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15-19 September 2025
#SaferCommunitiesAwarenessWeek #SCAW2025
The Safer Communities Awareness Week is an opportunity to raise the profile of community safety and highlight innovative work that is taking place across Wales.
Started by the Wales Safer Communities Network the first Awareness Week took place in September 2023. From 15 to 19 September 2025, we’ll be raising awareness of community safety and the theme “working together for cohesive and inclusive communities”.
We have created a range of suggested social media messages and assets to help you support the campaign across your channels. Download the bilingual toolkit below.
Follow us on our social media channels to stay up to date with activity throughout the awareness week:
If you’d like to submit any case studies or good practice examples to be shared throughout the week, please do so by emailing us at safercommunities@wlga.gov.uk with the subject line ‘Safer Communities Awareness Week – Case Studies’.
We’re holding a range of ‘Lunch and Learn’ events throughout the week on a variety of topics related to community safety and community cohesion.
As part of our commitment to building inclusive communities, this session explores how online ideologies can undermine cohesion and safety, and what we can do to respond.
Join us for a thought-provoking hour, exploring the rise of incel ideology and the broader manosphere. Dr Andrew Thomas will unpack the psychological and social dynamics behind these online communities, their links to misogyny, and dispel myths about the incel community.
Speaker: Dr Andrew G Thomas CPsychol MBACP SFHEA RSA, Associate Professor in Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Health & Life Science, Swansea University
Wales has many rural communities, and fire can cause community tensions. This session will highlight how inclusive dialogue, and partnership can transform rural fire management and create more cohesive communities.
We will explore how we can shift public understanding of rural fire management in Wales. Peter Greenslade and Scott O’Kelly will discuss the governance of the Wales Wildfire Board, the importance of partnership working, and the role of communication in promoting safe and sustainable land management.
Speakers: Peter Greenslade, Corporate Head of Community Risk, Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Chair, Joint Arson Group
Watch the recording Download the slide presentation
This session will shine a light on the vital role of probation services in supporting people leaving prison in Wales. Emma Winston and Annalise Hughes will outline the preparatory work done with individuals and partners before release and the management and support provided in the community for those on licence. They will also cover the partnership working and service provision to manage risk and support rehabilitation, benefiting prison leavers, victims, and the wider community.
This session is ideal for anyone interested in how partnership and inclusive practice can reduce reoffending, support safer communities, and help people make a positive transition from prison to community life.
Speakers: Emma Winston, Head of Offender Management Delivery, and Annalise Hughes, Electronic Monitoring Operational Lead for Wales
This hour-long, online session will explore the County Lines threat to our region and how it undermines community cohesion and safety. Attendees will gain a baseline understanding of the signs and symptoms of County Lines activity and how exploitation impacts vulnerable individuals and divides communities.
The session will highlight how organisations and services can work together to identify, prevent, and respond to exploitation, fostering inclusive and integrated approaches that strengthen community resilience.
Speaker: Detective Inspector Richard Weber, County Line Tactical Coordination & Support Officer, Tarian ROCU
