Police Partnership Pays Off
Sometimes supporting a good cause pays dividends. For example, take a look at City Centre Access Point, a privately funded cop shop in Liverpool. City Central BID and St Johns Shopping Centre came together to fund and house the station after a massive cut to both Merseyside Police and the city’s environmental enforcement patrol.
Central City BID has just won an ‘Outstanding work by a BID’ award at the Association of Town Centre Management annual awards thanks to the effort. But the award is hardly the biggest benefit of the shop.
Thanks to a free fit-out by the shopping center and rent paid for by BID businesses, the St Johns Cop Shop has had an opportunity to work wonders. Earlier this year, with just a year of service under its belt, the station reported the following:
- a 20% drop in violent crime
- a 13% drop in vehicle crime
- a 12% drop in criminal damage
“The initiative came about through our relationship with the City Centre Police team and our partnership with the City Central BID team. The three organisations worked and invested hard to bring this idea to fruition to deliver an exceptional public service for the City Centre,” said Ian Ward, centre director at St Johns.
“The Cop Shop is a huge benefit to St Johns, providing a visible police presence and going a long way to make Liverpool one of the safest and friendliest cities to visit.”
