New ‘City Safe’ hub aims to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in Newcastle city centre

Northumbria Police has partnered with Newcastle City Council and NE1 to launch the new ‘City Safe’ hub at the Newcastle City Library, on New Bridge Street.

The new project will see the Force working alongside its partner organisations to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour from within a base in the heart of the city centre.

As well as tackling issues such as crime, the ‘City Safe’ project will also see an increased access to support services for the most vulnerable people within the local community.

These support service providers, including drug and alcohol specialists, will look to tackle the root causes of offending behaviour whilst also supporting vulnerable people.

Chief Superintendent Barrie Joisce, of Northumbria Police, is the officer leading the project on behalf of the Force.

He has given an insight into how all three organisations working together will look to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour within the city.

Barrie said: “I think this is a really exciting opportunity for Newcastle to bring partners together in one office as it gives us a real opportunity to share intelligence, to work collaboratively and to make better use of our resources with visibility right across the city.

“Newcastle has got some complex challenges and issues that we really want to solve which is something that has been fed back to us by businesses and the local community and this project will give us a platform to do that.

“We’ll be here to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour issues. There will also be a focus on dealing with homelessness, begging and some challenging individuals within our community, as well as some retail crime issues and serious violence.

“The project will cover both daytime and night-time issues including our really vibrant night-time economy.”

Receive headline round-ups and breaking news alerts when you sign up to NewcastleWorld’s free email newsletters

Barrie also revealed to NewcastleWorld how the new City Safe hub will benefit Newcastle’s popular night-time economy.

He added: “A lot of this is about visibility so we want to be as visible as possible using all three organisations and resources by being in the right place at the right time.

“Hopefully this will make us proactive and preventative to stop offences from happening so the public should feel reassured when they see police officers.

“We’ve got access to officers who will be highly visible in yellow jackets but also officers in plain clothes who will be operating within our night-time economy.

“Hopefully that should give the public reassurance that we are there to tackle vulnerability and offenders who come to cause problems within the night-time economy and to prevent serious violence.

“We are aiming for a safer city so that people can come and enjoy what Newcastle’s nightlife has to offer.”

Cllr Paula Maines, Cabinet member for a Resilient City at Newcastle City Council, has stated that the new ‘City Safe’ hub will give the Council another platform to build on the work that it already does with Northumbria Police and NE1.

Cllr Maines commented: “The safety of our communities is a top priority for us so I’m delighted we are launching the new hub at City Library.

“The project is all about listening to the concerns of residents and businesses so partners can take action and tackle the issues that matter most to them.

“It also gives us a platform to build on the extensive work we already do with partners to keep our communities safe and ensure we continue to support vulnerable people in the best way we can.

“The new hub is a great example of how partners can work together to help the city to thrive and ensure it remains the safe and welcoming place we all want it to be.”