The new service that offers support and guidance to victims and witnesses of anti-social behaviour has offered support to 32 families across the Caerphilly county borough in its first three months of operation.
The service, which is provided by Victim Support and funded by the Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership, is free and confidential and provides support and guidance on dealing with anti-social behaviour and moving forward.
Caerphilly is currently one of the few boroughs in Wales to offer such a service to victims and witnesses of anti-social behaviour.
Cabinet member for the environment, Cllr Lyn Ackerman said, “I am delighted that the support service for victims of anti-social behaviour has been able to offer help and guidance to 32 families in the short time since the service began.
By offering this service, we are providing a dual approach to talking anti-social behaviour – we will continue to proactively tackle anti-social behaviour as we have in the past, but now we are able to provide an additional support service to our residents who may have experienced anti-social behaviour and need some advice on how to move forward.”
Mandy Davies, Divisional Manager for Victim Support said, “Working in Partnership with the Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership means Victim Support can offer a comprehensive support service to all sections of the community affected by anti –social behaviour.
We are a single point of contact for the victim, and are able to identify their needs and provide them with the help they require, an end to end service offering emotional support, practical assistance and witness support should they be required to attend court’.
The Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership has funded the training of 15 volunteers, who are able to work with Victim Support to provide the service to the people of Caerphilly county borough.
More than 45 front line staff including local police officers, Community Safety Wardens and Tenancy Enforcement staff have also received training.
When an anti-social behaviour referral is submitted against an individual, the victim and witness in each case will have the opportunity to work with Victim Support, who can provide professional, confidential support and guidance to those that require it.
This service forms part of the Justice Seen Justice Done initiative, of which the Caerphilly county borough is a pioneer area. The initiative focuses on improving public confidence in how crime is tackled and justice delivered.
For further information, please contact Victim Support on 0845 6 121 900.
