|
 Safer Homes in Somerset
Somerset County Council is working in partnership to reduce incidents of burglaries in Somerset. The Burglary Strategy, which is a multi-agency project, can be obtained from the following website: http://www.saferhomesinsomerset.org.uk. In addition to this, there are regular news updates, burglary incident statistics, advice on how to keep a home safe and other useful information.
Safer Homes in Somerset works along the themes of Primary Prevention, Secondary Prevention, Enforcement and Criminal Justice.The agencies are working together to achieve these aims and Safer Homes in Somerset represents the importance of partnership working.
As well as the reduction in burglaries other areas of the strategy which have been implemented include:
- A coordinated response to protecting the homes of the vulnerable. A partnership referral form has been created to ensure that those who need the security, safety and maintenance services provided by various agencies get the best possible service. The services include Age Concern’s save and secure service, Mendip Care and Repair, Somerset Fire Brigade, South Somerset Handy Person Scheme, Avon and Somerset Police’s Bobby van. The scheme works by each agency referring a particular vulnerable property to the other services if they think they can help. For example if the fire brigade visited a property to install a smoke alarm and noticed it didn’t have proper locks on the doors they would refer the home to the police’s bobby van scheme. Before the strategy the services worked independently of each other.
- Crime Scene Investigators are now treating burglaries as a priority to attend and police officers have been given training to make them more aware about the possible forensic evidence which can be recovered from a burglary scene.
- Hotspot information and beat profiles have been produced by Police analysts for Somerset. The profiles highlight which areas are likely to be targeted by burglars and the information is passed onto the local authorities so they can implement changes to make the areas safer.
The Safer Homes initiative is still developing, for example the police are looking at improving their response times to burglaries and getting a crime reduction officer to contact every burglary victim within 24 hours to give advice on how to protect their homes.
Penny James, Chief Executive of Taunton Deane Borough Council and Chairman of the Taunton Deane Crime and Disorder Partnership, said: "We are delighted to see the launch of this initiative which will provide a coordinated approach to reducing the incidence of burglary in this area; and we applaud the success already achieved by the Safer Homes Partnership in making our homes safer and reducing fear of crime."
For additional information on this Strategy and burglary prevention tips, please visit the Safer Homes in Somerset Website, or contact The Community Safety Team.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Top of page
|
