YOUNG people are being urged to play a high-tech part in making the district a safer place to live.
Warwick District Council is aiming to put young voices at the heart of public safety in a project set to start next month.
In partnership with safeguarding platform The Student Voice, the council’s Community Safety Team is launching the child-led initiative enabling children aged 11 to 18 to pinpoint unsafe areas in the district’s’s parks, streets, shops, fast food outlets, public transport routes, bus stops and train stations, using a digital tool tailored to their age group.
The platform aims to captures first-hand safety data directly from young people.
The community hotspot reports – which are checked and edited for legal reasons – will then be quickly visible to schools, social care, community safety teams, and police, in a bid to enable faster and more precise responses.
The data and information will allow the likes of the police and council chiefs to pinpoint problem areas where action is needed.
The reporting tools also aims to help schools provide extra safeguarding support to pupils, allowing them to follow up concerns directly with children and their families and provide any support needed.
Teachers in all the district’s schools have taken part in introductory sessions to get them up to speed with the tools. Pupils will be introduced to the platform when they return for the new term.
WDC community protection spokeswoman Marianne Rolfe said: “We know that our young people can be out and about in larger groups, or at particular times of the day, and this platform allows us to hear directly from them, so that we know where and when to target our support.
“I’m really hopeful that this collaborative approach will go a long way to improving the sense of safety and wellbeing in our district.”
The Student Voice has already launched successfully in other areas of Warwickshire.
Visit thestudentvoice.co.uk/warwickshire-community-safety for further details.
