Students arriving to begin their university lives this month will have access to a neighbourhood policing team with responsibility for their campus and halls of residences, according to the Government.
Visiting Cardiff, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith met police working with students to crack down on campus crime. Freshers across England and Wales starting their degrees this month will benefit from support from police officers, police community support officers and volunteer special constables following the roll-out of neighbourhood policing teams.<br><br>The Home today showcased the work of neighbourhood policing teams at Cardiff University, where student crime has been slashed by 60pc in recent years.<br><br>A South Wales police team, led by a student liaison officer, has worked with students at Cardiff University and the city’s three other universities to offer crime prevention advice to more than 10,000 teenagers during this year’s freshers’ week alone.
South Wales Police team, led by Student Liaison Officer PC Bob Keohane, works with the University’s security staff, Students’ Union, city councillors, private landlords and property managers to cut down on student crime. The result of these partnerships is that student crime in Cardiff has been reduced by 61pc over the last six years.
The Cardiff safety partnership, a prototype for 370 similar partnerships now operating around the UK, was established in 1996 by Prof Jonathan Shepherd, director of the University’s Violence and Society Research Group. Earlier this year the Home Office’s Violent Crime Action Plan praised the work of the Cardiff Partnership in targeting violence hot spots as “best practice” for the rest of the country.
Jacqui Smith met with members of the South Wales Police, as well as representatives from the Students’ Union executive and the Labour Students Society, at Talybont Court to hear about various policing initiatives taking place across the city.
As thousands of new students arrive in Cardiff at the beginning of the new academic year, PC Keohane and his team ensure that they are provided with appropriate crime prevention advice. Talks are given during Freshers’ Week, safety advice leaflets are distributed, and letters are sent to the parents of new students asking them to get in touch with PC Keohane if they have any concerns.
As well as keeping students well informed there is also an increased public presence of police officers in the Cathays area, park rangers regularly patrol the Taff Trail, and the University’s CCTV cameras are linked to police cameras.
PC Keohane said: “With students making up over 10 per cent of the city’s population, we take student safety very seriously. Cardiff University’s security team does some excellent work with us to keep students safe. The figures for the reduction in student crime in Cardiff show that the police partnership with the University is producing definite results."
