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Gloucestershire Business News

VIDEO: Business partnership keeping Gloucester safer

Gloucester City Safe has been keeping the city's streets safer for a decade.

The not-for-profit Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) was formed by members of the business community 10 years ago with the sole intention of facilitating the reduction of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour.

The scheme represents both the day and nighttime economies, working together to reduce shoplifting, theft, anti-social behaviour, alcohol-related disorder, street drinking and begging which affect all businesses throughout Gloucester,working with Gloucester BID and other partners.

Steve Lindsay, manager of Gloucester City Safe, said: "We work in partnership with all the local businesses in the city centre and they all hold a radio and it's all linked to the police CCTV.

"It's prevention and reduction of crime, working closely with the police, the city council and with the Gloucester Business Improvement District (BID). Basically it's just trying to make the city a safer place."

Gloucester City Safe is self-funding. Members fund the scheme by the rental of the radios but the City Protection Officers (CPOs), who work in the city seven days a week, are funded 50% by Gloucester BID, 25% by the Police and Crime Commissioner's Office (OPCC) and 25% by Gloucester City Council.

Steve added: "It makes a huge difference because all the businesses work together. We also work with lots of partner agencies and Gloucestershire Police.

"The city council and Police and Crime Commissioner are going to be funding some engagement officers which is a really positive move and I think it's really good they've agreed that funding because it is needed. We are really excited to be working with everybody on that new project."

Mike Cottrell, who has been a CPO for eight years, said: "I was a relief officer at the start and I joined full time in February. You see a lot of different activities in the city centre on a daily basis. It's rewarding to help someone in need or to help a business, as well as some of the people sleeping rough. We've saved a number of lives with CPR."

Mike said electric scooters and delivery bikes were among the problems they had to deal with. "If we see anti-social behaviour on the bikes we will challenge them and give them some advice and do our best to encourage them to ride safer but our hands are very tied."

Steve added: "Gloucester is a safe place to live, work and do business in. CPOs are always there as a support. There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes that people are not aware of making Gloucester a safe place."

Roger White, chairman of Gloucester City Safe and MD of Whitehouse IT, said: "In the last 10 years Gloucester City Safe has become one of the leading and most successful accredited Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRP) in the country as determined by numerous independent assessors.

"The City Protection Officers that have been deployed since 2018 are making a real difference to Gloucester city centre despite the well-publicised current challenges. They have played a major role in supporting businesses during the day and are also a key enabler of the night time economy.

"This has been made possible by the continued support of our partners including Gloucester BID, Gloucester City Council and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. Their contribution has been vital for us in our journey to make Gloucester a better and safer place to live, work and visit.

"Due to the success of Gloucester City Safe, we are working to expand the partnership across Gloucestershire to make it a county-level offer to businesses. 

"Progress has already been made to expand the scheme to Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Stroud, and we will be working closely with local authorities to increase our coverage further."

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