Kirklees is the safest part of West Yorkshire in which to live, work and visit, says top cop

Supt Helen Brear outlined West Yorkshire Police’s strategy for tackling crime relating to serious violence at the last meeting of Kirklees Council’s overview and scrutiny management committee.

Supt Brear said: “Kirklees is the safest place to be a resident or a businessperson or a tourist to the Kirklees district.

"We have 108 crimes per 1,000 people.

"We have seen a 10.7 per cent reduction in the number of anti-social behaviour incidents over the last 12 months.

"We are working, residing and living within the safest place in West Yorkshire.”

Though the statistics show the possession of weapons has increased, Supt Brear wanted to reassure the panel that this was because it was being more frequently recognised through targeted activity like Operation Jemlock and Project Spotlight.

Operation Jemlock was launched in 2019 to combat knife crime and serious violence in West Yorkshire. In April last year, it was reported that more than 500 weapons had been taken off the streets as a result.

Project Spotlight focuses on those who commit crimes and seeks to prevent it. This sees plain-clothed and uniformed officers patrolling identified crime “hotspots” to prevent offending.

Knife crime rates in Kirklees are lower than those in Leeds and Bradford with 364 cases of knife crime reported in Kirklees between 2021 and 2022. Leeds saw 999 cases in the same period, and 502 in Bradford.

Coun Jackie Ramsey (Labour, Dewsbury South) said that she found it interesting that crime rates were on the decline but wanted to hear why youths continue to join gangs.

Lee Hamilton, Safer Kirklees manager, explained that the reasons why people join gangs are complicated and vary between North and South Kirklees. Some of the reasons he listed included home life, deprivation and trauma.

He assured the panel that young people are being engaged with to explore which services could help them.

The report given to the panel highlights a 14.4 per cent reduction in serious violence in Kirklees, with the number of offences falling from 271 in 2020-21 to 232 in 2021-22.

Six wards were identified as most in need of help when it comes to tackling knife crime and these are Ashbrow, Crosland Moor and Netherton, Dalton, Batley East, Batley West and Dewsbury West.

An “alliance of organisations” are responsible for tackling the issue of violent crime in Kirklees and all play a part in implementing the strategy. Actions such as funding community projects, working with young people in education and early intervention for those at risk are some measures being taken to improve the outlook.

Jo Richmond, head of communities at Kirklees Council, said: “The figures suggest Kirklees is a safe place, and Kirklees is a safe place, but we have had some really tragic incidents.

"We have to be really sensitive to not go out and say how wonderful everything is when we know that there are families who have been really badly impacted by this and their children have been impacted by it.”