The Police and Crime Plan 2024-2028
The Plan's overall vision is a safe, just and inclusive West Yorkshire, underpinned by three priorities, five cross cutting themes and an overall spotlight on serious violence.
West Yorkshire: Safe. Just. Inclusive.
My first term as Mayor saw our region make great strides towards a safe, just, and inclusive West Yorkshire. This new Police and Crime Plan is a further opportunity to outline a bold vision for the next four years and beyond, consolidating the brilliant work that has already taken place, and delivering for the people of our region.
During my election campaign, I set out my manifesto commitment of making our streets safer. With my mandate from the people of West Yorkshire, I will make tackling serious violence a priority and deliver a Serious Violence Strategy, continue my commitment to eradicate violence against women and girls, and invest in Youth Futures Hubs across the county.
As your Mayor, it's important for me to understand what residents think and feel, so with colleagues and my Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Alison Lowe, we conducted one of the widest consultations ever undertaken in the region on our priorities and cross cutting themes. You can find out more and read the Plan below.
Tracy Brabin
Mayor of West Yorkshire
The new Police and Crime Plan was officially launched on Monday 24 February 2025 at Cloth Hall Court in Leeds with members of the public, partners and stakeholders.
View the Police and Crime Plan View the Plan on a Page
I am incredibly proud of everything we have already achieved and enter this term with a renewed drive to deliver for the people of West Yorkshire.
While developing the new Police and Crime Plan, we have engaged in a wide-ranging consultation with partners, communities and stakeholders alongside a comprehensive needs assessment to understand where we should be dedicating our resources and energy.
These conversations have helped build up a picture of what is important to the people of West Yorkshire in relation to policing, crime and community safety, with a spotlight on serious violence.
I am committed to supporting the Mayor in paving the way for a West Yorkshire that is safe, just and inclusive and this Plan gives me great confidence that we are on our way to achieving her bold vision.
Alison Lowe
Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime
Spotlight on Serious Violence
Our vision for West Yorkshire is for the area to be safe, just, and inclusive. We have all seen the tragic loss of life to knife crime on our streets and that’s why the Mayor promised to make tackling serious violence a priority in her election manifesto. The spotlight in this Plan is part of the journey to make this a reality and deliver on the government's mission of halving knife crime in a decade.
Priorities
The three priorities have been chosen after extensive consultation with the public and partner organisations and analysis of risk and community safety need across West Yorkshire. The delivery of these priorities will be the Mayor’s focus over the next few years. The priorities are:
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Cross cutting themes
Five topics cut across everything we hope to achieve under this plan, and will influence our work in partnership, delivery, and commissioning. They reflect our ambition to create a safe, just, and inclusive West Yorkshire. The cross cutting themes are:
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Supporting Documents and Information
- The Safety of Women and Girls Strategy
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West Yorkshire is home to over 1.2 million women and girls, and every one of them should feel safe. Safe at home, at work, on a night out, walking in a park, anywhere.
The Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan sets out a clear vision for community safety in West Yorkshire, to be safe, just and inclusive, with the pledge of embedding the safety of women and girls at the heart of the plan.
The Safety of Women and Girls Strategy outlines how we will work in partnership with stakeholders in West Yorkshire, as well as at a regional, national, and international level to deliver on the pledge.
We will deliver change with voluntary, community and social enterprises, the private sector, local communities and most importantly, listen to the voices of women and girls, to improve the lives of all people across our region.
- Victims and Witnesses Strategy
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Supporting victims and witnesses is one of the key priorities in the Police and Crime Plan.
People in West Yorkshire want to be safe, feel safe, have trust in their police, and know action will be taken if ever they or their loved ones are harmed.
The Victims and Witnesses Strategy has five clear themes:
- Place Victims at the heart of the Criminal Justice Process
- Equality of Access to Justice
- Victims’ Journey
- Children and Young People
- Vulnerable Adults
Under each theme are statements of intent and ambition that reflect the our desire to improve the treatment of victims, survivors, and witnesses within the criminal justice system, and reduce trauma, including, crucially, trauma generated and re-lived through repeated contact with the criminal justice system.
- Safer Places and Thriving Communities Strategy
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‘Safer Places and Thriving Communities’ is a priority of the Police and Crime Plan 2024-28. During last year's public consultation, 97.9% of respondents agreed that this theme was important to them, as did 95% of partners.
The Plan sets out the Mayor’s intention to work with West Yorkshire Police and partners to focus on the harmful and unacceptable behaviour that targets the different communities of West Yorkshire through an ongoing commitment to neighbourhood policing and partnership working in localities.
This strategy outlines how we are focusing on key themes as part of our commitment to ensuring our communities are safer and continue to thrive across West Yorkshire.
- Reducing Vulnerability Strategy
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Safeguarding and protecting those who are most vulnerable is a key theme running throughout the Police and Crime Plan.
A person is vulnerable if, as a result of their situation or circumstances, they are unable to take care or protect themselves, or others, from harm, exploitation, or other adverse impacts on their quality of life.
Safeguarding vulnerable people is central to the work of the police and local community safety partners and it is because vulnerability can take many forms that the response requires different agencies to work closely together to protect people from harm.
Our focus remains keeping people safe from (and preventing) harmful behaviour, exploitation, and abuse, and through this strategy we call on all agencies to continue their work to safeguard people through enhanced coordination and communication.
- Vision Zero Strategy
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West Yorkshire Vision Zero is a road safety aim to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all in the county.
The West Yorkshire Vision Zero Strategy focuses on the safe system approach - safe roads, behaviours, speeds, vehicles and an effective post collision response.
Under each of these themes sit objectives for the short and longer term but at the strategy’s heart is the message that everyone has a responsibility to keep people safe on our roads, and we must all work together to create the lasting change needed.
Emergency services, local authorities, National Highways, victim support services and road safety campaigners are all backing the strategy.
- Commissioning Strategy
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Our Commissioning Strategy sets out the Mayor’s vision to commission safe, just, and inclusive community-based services and activities. It highlights our commitment to supporting our region’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector, to ensuring value for money, and to providing the highest quality services for our communities and those impacted by crime.
We would like to thank our partners and the providers who were involved in the co-design and creation of this strategy, and for your continued commitment to partnership working.
- Equality Impact Assessments
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Read the Equality Impact Assessments Stage 1 Initial Screening Assessment
Read the Equality Impact Assessment Stage 2
If you require these documents in an alternative format, please email policingandcrime@westyorks-ca.gov.uk
- Voice of West Yorkshire
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The Voice of West Yorkshire provides the highlights and summary from the #Tell Tracy consultation on policing, crime and community safety priorities within West Yorkshire covering our engagement and consultation from 16 July to 31 October 2024.
- Needs Assessment
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The Needs Assessment looks at the priorities and the cross-cutting themes alongside the performance measures in the Police and Crime Plan 2021-24 to discuss the successes (or otherwise) of the measures in the first plan and to highlight any gaps with recommendations for the new Police and Crime Plan 2024-28.
- Police and Crime Plan 2021-24
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Our Police and Crime Plan 2021-24 provided a clear vision for policing and community safety in West Yorkshire, bringing a focus to our work, and clearly setting out our ambitions to communities.
We worked with our partners and stakeholders to shape this vision for a safe, just and inclusive region to ensure it reflected the engagement, knowledge and expertise of all organisations who work in the community safety field.