MORE police patrols will be put on Barnsley’s streets after a £1m Home Office grant.
The funding will be directed to areas with the highest reported rates of violent crime, and was secured by the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) and South Yorkshire Police’s serious violent crime task force.
It will be available until March.
Violent crime in Barnsley saw the highest rise in South Yorkshire between December 2019 and December 2020, up seven per cent overall from 8,267 recorded incidents to 8,867 - particularly affected by rises in violence without injury, and harassment and stalking offences.
Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “This was a joint bid between my Violence Reduction Unit and the force’s Serious Violence Crime Task Force.
“The extra high visibility patrols will provide intense engagement time between the officers and the community along with targeted work to rapidly reduce levels of violent crime within these areas.
The cash comes shortly after it was announced areas of Barnsley identified as neighbourhood crime hotspots - including Wombwell, Thurnscoe, Goldthorpe and Darfield - would benefit from £418,000 to fund CCTV, automatic number plate recognition systems and increased community policing.
