Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews is celebrating the completion of a major safety project that has ramped household security across Oadby and Wigston.
Around 720 homes have received a free security makeover in the district thanks to a unique partnership bringing together local councils, safety leaders and the Police, under the governance of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland PCC, to prevent Anti-social behaviour (ASB) and Neighbourhood Crime.
The PCC secured a six-figure grant from the Home Office's Safer Streets Fund to invest in a raft of safety schemes to protect local people from the crimes that cause them most concern and impact how safe they feel.
In addition to the roll out of an extensive free home security scheme, the partners funded 10 new re-deployable CCTV cameras which can be attached to up to 60 lamp posts in high-risk crime areas to improve CCTV coverage and to enable mobile camera movements - all of which are now operational.
In other interventions, antiburglary cocooning packs have been distributed to 1,315 homes while two fixed CCTV columns have been installed which can accommodate mobile cameras.
A targeted educational Neighbourhood Crime campaign was also delivered by charity Crimestoppers between December 2023 and March last year to help prevent crime.
Mr Matthews said: "I'm extremely proud to reach this milestone, with all planned interventions completed and fully operational ahead of schedule.
"A huge amount of hard work and effort has been undertaken by the team to pull this project off within the ambitious timeframe and I'm delighted our communities are already feeling the benefit of the increased protection on our streets.
"We know the fear of crime can be just as crippling to our communities as crime itself. This is why our original proposal to the Home Office had the dual purpose of increasing feelings of safety as well as making it easier for officers to apprehend criminals and secure vital evidence.
"Preventing crime is a key theme in my new Police and Crime Plan and I am confident the new technology this project has supported will serve as a deterrent to offenders and provide ongoing reassurance to the residents of Oadby and Wigston that we take their safety extremely seriously.
"I would like to thank all involved in delivering this fantastic scheme. This project is a shining example of what can be achieved when we tackle problems together, and there is a real commitment to continue strengthening these relationships beyond the scope of the project."
The improvements were implemented over an 18-month period between October 1 2023 and 31 March 2025 and have received praise by the community.
One resident commented: "The Safer Street 5 initiative by Leicestershire Police is a fabulous project which allows communities to feel safer with the latest technology give to those in need good, robust and tasted items at no cost!
"The demand for the service speaks for itself; I was told some people were queuing up for over two hours - what does this tell us?
"It makes the community feel safe and hopefully deters those who may otherwise consider coming or breaking into our homes. Excellent, robust and tested safety equipment."
