Safety was at the heart of community events in Deal and Dover

Personal safety was at the heart of two community events held in Deal and Dover aimed at protecting women and girls from harm.

The events held on Thursday 26 October 2023 at the Skatepark in Park Avenue, Deal and Pencester Park in Dover were a collaboration between police and partner agencies. They came about through a shared desire to reduce violent crime and protect vulnerable people.

Whilst the community events were aimed at youngsters, there were visitors of all ages. Free sports activities were provided by Sports Connect. Attendees took part in a football match as well as the challenge of trying out the police bleep test. A gaming van with free hot chocolate was particularly popular.

Representatives from the force’s Dover Community Safety Unit, the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) which includes Dover District Council and other agencies such as Kent Fire and Rescue Service, local youth clubs including Linwood and the Port of Dover Police were all there to support and run the initiative.

Deal Beat Officer, PC Sophie Bramble, said:

‘We arranged these community events to engage with local people, particularly children, creating a safe environment for them to discuss any concerns they have and to find out how safe they feel in their towns.
‘We are always looking for new and interesting ways to talk to young people and to show them that we are here, we care and want to support them in any way that we can. 'The football match was a real draw for the community, and we had a big uptake. Who would have thought that two goals, some bibs and a football could bring strangers together for some wholesome fun.
‘Education is so important, and this was a fun way of handing out some important messages about personal safety and encouraging people to look out for each other, and report incidents to us.
‘We carried out a questionnaire too and will be using the results to help shape the way we support young people in our communities. The feedback we received was varied and included pleas for more lighting in dark alleyways which we will work with the council to address, and more officers in some key areas such as the train stations and parks.'I thank all those from our partner agencies for helping us to make the events a success and we will continue to do all we can to keep our residents safe.’