spirit was evident when the community embraced a ‘Go Fund Me Page’ raising thousands of pounds to repair the damage at the school. The restorative justice included the offenders building a planter for the school to replace some of the ones they damaged.

The LEAD initiative started in Caerphilly and has been rolled out force wide. The project provides advice to the public on dog-related issues, improves dog safety and welfare and cracks down on anti-social or inconsiderate behaviour involving dogs. The LEAD initiative enables partners to share intelligence and implement a range of measures such as warning letters, acceptable behaviour contracts and, ultimately, enforcement action if appropriate. Without the hard work of the Caerphilly community safety partnership the initiative would not have been as successful as it is. The staff worked tirelessly together to produce documents, brief and train staff, meet with members of the community, engage with the press and activated communications systems to drive the initiative forward.

The programme gives holistic, child centred interventions around fire safety by working with children and young people who have a fascination with fire or have been playing with fire for many reasons. It prevents harm, decreases anti-social behaviour and safeguards the child or young person and communities. On average over 100 children and young people are referred to the programme every year.

This includes 2 teams based within Morriston and the Heath Emergency Departments; 2 Violence Prevention Nurses at the Swansea Bay University Health Board and 2 at Cardiff and the Vale University Health Board; a dedicated Community-Based Worker at Media Academy Cymru and 2 dedicated Community-Based Workers at Action for Children. The teams are funded by the Violence Prevention Unit. They use a trauma informed approach to provide advice, support, and guidance to patients of any age who have experienced violence with injury, engaging at the point of crisis with the aim to help break the cycle of violence.

This partnership has increased the numbers of people with dementia reported missing using the Herbert Protocol over the last 20 months. Their work promoting the protocol across the region has increased its usage, allowing data to be shared about vulnerable missing people, aiding missing persons investigations and helping to return people to their homes. The project also included a 5-month substantial overhaul of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board dementia webpages, providing information and materials on the Herbert Protocol and supporting people with dementia who are distressed, and supporting dementia appropriate environments.

The Braver Choices Weapons Programme seeks to reduce the frequency of weapons carrying among young people across South Wales Police force area ensuring a reduction in serious violence and making communities in Wales safer. Over the last 5 years, the Braver Choices programme has worked with thousands of children and young people looking at the complex reasons why they choose to pick up bladed weapons and carry them. The programme focuses on strengths and offers alternative, non-violent forms of conflict resolution, encouraging emotional regulation, empathy, and emotional intelligence reducing future violence in communities. The team can not only evidence the reduction in individuals and frequency of weapons carrying over the last 5 years among this group, but can also evidence a significant reduction in trauma within this cohort.

Alison has successfully initiated and coordinated a series of innovative and successful multi agency programmes of work, that have directly contributed to Community Safety, making Wrexham and North Wales a safer place to live and work for all. One of the programmes that stood out for the judges was Alison’s lead on implementation of the Serious Violence Duty, on behalf of both Wrexham County Borough Council and Wrexham Community Safety Partnership, as vice chair of the North Wales Serious Violence steering group. This included commissioning four initiatives from the North Wales Serious Violence Duty funding for Wrexham to make a difference to the lives of young people locally.

Toxic masculinity effects communities in many ways – for example domestic abuse, gender-based violence, homophobia, misogyny and sexual assault. Much research has been done as to the pressures and stereotypes that exist for young men in society, and it is acknowledged that these pressures are now manifesting in negative behaviours and attitudes. The project has brought about major changes in mindsets and attitudes in the young people taking part. It empowers, informs and inspires young people to make positive change, to reflect and to aspire to reach their full potential. The project has resulted in better school attendance, reduced substance misuse and an improvement in general behaviour, mindsets and attitudes.

The Helpline offers support directly to victim survivors of all forms of domestic abuse and sexual violence, to concerned third parties – family, friends, neighbours, employers etc, and any professional working in the sector or on the periphery. Celebrating its 20th year in 2024 the Helpline has constantly evolved to meet the ever-changing needs of communities in Wales which appear to be more fragile than ever. Very often the Helpline Advocate will become the voice of the victim if the thought of having to make another phone call is one step too far. The Helpline has a target to answer 90% of all contacts as they’re presented, and during quarter 2 of 24/25 this was overachieved at 94.1%. No mean feat for a small team of 11 Advocates dealing with an average of 400 contacts per week, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.