Clacton: A Safe Space is open in the town centre

A Safe Space to help anyone feeling vulnerable or in difficulty is operating in Clacton on weekend evenings throughout the summer.

Officers from Clacton Community Policing Team have established a zone in the town centre, where members of the public can share concerns, report incidents or simply say hello.

Representatives of drug and alcohol charity Open Road are also working alongside the team to offer help and advice to anyone who asks.

The Safe Space is in place on Friday and Saturday nights between 6pm and 2am until the end of this month (August). It will operate in Pier Gap between 6pm & 10pm and at the top of Pier Avenue on Christmas Tree Island between 10pm & 2am. 

Detective Chief Inspector Ian Hughes, of our Serious Violence Unit, says:

“We want people to feel safe when they’re in Clacton and we know from the public response that the Safe Space is already having a positive impact.
“People have told our officers they like them being there and feel reassured by their presence.
“We’re engaging with people, offering them support if they need it and working alongside our partners locally to help anyone who needs assistance.
“It’s vital that we have a highly-visible presence on the busiest evenings of the year in the town, and we want people to come and talk to us.
“We are showing the public we are here to protect them and sending a clear message to anyone who is thinking about causing trouble.”

The Safe Space initiative was developed by the team behind Operation Grip – a Home Office-funded pilot which uses high-visibility hotspot patrols to prevent crime.

Grip officers worked with our community policing teams to look at an innovative solution to deter criminality and help people feel safe after feedback from people across the county indicated that at times they felt vulnerable in town centres late at night.

Similar successful projects in Southend, Colchester and Basildon have seen more than 20,000 people pass through the zones and interact with officers.

Officers at the Clacton Safe Space have already engaged with several hundred people over the first two weekends, and they’ll be out again this Friday and Saturday.

DCI Hughes adds that we are identifying areas of concern by talking to the public and continuing to build relationships locally.

Then, working with local community safety partnerships, improvements can be made where people have told us they feel unsafe by deploying a Safe Space operation or, for example, using Safer Streets funding to upgrade CCTV and street lights, where issues have been identified.

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