A safe place for all who live, work and learn

I live in Crookes, a part of Sheffield that attracts students. Like any migrant population they have both a negative and positive impact on the area. Occasionally we have to tell them to turn the volume down or do something about their front garden. But on the whole, their influence is wholly beneficial for all of us.

We have flourishing shops, take-away’s, cafes and restaurants in Crookes. On Friday and Saturday nights I don’t have to phone for a taxi, I just walk towards the shops and flag down a black cab – thanks to students for whom it’s cheaper for a group to pile into a taxi than to get on the bus. They put thousands of pounds into our local economy every week.

The ones I get to know best are from Europe, some on Erasmus schemes, funded by the European Union – one of the many unseen benefits of membership that will be put at risk should we leave. The two universities with their 60,000 students and 10,000 staff make a big difference to both the richness of life in Sheffield and to its financial health.

I asked one student why she chose Sheffield. She said, ‘Because it’s a safe city.’

That is not to say we don’t have some serious and worrying crimes – such as sexual assaults – that sometimes involve students. But on the whole, what the student says is true.

This relative safety does not happen by chance.

My Police and Crime Plan seeks to make South Yorkshire ‘a safe place for all who live, work and learn’ here – a deliberate reference to students. And South Yorkshire Police work with the universities to ensure that students are well protected.

Operation Kaizen, for instance, puts significant numbers of officers into the city centre until 4am. This is in addition to the university’s own mobile patrols. There are also special operations at the end of term – when spirits are high post exams – and at the start of the year – when spirits are high pre-exams.

All overseas students have a safety briefing from the Police Universities Liaison Officer to remind them that they are an attractive proposition for opportunity thieves. One student house may have rich pickings – mobile phones and laptops – that are easy to carry off and sell on. The house may also have an open window or unlocked door. Students need to be especially vigilant in underpasses, like the one at the end of Hanover Way.

Sheffield benefits in many ways from its two universities. South Yorkshire Police play their part in drawing students to the city by keeping them, and us, safe.