Home Office launch pilot to encourage reporting of unsafe areas in the community

Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner Angelique Foster has welcomed the launch of a new online tool enabling people to pinpoint public spaces where they feel most at risk of crime.

StreetSafe is a three-month pilot launched by the Home Office as part of the Government’s strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.

The new service, hosted on the national police website police.uk and backed by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), invites residents to pin drop on a map specific locations that have made them feel unsafe and why – regardless of whether a crime has occurred.

Users will not be able to use the service to report crime to the police.

The data will be collected to enable Police and Crime Commissioners to prioritise resources, commission the right services to make people safer (and feel safer) and undertake effective partnership work to combat risk in the future. Improvements could include better street lighting, night patrols or CCTV security cameras.

Welcoming the new service, Police and Crime Commissioner Angelique Foster said: “StreetSafe will provide the police with an accurate insight into public safety and fear of crime across our neighbourhoods.

“The safety of women and girls is a top priority and I am committed to helping reduce vulnerability and increase confidence within our public spaces. 

“Effective policing relies on intelligence from the public to help plan and prioritise resources and I urge people to tell us where and why they feel unsafe. 

“This information will help me to ensure that every penny spent on safety is invested in the right areas – those places where it will make the most difference. StreetSafe will help identify locations where more work is needed to make the public, women and girls in particular, safer.”

Chief Constable Rachel Swann said: “As national gender lead the safety of women and girls is of high priority to me and to Derbyshire Constabulary.  

“Street Safe will help to inform us where women and girls feel unsafe and why. We can then use this information to work in partnership with other agencies to identify problem areas and utilise local knowledge to tackle issues and improve public spaces.”

To pinpoint the locations that make you feel unsafe, visit www.police.uk/streetsafe