Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner announces more cash to tackle crime issues
Police and Crime Commissioner Darryl Preston has announced new investment plans to step up efforts to tackle local issues such as anti-social behaviour, road safety and fly-tipping in every area of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
The PCC has agreed to extend funding for problem-solving coordinators in each of the county’s six Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) for a further 12 months until March 2026.
In another demonstration of his commitment to address local issues that require agencies to work together to solve them, the PCC has reopened his Safer Communities Fund, giving CSPs another opportunity to bid for vital funding to focus on the issues that impact communities most.
From local initiatives to reduce ASB or proactively address fly-tipping, to extra security resources to deter and detect crime, the Commissioner is making up to £10k available in each CSP area.
Darryl said: “Local issues like anti-social behaviour can blight community life and prevent people from enjoying their lives as they should. Cambridgeshire Constabulary now have a record number of officers and has also been using £1m extra funding this year to ramp up proactive police patrols to target anti-social behaviour and serious violence.
“Our CSPs have achieved phenomenal results since our problem-solving coordinators were first introduced and I am pleased we now have these posts in place in every area of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Their work has been boosted by funding from my Safer Communities Fund to address the root causes of nuisance behaviour and secure new equipment and resources to help detect and deter crime. The continuation of this funding will support further solutions to make our communities stronger and more resilient to ASB and disorder.”
CSPs are made up of local partners including councils, police, fire and community representatives who work together to address local issues that the police are unable to solve alone.
Problem-solving co-ordinators work with communities and partners to resolve issues and help the PCC meet the priorities set out in his Police and Crime Plan.
Cllr Susan Wallwork, Fenland District Council portfolio holder for community and community safety, said: “We’re dedicated to continuing to work with all our Community Safety Partnership partners to continue to tackle issues that we know are important to our residents and have serious, far-reaching impacts on communities.
“We welcome all additional investment and resource into that aim.”
In addition to the extra police patrols to target anti-social behaviour and serious violence, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are also benefiting from a £820k funding boost from the Safer Streets 5 programme. These improvements are designed to protect residents from burglary and anti-social behaviour and reduce the risk of violence to women and girls across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Cllr Cameron Holloway, executive councillor for community safety, homelessness and wellbeing, Cambridge City Council said: “No one deserves to be a victim of anti-social behaviour or criminal activity, and these are issues we take very seriously in Cambridge.
“We are grateful that the Commissioner has announced this opportunity for Community Safety Partnerships to access further funding to help us to continue to address issues in the city. Previous funding has allowed the council to work with partners to identify crime hot spots and develop action plans to respond to specific areas of concern - a good example is our work to tackle anti-social behaviour and criminal behaviour on buses.
“The Cambridge Community Safety Partnership is dedicated to understanding the issues faced by people in Cambridge and finding a way to prevent and deal with them.”
