NORTH Wales Police Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin has outlined the steps being taken to prevent and minimise crime on Anglesey, saying funding in the area is “vital”.

With £692,149 of Home Office funding going towards the Holyhead Town Project, and with more than £400,000 allocated across North Wales by the Your Community, Your Choice initiative, crime prevention is at the heart of these policies.

Speaking to the Chronicle, Mr Dunbobbin said: “It is vital to invest in community projects in Anglesey and right across North Wales.

“Every part of North Wales is really, really important to me, not just from a professional point of view, but from an emotional and personal side of things - it’s really important that we have that parity amongst places.”

The Holyhead Town project will see £692,149 go towards projects such as improving street lighting in around the town centre and the installation of new and upgraded lighting.

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It will also see the installation of 21 CCTV cameras, the provision of target hardening and crime prevention packs for 250 properties to help prevent neighbourhood crime, and the provision of high visibility police patrols to help tackle and prevent violence against women and girls offences and anti-social behaviour as part of night-time economy.

The increase in police visibility and activity offers “so much”, and Mr Dunbobbin added: “Neighbourhood policing is at the heart of my Police and Crime Plan, because you get so much from that – that visibility, speaking to local people, getting all that intelligence.

The crime prevention packs being handed out to 250 households is targeted at those properties in Holyhead Town within identified zones that have either been a victim of crime (Burglary) or are very close to a property that has (from Crime Statistics over the last 3 years).

Crime Prevention surveys will be undertaken at the locations to identify the most appropriate home security measures for the property and may include fitting window locks and alarms, PIRs Motion Sensors (Security lights), cameras, letterbox locks, gate locks, crime prevention advise stickers and leaflets and items to deter opportunist theft.

“When I got elected, I had a security visit done on my house, so I know how this would work,” said the Commissioner.

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“The reassurance that gave me and my family, I’m hoping will have the same impact on those households as well.”

“there is a justice there, that the proceeds of crime are being put back into the communities that have been affected by any sort of criminality.

On why Holyhead is the recipient town of nearly £700,000 in police funding, Mr Dunbobbin said: “The Home Office sets strict criteria regarding which areas should be put forward for funding from the Safer Streets Fund.

“We were asked to describe the area targeted, why we had identified it, and the problems to be targeted through our plan.

“The types of incidents highlighted by the Home Office were neighbourhood crime, anti-social behaviour (ASB), and violence against women and girls (VAWG) in public places and their safety.”

These areas are chosen via the Vulnerable Localities Index (VLI), which uses 6 sociodemographic factors from partner data to identify the areas of highest concern in North Wales.

Mr Dunbobbin continued: “Holyhead appears high on the list of areas within the Welsh Index of multiple deprivation, and is within the top nine per cent of deprived wards and has high rates for assaults.”

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The Your Community, Your Choice project has been successful in funding initiatives in Anglesey, with recent investment at Llangoed Football Club and the village of Llandegfan benefitting those communities.

Applications are made by the organisations, which are then shortlisted and voted on by the communities themselves.

And with an ever-present debate on a North-South divide in Wales, Mr Dunbobbin empathised with those that felt this was the case, but added: “I hear people saying that, but there are people in South Wales who say that North Wales gets a lot of things, so there is a bit of to-and-fro.

“I do hear what people are saying about how ‘we’re forgotten about’ – I’ve felt like that sometimes.

“Parity is really important – nobody should be left out.”