Baroness Scotland visits National Reassurance Policing Project in Birmingham
15 Oct 2004
As part of the first ever 'Inside Justice Week', she spent a day with local police officers and staff involved in the National Reassurance Project, a pilot project involving eight police forces around the country. She saw examples of positive work of officers on various site visits in the city and met local people and school children.
Looking at the National Reassurance Project, which was developed to address the gap between falling levels of crime and increasing public fear of crime, Baroness Scotland was also shown the work of the charitable trust Re:Generate.
Baroness Scotland explains: "The chance of becoming a victim has fallen to the lowest in 20 years. However, people also need to feel safe. Communities need to know what the criminal justice system is doing on their behalf and how they can play their part. I hope Inside Justice Week will help achieve this.
"The Government is working hard to improve the service that the criminal justice system provides, in particular to victims and witnesses. But in collaboration with local communities we can make even more progress towards delivering a fairer and more just society."
Assistant Chief Constable Anil Patani, Chair of the West Midlands Criminal Justice Board, said: "West Midlands continues to enjoy a period of consistent and substantive reduction in crime. It is important this performance is matched by an increased feeling of safety and security in our communities,
"It is important that where people are unfortunate enough to become victims of crime, they can rely on a quality of justice in which they can have confidence and assurance. This is exactly what the criminal justice partners are working towards in the West Midlands."