My team and I went to Gilmorton to deliver our leaflet on improving Rural Policing in Leicestershire and Rutland. While there I passed the local village school, which gave me the chance to talk about safeguarding the next generation
Children and teenagers are among the most vulnerable in society. They may fall victim to accidents through inexperience, or be preyed upon by criminals, sexual predators and others of evil intent.
If elected to be Police and Crime Commissioner, I will:
- Ensure that each school has a designated police officer to build positive relationships between the police and youngsters;
- Ensure that each school is visited regularly so that police can engage with the pupils on road safety and other safeguarding issues;
- Investigate introducing a Mini Police scheme to junior schools;
- Proactively engage with social services and other partners to identify and tackle problems affecting teenagers;
- Work with the universities in our city and two counties to address issues affecting students;
- Continue with the successful Police Cadets scheme;
- Continue with the programme of successful educational resources such as the “Kayleigh’s Love Story” video;
- Continue to work with the Children and Young People’s Justice Service and other partners to reduce offending and reoffending;
- Promote prevention and early intervention to protect children from abuse and harm;
- Encourage professionals such as teachers, doctors and social workers to look for signs of abuse and exploitation;
- Encourage awareness campaigns for young people to improve understanding of healthy relationships;
- Seek to bring more perpetrators of abuse and grooming to justice;
- Continue with the existing child and vulnerability strategies.
But in a place like Gilmorton this needs to be part of a wider strategy to deal with Rural Crime. I want to see more police in our rural areas. I want to see high visibility policing in our rural areas. And I want our police to communicate frequently with the law abiding public. I think we should have:
- A Rural Crime Co-Ordinator who will bring together all the agencies who can help prevent crime in rural areas, and tackle it when it does happen;
- Rural Crime Packs available to residents and business to help them protect themselves and ease the fear of crime;
- A Rural Crimestoppers system to provide a quick, confidential channel that people can use to pass on information about crime and criminals.
- An online Rural Crime Hub a one stop shop for farmers and other rural businesses giving advice on crime prevention, how to report crime, who to call and two-way communication with police;
- Regular public meetings with the Police and Crime Commissioner and police officers;
- Effective support for Rural Neighbourhood Watch Schemes;
- A wide-ranging and properly supported Volunteers on Horseback scheme;
- Support for new legislation to make trespass a criminal offence.
Those are my ideas on what we can do to tackle crime in rural areas, but I'm always looking for the views of people who live in our countryside.
Please remember to take my Rural Crime Survey, which you can find here: https://www.rupertmatthews.org.uk/campaigns/rural-policing-campaign
