Minutes:
The Chair welcomed Inspector Ian Roberts, who was accompanied by Sergeant Andy Walton.
The Inspector stated that the overall level of recorded crime in Chorley had reduced by 2% over the past year and was against the national trend. Their main concerns in the central area related to anti-social behaviour by youths relating to alcohol use and vandalism.
The Council has now bought in the Police Community Support Officers scheme (PCSO), 22 PCSO’s will now work alongside 3 Sergeants and 9 Community Beat Managers on top of their normal response officers. Neighbourhood Policing Teams will look at ways to resolve problems by active collaboration with local authorities, agencies, voluntary/community groups, parents and the children themselves.
Questions/Issues raised at the meeting
(i) A member of the public asked if the anti-social behaviour was also down to the use of drugs.
Response: Inspector Ian Roberts commented that drugs were not creating the same amount of petty crime that is happening at a community level.
(ii) A Borough Councillor had some concerns relating to police response times in the east area of Chorley. A recent racial incident had resulted in himself and another Councillor waiting outside of a property for three hours before a police officer attended. He thought that this was unacceptable and questioned the actual amount of hours that the police actually spend in the east area.
Response: Inspector Ian Roberts was concerned to hear that this had happened, he would take the details of the incident after the meeting and report back directly to the Councillor.
He also commented that the officers spend 95% of their time in their designated areas but that on Friday and Saturday evenings they worked together in Time Teams on 3 main areas of concern, these being, the Chorley east area, the Chorley/Pall Mall corridor and Park Road, Chorley.
(iii) Concerns were raised that members of the public were being mis-informed when contacting the police, that the actual victim themselves had to contact the police before anything could be actioned. The victims themselves often felt intimidated and scared to do so and felt that they had nowhere else to turn.
Response: Inspector Ian Roberts was concerned that this information was being given and he promised to investigate any particular incidents more fully.
(iii) A number of Borough Councillors had various concerns about the new Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) scheme, following the disbandment of the Neighbourhood Wardens scheme by the Council. There concerns were as listed:
(a) Clarification was sought as to the accuracy of the information that an extra 14 PCSO’ were available to Chorley
Response: Councillor E Bell (Executive Member for Streetscene, Neighbourhoods and Environment) confirmed that there would be a total of 36 PCSO’s available across the whole of the Borough, 22 PCSO’s to be partly funded by Chorley Borough Council and 14 PCSO’s to be partly funded by the Police Authority.
(b) The present Council funded PCSO’s were being funded jointly, with the Home Office contributing 75% of the costs and the Borough Council 25%. There was concern as to what would happen to the scheme in future years if the Home Office decided to withdraw their funding and sought clarification that the Police would still continue to fund the scheme.
Response: Inspector Ian Roberts replied that he was too junior an officer to give the assurances that they sought. The scheme was in its infancy and only time would tell if the scheme was thought to be successful.
(c) Did the police agree that the Neighbourhood Wardens made a valuable contribution to policing in the community?
Response: Inspector Ian Roberts and Sergeant Andy Walton were unanimous in commending the work that the Neighbourhood Wardens had contributed to, but stated that their work in this area would be addressed by the new PCSO scheme
(d) There were concerns that there would be a gap in the provision of services from the Neighbourhood Wardens and the PCSO’s. Assurance was sought as to who would carry out those duties.
Response: Sergeant Andy Walton commented that whilst there had been initial concerns about the loss of the Neighbourhood Wardens, they welcomed the new PCSO scheme and were confident that they would be able to meet the needs of the local community. The PSCO’s have some powers that the Neighbourhood Wardens did not so they will now be in a position to do some activities that they could not do before. They would be able to put resources into the prevention of some issues actually occurring rather than having to deal with them on a reactionary basis. Sergeant Walton also extended an invitation to anyone who wished to come out on patrol with the PCSO’s so that they could see for themselves the work they will be involved with.
Mr Simon Clark (Chorley Council’s Commercial Manager) for Streetscene, Neighbourhoods and Environment also added that there would be a team of 8 Neighbourhood Officers that would carry out some of the duties that the wardens had done previously. He also explained that the 19 Neighbourhood Wardens had been carrying out a mixture of PCSO duties and Environmental duties. There had now been a shift by Central Government as to who should provide which duties, with the work of the PCSO’s being transferred to the police and the Environmental issues being retained by the local councils.
He also added that initiatives such as the Skip Weekends would continue and that money had been put into the budget to facilitate this.