LIB DEMS WANT MORE CASH TO SUPPORT VICTIMS OF CRIME (Kirklees Liberal Democrats)

Kirklees Liberal Democrats <info@kirkleeslibdems.org.uk>

LIB DEMS WANT MORE CASH TO SUPPORT VICTIMS OF CRIME

February 8, 2008 8:19 PM

Liberal Democrat Councillors on Kirklees Council are calling for extra funding to support victims of crime.

Cllr Andrew Marchington (Lib Dem spokesperson for Community Safety) explained "Being a victim of crime is a traumatic experience and can wreck someone's life. Offenders need to be made accountable for their actions and take responsibility for what they have done. Victims and communities need a say in what happens to offenders."

The Lib Dem group will call for extra funds in this year's council budget. The money would be used to pay for dedicated staff to work with victims and offenders to ensure that when crime happens, local residents are consulted about what happens to the offenders.

Cllr Marchington said: "We want additional money to pay for extra victim liaison officers to work across our communities. The Council already has an effective victim support programme for dealing with young offenders. Now we want to see this extended to tackle those frustrating crimes which affect the whole community."

"This extra work would only cost around £90,000 per year. This would pay for two specialist officers in the Community Safety Team, and would really help to target antisocial behaviour and crime. I hope that the Conservative Cabinet will accept our request for funding at Budget Council. We know that crimes which affect the whole community are a huge priority for residents."

The Kirklees Council budget for 2008/09 will be agreed at a meeting of Full Council on 27th February.