Gwent Police roll out tuk-tuk patrols in Newport and Abergavenny

Gwent Police is rolling out new tuk-tuk patrols in Newport and Abergavenny.

The vehicles will be used around the clock and will be driven police officers and ‘ambassadors’ such as those employed by Newport NOW as part of a Newport City Council initiative.

The tuk-tuks will be used to patrol parks, walkways and other public spaces and residents and visitors will be able to report incidents to the drivers and seek help if they feeling unsafe and also access crime prevention advice.

Chief Inspector Damian Sowrey said residents gave the vehicles the thumbs up after they were unveiled at a recent open day: ‘The feedback was overwhelmingly positive with parents telling officers that they would feel safer knowing that there was support for young people out at night, and from women who could think of an occasion when the tuk-tuk would have been a welcome sight.”

The four tuk-tuk vehicles are funded as part of the Safer Streets programme, a Home Office grant fund that supports police forces in tackling neighbourhood crime.

In October last year, Gwent police received a grant from the fund of more than £673,000 to to tackle violence against women and girls and increase the feeling of safety in public spaces.

This funding was allocated to put in place a range of initiatives which also included improvements to streetlighting, new CCTV cameras, a night-time ambassador scheme as well as a range of other interventions.