23 March 2026
23 March 2026
She has made huge strives in making a difference in her role as Business Crime Reduction Manager for Wolverhampton Business Improvement District (BID) and Wolverhampton City Centre Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP).
Some of the projects Jo has led on are set out below:
Jo has been dedicated to the role out of “Ask Angela” developing bespoke Workbooks for vity centre venues that guide individuals through detailed “Ask Angela “steps and responses, they highlight the range of services operating during the evening and nighttime, including the Late-Night Safe Haven, Night Guardians, Taxi Marshalls, taxi rank locations and public transport operating hours.
Appreciating people may need to ‘Ask for Angela’ at any time of day, Jo rolled out the campaign across a wider range of businesses.
Jo’s efforts have meant that so far 56 businesses across the Day/Nighttime with 763 staff have completed the training so far, with more planned. Her attention to detail and insight into know how important the scheme is means that her bespoke training is delivered face to face, holding group training sessions and one on one sessions with teams or managers for them to cascade down to their teams.
She understands that visibility is everything, so once training is completed, individuals receive a badge and lanyard. When everyone in the business completes their training, venues receive a window decal identifying the site is “Ask Angela” trained. These provides strong reassurance to the public.
Jo facilitates the monthly Pub Watch meetings and she ensures that “Ask Angela” forms part of the standard agenda, allowing venues to highlight any ‘Ask for Angela’ requests and to share best practice.
Jo’s attention to detail means that for new staff that have not yet received training each venue has a Staff Information poster which includes a QR code linking to the “Ask Angela” part of our website for new or seasonal staff, providing information on the campaign until they receive their bespoke training.
Jo was incredibly passionate about the city centre night time economy businesses and was keen to train as a Best Bar None assessor which is Home Office approved scheme. Taking the personal approach and assisting businesses through the accreditation application process Jo has so far worked closely with 4 large venues to complete their assessment. The results were outstanding with all businesses receiving accreditation with fantastic scores of over 90%. New venues are signing up to complete the assessment. By raising awareness of the accredited venues, it demonstrates to the public that venues are working hard to deliver safe nights out.
Jo was honoured to be approached by Martyne Johnson, the sister of a young male who was stabbed and tragically lost his life outside a Wolverhampton nightclub in 2012. Martyne had raised money through charity work to provide Bleed Kits across the city centre.
Jo worked tirelessly with venues and key partners to ensure that 24 bleed kits were distributed to a range of places including the Bus Station, Train Station and McDonalds. Bleed kit location maps including opening times are available for partners.
Jo registered the 24 Bleed Kits with West Midlands Ambulance Service; all venues received free training sessions with attendance of over 80 people.
Jo continues to make sure the kits are in working order and carries out an audit every quarter.
It is reassuring for businesses that they have access to the bleed kits – which are available for use by businesses and the public.
Jo’s focus and dedication to providing the best possible service mean that she secured national accreditation for the Wolverhampton Business Crime Reduction Partnership meeting the highest standards of the National Association of Business Crime Partnerships.
The Accreditation process ensures partnerships are operating lawfully, effectively and to the standards set out in nationally recognised codes of practice and supported by National Police Chiefs Council. This was no easy ride, it meant reviews of all of the work Jo undertakes, a fine-tooth comb through all process and procedures, it means an exceptional level of understanding required and a focus on detail. Now all of these skills are essential in the role of business crime reduction manager, but having a national professional body drill down into every last detail means you have to know every aspect of your work inside and out.
Jo has formed an effective Business Crime Steering group that leads on exclusions in the city centre, developed a concise action plan to ensure intelligence sharing and she proactively works in partnership to reduce crime and opportunities for crime.
She is the glue between our city centre Ambassador patrols, the intelligence gathered and comms via our Radio Link and CCTV surveillance, the Night Guardian Patrols, the logs and body cam footage and business feedback and intel.
She also leads on ensuring we utilise our DISC crime reporting and intel sharing app effectively across the network of businesses using it.
Securing accreditation is reassurance to our businesses and stakeholders that all data and intel used is being done so appropriately, strong partnerships are in place and businesses should be confident that we are meeting best practice standards and as a result seeing good and successful outputs.
We are all immensely proud of Jo’s hard work across this huge body of work.
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