No excuse! Violence against women campaign publish leaflets - Garden shed security - Health in Mind project focuses on men - Drug Dealers Don’t Care Campaign update

The Violence Against Women Partnership has published information leaflets that can help any woman who worries about her safety or who is experiencing domestic abuse.

The leaflets are printed in a number of languages, including Polish and Chinese, and are part of a Violence Against Women awareness raising campaign which is being rolled out across the city, including advertising useful contact numbers on the back of bus tickets across the city.

• www.saferedinburgh.gov.uk

Summer is here and many of you will spend time outside enjoying your garden. Unfortunately, at this time of year, break-ins to garden sheds and thefts from gardens become more common.

The good news is that there is a lot you can do to outsmart garden thieves.

Here are a few simple tips from the Edinburgh Community Safety Partnership that could make all the difference to the security of your garden:

• Use a good quality closed shackle padlock on your shed door. The hasp should be attached using coach bolts rather than screws.
• If you must keep valuable items in the shed, chain and lock them up.
• Loop a bike lock through the handles of garden forks, spades, etc. Remember these can be used as tools to force entry to your house.
• Security mark your valuables.
• Fit an internal wire mesh grille to protect your shed window.
• Install security lighting.
• Fit a shed alarm – they only cost a few pounds from any DIY store.

The Edinburgh Community Safety Partnership has funded Health in Mind to work with men who’ve experienced child sexual abuse, adult rape, sexual assault or domestic abuse.The service will include one-to-one support and a range of group work activities.

• Contact the Pathway Team, Beyond Trauma, Health in Mind, 40 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh or call 0131 225 8508.

In previous issues of Outlook, we highlighted initiatives that were part of the 2006 Drug Dealers Don’t Care Campaign, including a number of diversionary youth activities such as twilight basketball and a graffiti van – all funded from money gained through seized proceeds of crime.

Thanks to you, the campaign in September and October 2006 was a success. There were 96 items of information received by Crimestoppers in relation to drug-dealing, a number of houses across the city were searched, and drugs to the value of £8,000 were seized. Information received from the public resulted in a seizure of nearly £2,000 in cash and more than 20 drug-related charges.

Did you know?
As part of the Drug Dealers Don’t Care campaign, the graffiti van removed 513 square metres of Graffiti from 221 locations within Muirhouse/Drylaw and 714 square metres from 129 locations in the Holyrood area.