Past Initiatives

WAG Contributes to ‘Cleaner Safer Neighbourhoods’


Graffiti Van and its contents

A £50,000 grant from the Welsh Assembly has given a helping hand to Gwent Police, Gwent Probation Service and the Newport Community Safety Partnership in their multi-agency ‘Cleaner Safer Neighbourhoods’ campaign.

The grant has been allocated to a pilot project involving the removal of fly posters and graffiti from buildings, walls and underpasses in the Newport area. With this type of vandalism heightening the fear of crime felt by residents, the continuation of such an initiative is extremely valuable.

The money will be used to purchase and fully equip a purpose built vehicle, which, under the supervision of Gwent Probation, will transport offenders on community punishment orders to identified sites all over the city to remove graffiti. The vehicle will include a water tank, high visibility jackets and cones, wash basins and the necessary chemicals to remove the graffiti.

 

Partnership Project to tackle Young Offenders Kicks- Off

Youngsters on the scheme and rugby player Ceri Sweeney

Fresh from the six nations Gwent Police are teaming up with the Blaenau Gwent/Caerphilly Young Offenders Team and the Welsh Rugby Union to run a nine-week pilot scheme targeted at young offenders in the area. The scheme will give the youngsters the opportunity to gain a range of rugby skills as well as a chance to address issues of social isolation and exclusion from mainstream education, sports clubs and out of school clubs.

During this nine week period, which began on February 14th, the Welsh Rugby Union’s Community Development Officers and Community Coaches are running rugby skills sessions for the 14 to 18 year olds covering ball skills, speed, agility and evasion. They are also delivering sports and lifestyle education, which includes advice on nutrition, conditioning and drugs and alcohol.

Through team games and training this projects aims to encourage the young offenders to become active members of their communities. Gwent Police and the YOT hope the scheme will have the added benefit of steering the targeted youngsters away from anti-social behaviour and crime and towards positive leisure and recreational activities.

 

Say 'Yes' Challenge - Cwmbran


Vicky Crocker (left) and Aastra Jenkins,
both from Cwmbran, get their thinking caps on!

The Gwent Criminal Justice Board is supporting the ‘Say Yes Challenge’ in Cwmbran designed by Aim2.

The project is a partnership between Torfaen Community Safety Partnerships, Crime Concern, Prudential 4 Youth and Cwmbran Shopping. It aims to help young people understand the impact of anti-social behaviour on their local community.

Chief Constable Mike Tonge is one of the six selected to judge the projects and the GCJB will be a sponsor on finals night which takes place in the Millennium Stadium on June 6.

The groups of youngsters, aged between 14 and 17 from local schools and community groups will work with mentors from the local business community to run a social enterprise company looking at innovative ways to tackle issues such as vandalism and graffiti.

Teams will have to devise an action plan inline with an imaginary £10k budget, produce detailed company reports and prepare a 10 minute PowerPoint presentation. There will be several prizes up for grabs including ‘Best Written Report’, ‘Best Presentation’, ‘Best Teamwork’ and ‘Best Overall Idea’.

Board member, Lyn Harding (Area Head of Operations at HMCS), is playing the part of team business mentor in the project.

The launch recently took place in Cwmbran stadium where the youngsters were introduced to their mentors and the objectives of the project were discussed. Interactive activities were carried out to spark creativity and establish team building.

 

Community Payback Scheme

The GCJB recently played the role of judging panel in the Gwent Community Payback Scheme. The scheme, launched in partnership with Gwent Probation and the South Wales Argus, asked members of the public to nominate projects in their local areas which they thought could benefit from work carried out by offenders sentenced to community punishment.

Out of those submitted the panel chose to take forward the restoration of an overgrown graveyard in Cross Keys, the cleaning up of grafitti in Newport and the tidying up of a canal in Risca.

Mike Tonge, chairman of the GCJB said, "Far too often those who have their lives blighted by low level crime see no 'justice' or pay back through the traditional court system for things like nuisance disorder...I would hope that this hard work would lead to more social responsibility from those involved in the work and at least give the community some pay back.

To see press coverage gained from this project please select a link from the list below:

 

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