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Welcome to the latest edition of my bulletin that highlights some of the activities that I was involved in during July.

It was a busy month once again, and the highlight for me, no doubt, was attending the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells. After two years without s Show due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it was fantastic to be able to attend the Show and to engage with our partners from the agriculture industry and residents from our rural communities.

You can read more about our engagement activities at the Show below.

Other key moments for me during July were;

• Securing £271,000 of additional Ministry of Justice funding that will go towards increasing and strengthening support services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

• Launching a public consultation to gather the views of the public on policing and crime matters in the Dyfed-Powys area.

• Securing funding of almost £300,000 that will deliver a series of initiatives that aim to ensure safer streets within towns and communities across the Dyfed-Powys area

• Supporting ASB Week

You can read about all the above below and by following the links.

Thank you once again for taking time to read my bulletin. Please feel free to share wider, and if you have any questions, you are welcome to contact my Office.

Diolch yn fawr,

Dafydd Llywelyn

Police and Crime Commissioner

Launching public Survey as part of public engagement work at Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells

During the Royal Welsh Show I launched a public survey to gather the views of the public on policing and crime matters in the Dyfed-Powys area.

The survey asks the general public to indicate how safe they feel in they area, what steps can be taken improve support for victims, prevent crime and what they believe can be done to ensure we have an effective criminal justice system.

As the Police and Crime Commissioner for Dyfed-Powys, I want to ensure that I provide opportunities for people from a wide range of diverse backgrounds to be heard, share their views and help shape policy.

Responses to this survey will provide me with an indication of the public perception of policing in our area and of the progress made towards the outcomes set under the 2021-25 Police and Crime Plan priorities.

I would be grateful if you complete the survey by clicking on the below link, and please share wider.

As well as engaging on our public survey, we had several other activities going on at the Show, including promoting our volunteers’ scheme, commissioned services, intervention and prevention initiatives such as the PL Kicks partnership with Swansea City FC Foundation.

I also met with with representatives from NFU to discuss a recent rural crime survey conducted by Aberystwyth University on our behalf, and attended the temporary multi-agency operations room with the Builth Welsh Event Safety Group to see the fantastic work all our partners were involved in during the week to ensure public safety.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s show!

Announcing additional funding for Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence support services in Dyfed-Powys

I was pleased this month to announce that we have secured £271,000 of additional Ministry of Justice funding that will go towards increasing and strengthening support services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

In addition to this funding, we secured funding of £30,882 for a Children’s Independent Sexual Violence Advisor.

Supporting victims is one of the three key priorities of my Police and Crime Plan for 2021-25. PCC, and Dyfed-Powys Police has identified that a significant amount of resourcing continues to be needed to address safeguarding demand, in particular Domestic Abuse.

As a result, it is a responsibility of mine to ensure there are appropriate services available to meet the needs of all victims, and that we prioritise investment in services for victims of serious sexual offences.

I am pleased to have been able to secure this additional funding from the Ministry of Justice, that will increase and strengthen the support services available.

Unfortunately, we were only awarded approximately 25% of our total requested funding from the Ministry of Justice, and have therefore had to re-prioritise and re-calculate how we can maximise what we achieve from a reduced funding allocation.

However, any increase in funding should still be welcomed as it will enable further access to services for those most in need, so I am pleased to announce this additional £271,000 of funding.

Securing almost £300k for Safer Streets across Dyfed-Powys

This month we had confirmation that we had secured funding of almost £300,000 that will deliver a series of initiatives that aim to ensure safer streets within towns and communities across the Dyfed-Powys area.

In particular, the initiatives will look to address anti-social behaviour and acquisitive crime in specific areas, address women’s safety, increase prevention and intervention resources within youth support services in Carmarthenshire, and increasing the number of CCTV cameras in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion.

The total amount of funding secured is £292,741, and is in addition to the almost £500,000 that has already been secured by my Office through previous bids to the Safer Streets fund over the last two years.

I am extremely pleased to announce that we have been successful in securing this latest safer streets funding from the Home Office. We have worked closely with our partners to identify certain initiatives that will aim to ensure that our communities and streets are safe environments for residents.

Over the last two years we have received almost £800,000 from the Home Office’s Safer Street Fund, which highlights our commitment to making streets safer for those in local communities, and to reducing crime and anti-social behaviour related issues, including violence against women and girls.

Preventing harm to individuals and communities caused through crime, anti-social behaviour and vulnerability is one of my three key priorities, and the safer streets funding supports us significantly to work collaboratively with partners to address these issues.

Supporting ASB Awareness Week

In July I joined a national campaign to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) and keep people in Dyfed-Powys safe.

Running from July 18 to 22, ASB Awareness Week 2022’s aims was to encourage communities to take a stand against ASB and highlight the actions that can be taken by those experiencing it.

Organised by Resolve, the UK’s leading ASB and community safety organisation, the week featured a series of events all across the UK involving Councils, Police Forces, Housing Associations, charities, community groups and sports clubs.

Recent YouGov research commissioned by Resolve found that more than half of people (56%) believe that ‘more needs to be done’ to tackle ASB in their community. However, after they witnessed or experienced ASB, a similar proportion of the public (57%) said that they did not report it to anyone.

Dyfed Powys Police are proud to be the first in Wales to take the ‘ASB Pledge’ with ASB Help which demonstrates our commitment to reducing anti-social behaviour and providing victims the opportunity to request a review.

ASB can have an overwhelming impact on its victims and, in some cases, on the wider community. In my new Police and Crime Plan published earlier this year, I have highlighted preventing harm caused by crime and ASB as a priority.

An effective response to ASB requires innovation, a strong partnership between local agencies, and a mindset that puts victims first.

My annual St David’s Day conference earlier this year shone a light on the important challenge we face and opportunities available in tackling ASB with an input on the Dyfed-Powys approach to tackling ASB, which included how the force captures, records and manages anti-social behaviour; the role of co-ordinators and mediators, and the low level intervention and restorative approaches.

It was a fantastic event with colleagues from Forces across England and Wales attending to learn more about the Dyfed-Powys approach to tackling ASB.

I took the opportunity at the start of ASB Awareness week once again, to urge members of the public not to suffer in silence if they experience ASB. Incidents can be reported to the anti-social behaviour team at local Councils, or to the Police if people feel that they are at immediate risk or in danger.