An Overview of Crofton S.A.F.E Scheme.

The SAFE Schemes have been running for some years now but do you really know much about them?  The scheme came about as a result of Parish Councils wanting to add extra value in terms of policing to its community and S.A.F.E (Safe And Fear-free Environment) came about.

As a consequence of this idea talks took place with West Yorkshire Police and the idea was born to have additional patrols, paid for by the Parish Council, to police the concerns of the Parishioners and not to supplement day to day policing levels.

Parish Councils strongly supported the idea with officers from Normanton initially leading the way patrolling the Parish Beat.  The Scheme has come a long way since then and today you will find officers from various departments coming together to solve your problems, working on your behalf, in your community with direction from the Parish Council. 

We also use what’s known as a ‘Multi Agency Approach’ with some of the issues we deal with. For one problem in Crofton it meant officers needed to work closely with Youth Services to solve a problem.  This type of policing delivers a better service than the police can deliver working on its own, so being able to tap into these agencies mean we can usually resolve a problem quicker and hopefully make the life of the person reporting it more pleasant.

The Scheme managers also attend the monthly Parish Council meetings and give a report to the council detailing where we have been patrolling, what we have done & reporting on local crime explaining how it affects the community and feeding back crime prevention advice in relation to making life more difficult for people to offend. 

The continued support of Parish Council’s has enabled West Yorkshire Police to contribute to a Safe And Secure Environment for its Parishioners.

Our partnership with Parish Councils has been very effective over the years and is strongly supported by the Parish Councillors themselves, it has helped to drive crime down in the Parishs and we have an ongoing policy of trying to educate young people about the impact offending criminally can have on them and its future implications on their lifestyle choices, rather than criminalise them in the first place if other options can work to secure a resolution to a problem.

                                                                                                                                                                   Colin Daley PC 1945.