Safer People

Invest in neighbourhood policing to reassure the public, provide prevention advice, solve problems, protect the vulnerable, & build confidence. victims of crime & ASB.

Our PlanFreedom Of Information Requests
New recruits in training

Safer People is one of the PCCs six key priorities

Invest in neighbourhood policing to reassure the public, provide prevention advice, solve problems, protect the vulnerable, and build confidence. victims of crime & ASB.

The PCC will work with the Chief Constable and partners to:

  • Help keep people safe in their homes by working with the Local Authorities, Health & the Fire and Rescue Service to provide Total Home Safety advice.
  • Appoint a Victims’ Champion to ensure the voice of victims is at the centre of everything we do.
  • Ensure delivery of seamless high‐quality support for victims that enables them to cope with, and recover from, their experience.
  • Ensure victims feel empowered and confident in reporting crime to the police, reassuring them of the journey through partner services.
Joy Allen supporting communities
  • Ensure compliance with the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime so that victims are aware of and can access their rights.
  • Commission high-quality services so that victims have access to a range of specialist support services for them and their families at any point and whether they report to the police or not.
  • Ensure victims are read their rights at the point of report or as soon after as possible as with offenders.
  • Improve safeguarding for vulnerable adults and children.
  • Continuously review and seek to improve those services we commission and co‐commission to support victims of crime.

Hate Crime

The PCC will work with the Chief Constable and partners to:

  • Promote hate crime prevention initiatives and encourage and facilitate the reporting in all forms of hate crime.
  • Introduce voluntary recording of misogyny as a hate crime indicator and lobby for misogyny/misandry to become an official hate crime category and support educational campaigns to tackle the issue.
Hate hurts campaign launch

Mental Health

The PCC will work with the Chief Constable and partners to:

  • Ensure that the police are the service of last resort and not the service of first resort for people suffering a mental health crisis, working closely with Community Mental Health Trusts.
  • Liaise with Public Health, Housing, Employment and Mental Health services to ensure that potential offenders get access to the support that they need.
  • Maintain a multi‐agency approach to enable an appropriate response to support people with mental health needs who come in contact with the police and criminal justice system.
  • Ensure that mental health concerns are addressed for those identified as missing from home, working with the force to promote and develop their links with services such as missing people, the Samaritans, familiar faces, and street triage.

Young People

The PCC will work with the Chief Constable and partners to:

  • Support the work with schools to reduce school exclusions and off rolling so that we keep children in school education.
  • Ensure policies about young people will be made after engaging and involving young people.
  • Keep care‐experienced young people out of the criminal justice system.
  • Divert young people from becoming involved in crime and anti‐social behaviour through a range of education, employment, leisure, and training activities.
Joy Allen working with children in schools

Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence

The PCC will work with the Chief Constable and partners to:

  • Support the use of robust domestic violence perpetrator interventions to prevent domestic violence and abuse from happening in the future.
  • Prioritise developing a violence against women and girls’ strategy aimed at changing attitudes and improving our knowledge of and response to the crimes that predominantly affect women and girls so that no woman needs to live in fear and girls grow up knowing they are safe.
  • Ensure the full powers included in the Domestic Abuse Act are used to protect and support victims and result in meaningful consequences for perpetrators including the effective use of domestic abuse protection notices, domestic abuse protection orders and restraining orders.
  • Deliver on the recommendations included in the national End to End Rape Review.
man with head in hands
  • Develop and maintain a high‐quality Sexual Assault Referral Centre service that meets local needs and national standards.
  • Deliver high-quality support for victims of rape and sexual violence and their families where appropriate.
  • Monitor and promote the use of stalking legislation and powers to measure effectiveness.
  • Ensure the police force works in partnership with probation to manage High Risk Offenders through Multi‐Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), Sexual Offender and Foreign National Offenders initiatives.
  • Support the appointment of a Domestic Abuse Victims Voice Worker to ensure the voice of victims is at the centre of everything we do.

Drug, Alcohol & Gambling Harm

Develop partnership work to reduce substance, alcohol and gambling misuse which are closely linked to crime and reoffending.

The PCC will work with the Chief Constable and partners to:

Drugs

  • Divert those suffering with chronic addiction away from the criminal justice system towards treatment and harm prevention.
  • Support the recommendations made in the review of drug use by Dame Carol Black, contributing to and encouraging a partnership approach to address issues more efficiently.
  • Support the ongoing use of Naloxone to prevent deaths from drug use.
  • Develop multi‐agency strategies and fund initiatives to reduce the harm caused by drugs in the community.
Joy Allen

Alcohol

  • Commission research into the cost of alcohol harm to Durham Constabulary.
  • Lobby for Minimum unit pricing, working with Balance North East.
  • Promote the voluntary use of sobriety tags and alcohol interlocks.
  • Promote awareness of the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption through engagement with charities such as ‘One Punch North East’.
  • Prevent and manage violent incidents by continuing to promote the use of the ‘Cardiff model’ combining data from the force and local hospitals to highlight areas where violence is more prevalent.
  • Support the introduction of alcohol harm reduction partnership to tackle underage drinking and related anti‐social behaviour.
  • Support the work of the licensing unit to reduce the harm caused by alcohol and gambling in the community.

Gambling

  • Commission research into gambling related harm (GRH) and gambling disorder.
  • Consider gambling related harm when investigating crimes.
  • Encourage those presenting with GRH to be referred to appropriate support to prevent further harm and crime.
  • Add additional questions to ask victims of domestic assault to specifically include gambling (in addition to drugs/alcohol).
Joy Allen & Jo Farrell
  • Advocate introducing a gambling treatment requirement as part of community sentences at court.
  • Support the force to train police officers and PCSOs to identify gambling addiction and to understand the links between suicide, mental health, homelessness, domestic abuse, child neglect and gambling.
  • Press for the Gambling Commission to thoroughly investigate operator’s code of conduct to identify negligent behaviour before charging and sentencing.
  • Introduce mandatory screening questions around gambling at the point of arrest in custody.