Neil Wilby Media

Students and women in Kirklees are being helped to stay safer this autumn through a fresh blitz of activity aimed at better protecting females. 

More police patrols in student areas, enhanced targeting of offenders, fresh safety advice and the launch of even more Safe Zones for the vulnerable, are just some of the measures planned by Kirklees Police for a wave of activity starting this month. 

Partners including Safer Kirklees and The University of Huddersfield will be supporting Kirklees Officers in the activity which is being mirrored by work ongoing across the wider force area. 

Work with the university to make female students safer will include special high visibility police patrols in student areas and the continued deployment of the Night Safety bus which launched last year. 

The bus and its team of trained staff from Change Grow Live’s CHART Kirklees drug and alcohol service and Locala have been on hand to help people report sexual harassment and provide a safe space on a night out if someone is feeling threatened. 

Support on staying safe will also again be offered to students in events at the University of Huddersfield, as well as for women more widely at events at Kingsgate in Huddersfield and at Dewsbury bus station. 

Meanwhile, police and partners will also widen the rapidly expanding ‘Safe Zones’ scheme even further with the launch of a new Safe Zone in every GP’s surgery across Kirklees. 

There are now more than 230 Safe Zones operating in shops, public buildings, railway station and more covering Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

Safe Zones are areas where a women, or child could step off the street if they feel they are being followed until the risk has passed, or they might wish to charge their phone and call a friend or parent.   

They may wish to use the Ask Angela scheme and present a card to staff asking them to call somebody on their behalf. 

Alongside prevention work, officers are also carrying out arrest enquiries for men wanted for crimes of violence against women who are not yet in custody. 

The new safety drive follows on from a sustained package of work to make women and girls safer launched last autumn, which as credited with reducing the number of offences targeted against women in the Kirklees district.  

Chief Superintendent Helen Brear of Kirklees Police, said: “A significant amount of work continues in Kirklees to make women and girls safer and I want to thank our partners for the huge contributions they have been making for some time now to achieve this. 

“Our new autumn wave of activity is intended to continue this good work through the remainder of this year, and has been timed to start with the expected influx of new students into Kirklees from this month. 

“A key part of making our communities safer is of course to prevent crime from ever taking place, and we believe these initiatives, including those with the university, will make females feel safer, and hopefully prevent criminal activity. 

“Colleagues from across West Yorkshire Police are carrying out operations across the force this week and we want to make it very clear in Kirklees that any form of violent act towards females here will not be tolerated. 

“Women should feel safe each and every day when going about their business in our towns and villages and we intend to keep up our joint work to ensure they can.” 

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Page last updated: Monday 18th September, 2023 at 15h45

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