Keeping Cardiff safe - Statement

South Police is proud to represent and protect all communities that it serves.

Cardiff has an excellent history of partnership working which has helped ensure that its night-time economy is safe as well as vibrant and welcoming.

Some of the interventions used in the city centre are considered good practice and have been replicated by other police forces.

However, we understand that recent events have caused concern and, as always, we are working closely with partners such as the local authority, universities and For Cardiff, to continue making Cardiff a safe place for our residents and visitors.

We have high-visibility patrols throughout the city centre and surrounding areas to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour.

Here are some recent examples of how are keeping the communities of Cardiff safe:

• South Wales Police is a strong advocate of LGBTQ+ communities and champions their rights through everything we do. A partnership which aims to encourage members of the LGBT + community to report hate crimes was launched in October 2021 by South Wales Police and the SWP LGBT+ Network. PCSO Blane Thomas set up the partnership scheme whereby there are regular events held at the LGBT+ venues in Cardiff city centre for community members and those who work in the venues to feedback any tensions or concerns, to feel reassured and supported by SWP.

 

• We have worked with Cardiff Council and Bute Park management to assess Bute Park on what additional measures could be introduced to help prevent and detect crime, and as a result there have been improvements in CCTV.

 

• We are working with licensed premises to help upskill their staff on LGBT+ and Hate Crime issues so identification and reporting will improve further.
  Cardiff has a long and proud tradition of recognising, celebrating and protecting equality and diversity. Anyone who has concerns about hate crime is asked to please contact South Wales Police in confidence.

 

• Plain-clothed patrols in Bute Park to gather intelligence and identify offenders. These patrols are complimented by high visibility patrols to reassure and deter.

 

• The Cardiff Community Safety Partnership has been awarded £432,000 from the Home Office's Safer Streets fund, to help communities crack down on neighbourhood crimes like burglary, vehicle theft and robbery. The money has been used to buy 20 CCTV cameras and install better LED lighting and other safety improvements.

 

• This academic year alone round 1,500 people, mainly students, have been taken to a place of safety thanks to the Cardiff Safety Bus.

 

• Operation Minerva – plain clothes officers patrolling the City Centre at night during the weekends to identify people who could be vulnerable to exploitation, victims of crime or perpetrators of crime, with interventions to ensure safeguarding and prevent offending.

 

• Cardiff and Vale After Dark – additional officers allocated to the City Centre between 7pm and 7am on Friday / Saturday nights and during event weekends to ensure increased visibility and reassurance to people enjoying the night-times economy.

 

• As part of the UK Government’s strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, we are part of the trialling of a new online tool called StreetSafe, which allows people to pin-point locations where they have felt unsafe and to identify why that location made them feel unsafe. Using that information we can then direct our patrols and, with partners, make improvements to infrastructure such as lighting and CCTV.

 

• Police officers have also trained staff at city centre licensed premises to help them identify and safeguard vulnerable people and we regularly see examples of where this training has paid off. Knife arches and search wands are available to premises within Cardiff City Centre to provide reassurance during the current concerns relating to spiking and knife crime. Search wands also provided when requested.

 

South Wales Police will continue to do everything possible to keep communities safe and to ensure that people feel safe when going about their everyday business.

There are alternatives to calling 101 and we encourage people to come forward to report non-urgent incidents to us:

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Via email: [email protected]

Always dial 999 in an emergency.