2014 has been a year of challenges as we battle with continued cuts to our funding and shrinking resources, but it has also been 12 months of significant progress with more than half a million pounds given to communities from cash taken under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

I have launched a new Help for Victims website, helpforvictims.co.uk, which is solely dedicated to victims and witnesses of crime, and individuals can access all the information contained within the Victims’ Code and the Witness Charter as well as ask questions of trained advisors, access 400-plus local support organisations and translated into the five most spoken languages in Bradford and West Yorkshire.

We are hoping to roll the website out to other PCCs/police forces showing how we are leading the way in West Yorkshire.

2014 has also seen the launch of my Safer Communities Fund, with 33 organisations in Bradford benefiting from £171,000 worth of funding this year alone. In 2015, the grant rounds start again and community/voluntary organisations can apply for funding demonstrating how their project meets the priorities in the Police and Crime Plan at westyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk/safer-communities-fund.aspx.

Another big change in Bradford is looking at how our Neighbourhood Policing Teams work within the community. We have created co-located hubs in Bradford and Keighley, with officers working alongside partners from Bradford Council and others sharing information and working together to ensure communities have a visible police presence and access to their NPTs when they need them.

This year has also seen a joint campaign around tackling Hate Crime so victims and witnesses know what it is and where they can go to for help.

Hate crime takes many forms including verbal abuse, harassment, threats, intimidation, physical abuse and vandalism. It can have both a devastating effect on a single victim but also the potential to divide communities. You can report it by calling 999 in an emergency or 101 in a non-emergency, online at westyorkshire.police.uk/hatecrime or report-it.org.uk or in person at a police station.

I was also in Bradford recently for the launch of the UN Gift Box which aims to raise awareness around the issue of human trafficking and the plight of victims.

This year, I created the West Yorkshire Anti Trafficking Network (WYATN) with Hope for Justice to tackle this awful problem and provide support for victims and training for frontline workers to ensure we get this hidden problem out into the open and deal with perpetrators of this vile crime.

We managed to create the WYATN with £200,000 awarded by the Ministry of Justice and work continues into the New Year in this area and I also held a conference this year on the issue, bringing partners together to establish how we tackle it locally.

I have also earmarked £1.5million for the recruitment of specialist investigators dealing with cases of Child Sexual Exploitation to ensure we get those with specialist knowledge to increase resources immediately to tackle cases and support victims.

It is all about strengthening and building on the safeguarding response in West Yorkshire certainly with increased awareness because of the Savile Inquiry and Operation Yewtree and the increased reporting of sexually related offences as a result.

Looking ahead, 2015 will have its challenges. We are expecting more severe Government cuts with £162million of savings that have had to be found by 2016/17.

That is more than 30 per cent of the overall budget and means we have to continually find ways of working smarter and more efficiently with much more integrated partnership working. It is testament to officers and staff that frontline policing continues to deliver and investment new mobile technology means officers are out on the beat more rather than in offices desk bound.

But with the cuts set to continue, we will have to make some tough decisions around where the money is spent, because we are in the unfortunate position of having 80 per cent of our money coming from central Government funding. So when that gets reduced we get hit the hardest.

My Community Conversations, where I am out and about meeting people and listening to what you have to say about policing and community safety in your area, gives you the opportunity to tell me about your priorities and concerns and tell me where you want money to be spent and resources targeted.

I am your elected voice and want to hear from you. In the New Year, the webchats I hold monthly will be continuing, as will my public surgeries and meetings. For more information visit westyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk, email consultation@westyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk, or call (01924) 294000.

Finally, I look forward to continuing to work with West Yorkshire Police and partners to ensure our communities are safer and feeling safer throughout 2015 and would like to take this opportunity to wish all the very best for you and your family in the New Year.

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