Operation Wilt, organised by West Yorkshire police and the local community, was shortlisted for the national prize at the Tilley Awards for Safer Communities. The Tilley Awards were set up ten years ago to recognise innovative crime fighting projects where police and local community safety agencies are successfully working together to identify and tackle local crime problems.
The scheme aimed to reduce criminal and anti-social behaviour by 30 per cent during Ramadan from 2006 to 2007, by diverting young people from offending, educating communities and enforcing the law with local support. It entailed police briefings to over 11,000 people; community supervision during prayers; and a media campaign. It was successful in reducing crime by 30 per cent while it exceeded its anti-social behaviour target by cutting it by 37 per cent.
A Halifax project involving volunteers, churches and retailers won the regional prize for the Yorkshire and Humber area. Halifax Town Centre Ambassadors was set up to reassure the public that Halifax was a safe and clean town centre and in response to tackle the perception that the town suffered from business crime: an audit in 2002 found that almost two-thirds of those in the town centre felt intimidated, with over half of retailers experienced vandalism.
Working with local churches, the ambassadors set up patrols to complement the police, helping vulnerable people and providing a deterrent to potential criminals. To ensure that residents felt as safe during the night time as the day they also worked with Halifax Street Angels, who are volunteers from town churches, and have since been complemented by two teams from St Johns Ambulance who could deal with problems so that potential victims would not have to go to accident and emergency units further away. A second audit found a dramatic fall in the fear of crime, while several other towns have sought to emulate Halifax's ambassador scheme.
