The Safe Place program is a partnership between the Fanwood Police Department and local businesses. It gives victims of bias or hate crimes a Safe Place to go after their incident, where the business will give them shelter while they call for help. This program does two things. First, it lets patrons know where the business stands on bias and hate crimes because hate has no place in our communities. But more importantly, it says to any victim: That no matter your background or status you will be heard, you will be treated with care, dignity, and respect from the business you enter, as well as from the Police Officers who respond out to investigate. It starts the long process of empowering the victim to report their incident to the Police so we can properly investigate the crime. Suspects depend on putting and keeping the victims and the community in fear, allowing them to further victimize others. Standing up to these suspects gets them off the street and strengthens your community!
Becoming a Safe Place business is FREE! You will be sent a Safe Place sticker, training materials, and flyers all at no cost to you or your business/school. To become a new Safe Place Business, you need to train your employees to do two things of a victim if a crime comes in:
1) Let the victim stay in a safe (public) area of your business.
2) Call 911 as soon as possible to report their incident.
The Safe Place Program was created to start bridging that gap between victims of hate crimes and the police. The Fanwood Police Department, along with other agencies in Union County and around the country, are letting the world know where we stand on hate and bias crimes. Thank you to Fanwood Police Sergeant Daniel Piccola for spearheading the initiative in the Borough.
