Collection box scheme aims to cut begging in Swindon

A scheme to help the homeless and reduce the number of beggars on Swindon town centre streets was launched on May 15th.

As part of the Street Safe Scheme, the management team at inSwindon Bid Company – which looks after the town centre – are putting collecting boxes in town centre cafes and asking shoppers to put donations in these instead of giving directly to beggars.

All money collected will go to HOSTS – Homeless Organisations Stick Together in Swindon –  whom donate money to local organisations which help homeless and disadvantaged people.

Mark Ross, chief executive of inSwindon, said “he hoped shoppers would get on board and put any spare change they might have given to beggars into the collection boxes instead”.

“We are doing this for two reasons,” he said. “Firstly, while the numbers of beggars in Swindon has fallen through the introduction of our Street Team, we want to see a further reduction, and this we can do by taking away their ‘income’. We know that shoppers feel uncomfortable being asked for money by beggars and we want to enhance their shopping experience by reducing this problem.

“Secondly, giving directly to beggars often means money ending up with drug dealers. It’s not true of all of them, but many people on the streets are drugs users or alcoholics. By offering an alternative way of giving – through the use of the collecting boxes – money can go directly to the charities which can get to the source and assist in far greater ways than by giving direct where no control can be guaranteed”

Wiltshire Police had backed the scheme. Said Mark: “Our Street Ambassadors, known as the Street Team, and the police have been working closely to help move beggars on and this has been very successful. Begging is illegal, it is antisocial, and this initiative will help reduce it further.

Street Safe is a fantastic scheme and is a great example of all parties working to the same cause, ultimately to create a safer atmosphere in Swindon’s town centre whilst ensuring and promoting the help that is available to beggars, from the appropriate agencies.”

Insp Paul Mills, of Wilshire Police, said: “We regularly look to work with our partners to address the issues related to on-street begging. The H.O.S.T.S initiative ensures that where members of the public wish to help homeless people they can be assured that their contributions will go directly towards a number of organisations that are undertaking positive work in this area.”

Boxes will be placed in cafes and restaurants. The inSwindon team also plan to run occasional street collections to raise more for the homeless charities.

Richard Hazell, chair of H.O.S.T.S, welcomed the relaunch of Street Safe. He said: “It is a much better way of giving to homeless people than by handing money directly, which just goes to feed people’s addiction. Any money collected in this way will be used by H.O.S.T.S for homeless projects, such as the day centre at St Luke’s.”

Editor’s notes

For more information contact Julie Margerum at Vox PR on 01793 511990 or email julie@voxonline.co.uk

ACIS Database can reduce crime

SCRIP is now using the Active Crime Intelligence System (ACIS), developed by the Retail Crime Operation based in Birmingham, as its database for all criminal intelligence.

The creators of ACIS said the database was developed because,

“There was a shortfall between intelligence being produced in a form that encompassed the needs of its own operation. To fulfil this need for retail, business, city or town centre management  scenario and all crime partnerships, the focus is one of readily produced  graphical and hotspot intelligence information. Information stored within the provision of the Data Protection Act subjected to regular automatic reviews. A live interactive database that allows multi windowed linked data to be displayed. A User friendly tool for the collation of data subjects and the incidents or intelligence linked to them. Producing photograph albums and reports for distribution.”

SCRIP is intent on being as proactive as possible in deterring and dealing with crime and anti-social behaviour and sees the ACIS system as a key tool for achieving this objective.

Town Centre Manager Bernie Maguire states:

“The ACIS system will enable us to quickly and easily prepare real-time intelligence bulletins for our members on the street, and that includes police officers.

The ability to manage our intelligence through this system means that we can choose what is sent to whom and when.  The software is user friendly and has an impressive back-up and support service.”

The effectiveness of the database, however, relies heavily on members in the partnership completing SCRIP Incident Report Forms. These forms should be completed for all crime related incidents that take place in the centre. They enable the Street Team to input all the necessary data into the ACIS database so that it can be redistributed to all members and partners of the scheme. This serves to increase awareness of criminal activity and enables offenders and potential offenders to be identified.