Agenda item

The Board will received information which will bring awareness of the Safe Zones project, and identify any improvements that could be supported by the wider partnerships.

Contact: Chief Superintendent James Griffiths – Kirklees District Policing Commander

Chief Superintendent, James Griffiths, provided information regarding how and why Safe Zones were developed.  He explained that the aim is for the Safe Zone logo to be seen at different places around Kirklees and encouraged Board members to look out for the logo.

In summary, the Board was informed that Safe Zones were developed in December 2019 and was borne out of a discussion as part of a focus group with young people from a school in Huddersfield as part of the former Kirklees Children’s Safeguarding Board.  The discussion focused on what they would like the police to do for them, and the response from one young person was “there is nowhere to go if you are feeling unsafe”.  Although things stalled as a result of the pandemic; it has now been picked up and is widely developed across Kirklees.

The ambition of Safe Zones is:

-        to create a network of these safe places, where women and girls particularly, are provided with a place that they can use as a momentary retreat, although not solely just for women and girls, it did fit into the violence against women and girl’s agenda.

-       It can also be for vulnerable adults and for others who can use these areas if they feel unsafe.  They just need to call in if they need some help, or if they are lost

-       To work with partners sharing our knowledge and experience of the risks children and young people face.  This was an opportunity to give people better training around risks.

-       To ensure our Safe Zone partners feel confident in recognising, responding, and reporting safeguarding concerns.

-       To support and empower partners to help keep all women and girls safe (Active Bystanders).

The Board was informed that West Yorkshire Police are committed to creating an environment where women and girls can feel safe within the county, free of fear and harassment.  As part of the Force’s commitment to reducing Violence Against Women and Girls, it has launched its Strategy, outlining how it intends to ensure that women and girls are safe and feel safe. 

The three key priorities are:

•        Pursuit of perpetrators, 

•        Creating safe spaces (in private, public, and online),

•        Increasing trust and confidence in policing.

The Board was informed that in terms of how Safe Zones are trained, it involves explaining about the active bystanders, raising awareness, and looking at how Safe Zones are provided for women and girls in a complex world. It also includes the following:-

-       Making sure that people understand and have an awareness of child exploitation both sexual and criminal exploitation, debunking some of the myths around county lines exploitation

-       An awareness of grooming and that can include both grooming there and then, or non-recent grooming and how people may find that somewhere like a Safe zone may be the first place where they open up

-       Knowing the signs across a whole range of incidents and crimes, and behaviour that people may suffer from, and the complexities of what stalking is and the differences between stalking and harassment

-       Domestic abuse, a whole range of training around domestic abuse, from very early signs right through to controlling and coercive behaviour also learning from domestic homicide reviews

-       Exploring the ‘Safe Zone’ process because it may not be right for everybody, for example, some people attend the training thinking that they might be able to run a Safe Zone and perhaps then realise it is not for them, as they may not be able to commit to it and decide to step away, which is also fine

In terms of what Safe Zones might be use for could include:

-       Feeling Unsafe

-       Being followed

-       Lost

-       Bullied

-       Missing

-       Violence Against Women and Girls (VWAG)

The Board was informed that there are different levels of support that individuals may find when they go into these Safe Zones.  For example, a low need, may be someone who just needs momentary support, a friendly face, someone to talk to.  A medium need may be where some assistance is required and those individuals may need signposting to some other safety point, some other place, or call in another agency.  There is also an emergency response where there is a high need, an immediate threat, it is urgent and there is likely going to be a crime committed.  The expectation would be that the individual in the Safe Zone would be ringing the police via 999, and the police would get to those people within 15 minutes which is a requirement

Information was provided on what is expected from Safe Zones, as follows:

Record – Keep a log: note down details about Safe Zone visitors, action taken and any concerns (what did you noticed, name, time, description etc.).

Report- Share any concerns with as much information as you can recall about the Safe Zone visitor (name, age, others, threat, or patterns of behavior that concerned you).

Respond- Pass on information and concerns that you have witnessed. Become an active bystander.

The Board was informed that currently there are nearly 200 Safe Zones across Kirklees as follows:

-         38 Rural

-         43 Batley and Spen

-         50 Huddersfield

-         35 Dewsbury and Mirfield

-         Libraries

-         GP surgeries

-         Pub chains

-         Walksafe App – work is currently being undertaken with the Walksafe App, which will allow individual to locate a Safe Zone using the app.

In response to the information presented, the Board asked questions and made comment, including some of the following:

-     How can people get involved, do they approach the police directly?

-     There was a report on the BBC recently which was regard to “ask for Angela” scheme and how few pubs were aware of this even though they advertised it publicly.  If organisations are signing up for Safe Zones, what do they need to do, bearing in mind staff turnover or the passage of time that they remain up to date in terms of all their staff knowing what is required?

-     In terms of data, if people are recording the sort of things that are causing issues for people, how can that information be used to be more preventative which could then be used to get key messages out to communities, for example common themes.  It would be useful to consider how this information can be shared in terms of the themes that emerge

-     There is a role in this for the voluntary sector, third sector leader, Youth Alliance, the KAL sites they should all be signing up to Safe Zones

-     From a social care perspective there are lots of buildings across Kirklees, such as care homes and wonder how some of those can be opened up to become much more integrated into the community and become Safe Zones

-     Are there specific types of buildings that have not yet come on board, for example shops

RESOLVED:

That Chief Superintendent, James Griffiths, be thanked for providing an update on the Kirklees Safe zones; and that further information on how to sign up to Safe Zones be circulated to board members.