POLICING boss Julia Mulligan has called on people to back her efforts to make the police force more people-focused – and has launched a new fund to help keep communities safer.

The county’s police and crime commissioner told Bedale’s annual parish meeting that North Yorkshire was now the safest place in England with the lowest crime rate – and that Bedale had one of the lowest rates in the county.

But she said there were four major areas of concern which were being targeted to reduce crime rates further in the county.

They include improved care for people with mental health, drugs and alcohol, re-offending and tackling cross border crime, including criminals coming from abroad.

She said people had an important role to play in addressing the issues by letting her know what the problems on the ground were.

“Only by getting involved can I understand what you need and work towards getting your local police force to deliver that,” she said.

Her comments came as she launched a new community fund offering grants of between £500 and £20,000.

Local community groups, individuals and organisations will be able to apply for cash towards one-off projects that help keep their local communities safer.

“I am able to launch the fund because this year, our government grant was slightly better than expected,” she said.

“At the moment, I know money is hard to find for community projects so I am very pleased to be able to support people in this way.”

She said they hoped to support a wide range of projects and had already had interest shown by almo0st 50 people.

Those projects included a skate park, alley gates, a group wanting to put offenders to work refurbishing a cycle park, anger management courses for domestic abuse offenders, activities to reduce hate crime and equipment to help keep young people busy over the summer holidays.

She added: “I'm also making it as easy as possible for people to be successful in securing the money via a Helpline and offering a single point of contact to help oversee each project.

“All you need to do is call 101 and ask for the Community Fund. We'll then guide you through the process.”