Safer People

To protect, support and respond to victims, witnesses and vulnerable people and tackle abuse, exploitation and violence in all their forms.

I will:

• Promote hate crime prevention initiatives and encourage and facilitate the reporting in all forms of hate crime.
• Help keep people safe in their homes by working with the local authorities, Health and the Fire and Rescue Service to provide Total Home Safety advice.
• Work with Community Mental Health Trusts to ensure that the police are the service of last resort and not the service of first resort for people suffering a mental health crisis.
• Ensure victims are read their rights at the point of report or as soon after as possible as with offenders.
• Commission victim services to give people access to a range of specialist victim support services to help victims and their families cope with the impact of crime and recovery from their experience.
• Ensure compliance with the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime.
• Develop a violence against women and girls strategy.
• Introduce voluntarily recording of misogyny as a hate crime indicator.
• Domestic violence protection notices and orders; press for imposition of restraining orders.
• Ensure that stalking legislation and powers are effectively adhered to and measured.
• Support the use of robust domestic violence perpetrator programmes so as to prevent domestic violence and abuse happening in the future.
• Work with partners agencies to keep care-experienced young people out of the criminal justice system.
• Support and work with schools to reduce school exclusions and off rolling so that we keep children in school education.
• Ensure policies about young people will be made after engaging and involving young people.
• Divert young people from becoming involved in crime and anti-social behaviour through a range of education, employment, leisure and training activities.
• Divert those suffering with chronic addiction away from the criminal justice system towards treatment and harm prevention.
• Commission research into the cost of alcohol harm to Durham Constabulary.

• Improve investigation into offenders gambling addiction and its role in the commissioning of the crime and present the findings to the CPS and the Court.
• Introduce the Lie/Bet questionnaire at point of arrest in a similar way to drug and alcohol testing.
• Add additional question to ask victims of domestic assault to specifically include gambling (in addition to drugs/alcohol).
• Consider GRH when investigating missing persons or sudden death.
• Encourage those presenting with GRH to be referred to NHS Gambling Clinic to prevent further harm and crime.
• Press for the Gambling Commission to thoroughly investigate operator’s code of conduct to identify negligent behaviour before charging and sentencing.
• Advocate introducing a gambling treatment requirement for community and suspended sentence orders for those presenting with GRH.
• Train Police, PCSOs to identify gambling addiction and to understand the links between suicide, mental health, homelessness, domestic abuse, child neglect and gambling.