Crime Reduction Unit

Crime and Business Project

This project involves working with businesses in Luton and South Bedfordshire to reduce crime against the business community. To achieve this Business Watch groups are set up, either in town centres using Radio Link schemes or on business parks or out of town retail areas utilising the police "Ringmaster" scheme.

During the last year the number of businesses involved with the initiative increased by some 180 to over 680 businesses in 44 Business Watch groups. Monthly town centre safety groups meetings are held in Luton, Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard involving the police, local authority and town centre businesses where current crime issues are discussed and actions taken to try and solve them.

Project successes include exceeding the target of advising 80 businesses by advising 110, and also exceeding the target of carrying out security upgrades to 16 commercial buildings by upgrading 69 buildings. Also a scheme involving CCTV in taxi cabs was set up with a number of agencies involved and 49 camera systems were installed.

Small Retailers Project

This project came to the end of funding in March 2004 and was to support small retailers in the Biscot and Dallow wards to upgrade security and reduce crime levels. The police acted as the lead agency and the project ran over a three year period. During this time many retailers received various security upgrades ranging from CCTV to secure shutters.

Bobby Van Scheme (managed by the Bedfordshire Police Partnership Trust)

The Bobby Van Scheme was launched by the Bedfordshire Police Partnership Trust in 1997, and is supported by local Bedfordshire businesses. The scheme aims to help the elderly or vulnerable victims of crime by giving completely free advice, support and practical help in improving their home security.

The four Bobby men are all trained carpenters, lock fitters and crime prevention advisers, and aim to respond to a victim within days of the crime, following up on a referral from the police or other local agencies.

Personal Safety

This is an ongoing project designed to advise people (particularly the elderly) on dealing with crisis situations that may occur either in the home or outside. General crime prevention advice is given through role plays and talks, and detailed leaflets are handed out at these talks along with personal attack alarms and "granny boots" where appropriate.

The target for this project was to deliver 8 community safety talks to 720 people, and this was exceeded by delivering 29 talks to almost 2500 people.

Safety Squad

Safety Squad allows children from local primary and junior schools to visit real life situations recreated in controlled sets, which are run by specialist agencies concerned with personal safety and crisis management, testing their awareness of dangers and developing their skills in dealing with possible situations that they could encounter.

The project ran for two weeks in March 2005 and had sets from the Safer Luton Partnership, Bedfordshire Police, St. John Ambulance, South Bedfordshire Community Health Trust, Luton Borough Council and Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service. Over 500 children participated in the event.

Safety Squad receives no funding and relies on donations. If you would like to make a donation to enable the continued success of this scheme please contact the Safer Luton Partnership main office.

Domestic Violence

The work of the Domestic Violence Coordinator links to the townwide Domestic Violence Forum, which is a multi agency group designed to address the concerns of all sections of the community with regards to issues of domestic violence. As a primary step an interim directory of Domestic Violence Service Providers has been produced, copies of which can be downloaded here.

A leaflet specifically addressing the issue of forced marriage is also available here. Luton's Domestic Violence Strategy 2005-2008 was launched at the Safer Luton Partnership Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 19th October 2005. The strategy can be downloaded here.