A Staffordshire Moorlands community group has been awarded £1,971 from Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis’ People Power Fund to increase the confidence of vulnerable people.
Knypersley Community Association has been awarded the funding to install door chime intercoms on bungalows in the area, to reassure vulnerable people that support is available.
Over the past 12 months there have been incidents where bungalows have been targeted by door to door sales people and bogus officials. The intercom system will give residents the security to speak to someone without opening the door and will increase their confidence and safety.
As part of his commitment to local communities, the Commissioner is providing £500,000 in 2015/16 through the People Power Fund in the form of grants of between £100 and £3,000. The fund is supporting locally-driven community safety activities in communities throughout Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
Mr Ellis said: “The Commissioner’s People Power Fund puts half a million pounds back into local communities and is easy and simple to apply for.
“Installing the intercoms in homes where there are vulnerable people helps to keep local people safe and gives them confidence in their own homes.”
Margaret Worthington, chair of Knypersley Community Association, said: “The funding from the People Power Fund has allowed our Community Association to purchase 40 door chime intercom systems. We have allocated over half of these now, with careful consideration as to who would benefit most from the use of one.
“Some of the recipients have been victims of crime, usually burglary, which has had an impact on their sense of security in their own homes. Some have been allocated to people who feel vulnerable or of a nervous disposition, often widows living on their own and occasionally elderly couples.
“Disabled people have benefitted from the device as they no longer need to struggle to answer the door. There is no set criteria as to who should receive one and the programme will be ongoing as appropriate recipients are suggested to us either by the police or other agencies until such time that we run out of units.
“The feedback we have had so far has been very positive and the police have shown an interest in purchasing more to cover a wider area.”
The People Power Fund is one part of £2.5 million of Commissioner’s Community Funding for 2015/16. The Commissioner’s Locality Deal Fund has allocated money to local areas through working in partnership with local district and borough councils. Meanwhile, the Commissioner’s Proceeds of Crime Fund is seeing 100 per cent of funding received by Staffordshire Police going back into local communities, through grants of between £3,000 and £15,000. It is made up of money seized from criminals as Staffordshire Police continue to strip offenders of their assets.
Successful projects in all three funding streams will deliver what’s important to local people based on the four priorities set out in the Commissioner’s Safer, Fairer, United Communities Strategy – tackling the root causes of crime through early intervention, supporting victims and witnesses better, reducing reoffending and increasing public confidence.
