Home Office backs dashcam posse to combat rural crime

• Another £1m of government funding has been secured by Gloucestershire’s Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to tackle crime in the county
• The money comes from the Home Office Safer Streets round five and will be spent on a range of initiatives aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour, rural crime and male violence against women and girls
• PCC Chris Nelson said, “This was the first time that PCCs alone were asked to draw up plans, which shows the confidence the Home Office has in our judgement”
• This is the third successful round of funding for Gloucestershire, meaning the OPCC has secured over £4 million extra funding to make the county’s streets

100 dashboard cameras will provide an additional layer of security and evidence-gathering to tackle rural crime.

The Gloucestershire Dash Camera Rural Road Safety Project, will involve farmers, landowners, members of the community and others.

Those taking part in the project will be encouraged to record and submit incidents, which put either animals or other road users in danger.

These could range from traffic offences and collisions involving livestock as well as anti-social behaviour, and will be uploaded and acted upon via the Constabulary’s Operation Snap initiative and rural crime team.

Funding will come from the one million pound grant from the Government as a result of the latest successful bid by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) to the Home Office Safer Streets Fund.

“Shows the confidence the Home Office has in our judgement on how to make our streets safer”

The eagerly anticipated news signals the launch of phase five of the fund. Funding will be shared between the OPCC, Gloucestershire Constabulary and local community safety partnerships on a range of initiatives including:

• extra CCTV and lighting in public spaces where women and girls feel vulnerable
• a ‘Farm Watch’ programme to make it easier for farmers, residents and law enforcement agencies to exchange information to combat rural crime
• clearing pathways and cutting-back vegetation in public spaces to improve feelings of safety
• recruitment of six young people to lead on youth peer research and engagement, and advisory role to youth violence prevention work

PCC Chris Nelson said, “This was the first time that PCCs alone were asked to draw up plans, which shows the confidence the Home Office has in our judgement on how to make our streets safer.

“The funding will go towards measures that are proven to prevent neighbourhood crime and help to deliver community-led initiatives to prevent crime and help ensure suspicious activity is reported.

Communities benefitting from the first Safer Streets round of funding, less likely to worry about being mugged or robbed

“Other interventions will be aimed at changing attitudes and behaviours in relation to male violence against women and girls in public through educational activities and behavioural change programmes”

The Safer Streets Fund was launched in January 2020 with the aim of reducing acquisitive crime in the worst affected local residential areas. PCCs across England and Wales were encouraged to bid for funding to invest in relevant crime prevention measures.

Gloucestershire has already been one of the main beneficiaries of the scheme with the OPCC receiving more funding per head of population than any other office in England and Wales. This latest successful bid means the office has secured more than four million pounds extra funding from Central Government.

An independent evaluation found that communities benefitting from the first Safer Streets round of funding were less likely to worry about being mugged or robbed.