Community Cashback for Street Pastors

 

THE ILL-GOTTEN gains of criminals are being used to fund Street Pastors teams across the country, thanks to a new Government scheme.

Community Cashback, launched earlier this year, gives local people a say in how £4m of recovered criminal assets should be spent in their communities.

These assets could include confiscated cash or property.

The first successful projects nominated for a slice of the funding were announced last week.

They include Street Pastors teams in Derby, Cheshire, Cheltenham and Bedford, as well as the recently formed Blaby team in Leicestershire, which was awarded £20,500.

The teams all faced fierce competition for the fund.

In Leicestershire and Rutland, for instance, a total of 70 projects were nominated. Thirteen projects were then selected for consideration by the public. A total of 1,200 votes were cast.

The results of this public voting were taken into consideration at a second judging panel that chose six projects to put forward to the Office of Criminal Justice Reform for consideration for funding. All six were successful.

Baptist minister the Revd Bob Almond, from Kirby Muxloe Free Church, has been directly involved in the setting up of the Blaby Street Pastors.

He told The Baptist Times, ‘What was really key to our success in securing this funding was that we made it clear how the scheme would benefit the community. 

‘We had to show we’re not a bunch of Christians trying to get someone to pay for our evangelism.

‘Our co-ordinator Ann Murphy did a tremendous amount of work explaining how this is going to make a significant difference to the community.

‘The fact that Street Pastors are recognised by folk outside the church is a tremendous encouragement.’

The Blaby scheme will be unique, covering 50 square miles across seven large villages.

The Street Pastors will be on the streets of villages after 10pm on designated nights, building upon existing youth work provision and supporting the work of the local police.

The team was officially launched in June and members are currently in training under the auspices of the Ascension Trust.

The Revd Les Isaac, Ascension Trust director, told The Baptist Times rural Street Pastors teams are becoming more common.

‘People have seen how well they’ve worked in urban areas, and want to adopt them for their own areas.

‘We are now starting to get rural areas on board – there is a big growth there.’

Inspector Jon Brown, Blaby local policing unit commander, is delighted the project received the funding.

He said, ‘We saw an opportunity with Street Pastors to plug a gap – we feel they can reach out to those youngsters who do not respond to the policing and local authority youth methods that are already there.’

He praised the initiative, saying ‘We are fully supportive of the Street Pastors scheme.’

In all more than 45,000 votes were received from members of the public for 1,225 community projects for the Community Cashback funding. 

On Thursday 269 discovered they had received a share.

Home secretary Alan Johnson said, ‘It is only right that criminals are made to pay back for their crimes.

‘The Community Cashback fund ensures some of their ill-gotten gains are ploughed back into local communities.

‘Seizing assets deprives criminals of money, reduces the incentive for crime and promotes fairness and confidence in the criminal justice system.’