We continue to operate multiple channels to tackle and minimise crime within the BID.
Protecting Total spend – £82,148 Protecting customers, staff and businesses is of vital importance for a thriving city centre. The Edinburgh Visitor Survey again highlighted the success of our innovative partnerships with 87% of people feeling safer in the BID area than elsewhere in the city.
recovered bicycles can be reunited with their rightful owners. Essential Edinburgh has also funded Kryptonite bike locks at bike marking events to discourage opportunistic theft. A project is also underway with Police Scotland to support secure motorcycle parking in the city centre.
BID Cop PC Leo Baker offers an enhanced police presence and active support for our businesses through our ground-breaking partnership with Police Scotland.
Navigator Project – with Cyrenians We’re proud to partner with Cyrenians supporting their amazing work caring for the homeless community in our city. Our investment funds Outreach Worker Nick Harrold through the Navigator Project. Working on a one-to-one basis with rough sleepers on the streets, Nick provides support by developing a relationship, responding to the person’s priorities and supporting them to address these.
This reporting year PC Baker has visited over 170 businesses. He has provided twelve “Hard Target” courses for retailers, training 116 staff to minimise shoplifting opportunities within BID businesses. Complemented by our Check Out communication system which links over 165 retailers with the Police, our joined up approach is making the city centre an unattractive location for shoplifters. Addressing the growing issues around cycle theft, PC Baker has marked and added 64 bikes to the national register, ensuring that
The Navigator Team have engaged in over 100 direct interventions with members of the homeless community in the city centre, providing on-going 1:1 support with eight separate individuals. Since the project began they have closed four cases, obtaining and maintaining accommodation or alternative support.
The key to the project’s success is that it offers peer support, delivered by a team with first-hand experience of homelessness. Nick has 25 years’ experience in working with vulnerable people and takes to the streets of Edinburgh several times a week alongside his colleague whose own experience of sleeping rough gives the service a unique advantage. “What makes us different is the combination of my networks and understanding of the way official systems work with his knowledge of the streets and personal connections. Folk open up to him much quicker than they would if it was just me.” Nick’s two-person team also liaises with other specialist agencies including the Bethany Christian Trust, the Community Police Team – including our BID Cop PC Baker – and Access Point. The Essential Edinburgh team have been raising funds for Cyrenians with Grant Roberts, PC Leo Baker and Roddy Smith completing the Edinburgh Men’s 10K run raising over £1,200 for this remarkable charity. ESSENTIAL EDINBURGH Annual Review 2018 - 19 | 27
