OLD COLWYN EAST RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
Open meeting 12 th January 2005 .
Minute of an address by Sergeant Gary Kelly
Community Beat Sergeant for Colwyn
Sergeant Kelly introduced himself and said that he had been aware of our association for some time which he saw as positive and a credit to the work of the association.
He spoke of awareness in his department that more engagement with the local community is required.
He asked the meeting to help him get an overall perception of how the police are performing locally.
The Chair spoke of his perception based on a number of incidents, that there is a problem with the some of the call takers. He spoke of a recent incident which was a simple call to tell the police that he had found a bunch of keys. He was told to take the keys to the police station. He had to insist that he had phoned up to give information in case the loser phoned up. The phone conversation was in his words less than useless and he referred to perhaps less verbally competent people phoning in and receiving similar feedback. If the Chair feels that he is making no progress, such attitude by a call taker would tend to dissuade such a less verbally competent person from ringing again. ~ This is therefore one very important area where improvement is required; the telephone interface with the public requires competent staff. Some of the staff are very good, some are poor.
Richard Poynton spoke of his dissatisfaction when ringing up to complain of public order incidents or underage drinking for instance. The call taker promises an officer will call either that day or the next and nobody keeps the promise. It causes people to decide not to bother phoning as it is not taken seriously.
Sgt Kelly told the meeting that the issue had been discussed at his office meeting that same day and that he agreed such issues cause people to give up calling.
The Chair continued to say that some of the call takers are aggressive and that puts people off.
Sgt Kelly replied that people in management are doing a great deal of work to combat these sorts of problems.
Mark Chatham interjected that on several occasions he had phoned in about incidents and reached either Western or Eastern Control and spoken to people who had absolutely no local knowledge.
Sgt Kelly responded that it is possible for the overflow at times of great demand for the call to go to Cheshire or Merseyside Police, the situation in such cases is that it is better to talk to someone than nobody. The technology is in place for the call taker to quickly access mapping to familiarise himself or herself with the area concerned.
A Resident expressed concern with the level of local policing since the CBM is often drawn away on other matters. The CBM is on duty four days a week for ten hours. We are told on occasions that Special Constables will patrol. When the CBM is not available there is no other policing available. He asked “What has happened to the level of policing that was there before all the changes took place”. He went on to say “It seems to be that the police say that front line policing is their priority but there are all manner of departments Diversity, Schools liaison, all filled by the experienced officers”. He developed a thought that things were not being followed through at ground level.
Sgt Kelly agreed that levels of officers on the front line was not sufficient but added that it was not possible at local level to affect that situation, they have to work with what they have got.
Sgt Kelly replied in answer to a question from the Chair that another Old Colwyn CBM has been appointed and will start when she can be released from her present post.
The Chair asked that when the next officer is appointed that consideration be given to staggering their duties so that for the majority of the time there is an officer on duty in a day.
CBM Chris Williams interjected at this point that whilst he had been working with Vicky Roscoe, there had only been perhaps four days a month when they had both been on duty on the same day and not necessarily the same hours. He added that they rarely saw each other.
Sgt Kelly then spoke of occasions where there will be policing situations that it would be unfair to expect Chris Williams to deal with alone. Such situations will be prioritised and if the situation needs the whole CBM office to deal with say public order situations in Old Colwyn then that will be organised.
He added that the downside to that situation is that Chris will occasionally have to help his colleagues elsewhere in Colwyn.
A resident asked “ When our CBM is off duty, is the area being policed”
Sgt Kelly Answered by saying that there are all kinds of police resources, Response Officers, Traffic Officers, Tactical Officers, if Chris is off duty and situations require a CBM, the other CBMs will deal and pass it on to Chris when he returns.
He added that CBMs deal with antisocial behaviour, where two or more burglaries have occurred in an area or Class A drugs incidents.
CBM Chris Williams added that in targeting Class A drugs in other parts of Colwyn, there is often a knock on effect to Old Colwyn.
The secretary spoke of a Public Safety Strategy meeting that he had attended that day where he had spoken about the fact that the wrong message is being given out because the street level offences such as double parking, litter, foul swearing, drinking in the street are not being dealt with strongly. He accepted that occasionally action is taken with antisocial on-street drinking. Generally he continued, because people are seen to get away with these types of offence, other boundaries are constantly being pushed back by certain classes of people. We need a strong action against all street offences to show that all law breaking is unacceptable.
Sgt Kelly told the meeting that since before Christmas, Inspector Ashton had been addressing drink fuelled anti social behaviour which had been seen to be a cause of many problems. The police have been entering public houses and confronting people and licensees about the level of intoxication of some persons.
The pubs have been very supportive and have formed a Pubwatch scheme. Arrests are up for antisocial behaviour and violent crime is down.
He added that the police have had feedback in the streets over the last six weeks showing that people appreciate being able to walk around the town and have a good time safely.
He told the meeting that this will be rolling out to Old Colwyn.
A resident said that it gives a feel good factor to see officers on the street occasionally and referred to the situation in Station Road , Colwyn bay where people drive through as a short cut and officers are never seen to take action.
Sgt Kelly accepted the reassurance factor and added that the number of Response Officers is extremely limited and the area covered by these units is geographically large. He told the meeting that the Response Officers operating from Colwyn have been briefed to consider in any quiet times, locking their vehicles and walking in areas.
He added that it is a matter of balancing issues; demands on the police have sky-rocketed.
Martin (a new Community Support Officer also present) said “To deal with the quality of life issues, we now have CSOs”
Sgt Kelly carried on to point out that there is money available to tackle issues of crime and disorder. For instance where Councils have complied with their duty to provide lighting in an area but it is considered more is required. He added that we should liaise with the police when we had any such ideas.
Sgt Kelly carried on speaking on the subject of Special Constables; there are two in Colwyn bay. He intends to try and recruit Special Constables to be aligned with CBMs. He added that recruiting is problematic. He asked that if we knew of any persons interested, we should let him know. It has been seen as a route into the police force but he has an alternative view and wants new persons who want to do the job for the sake of the community.
The secretary spoke of the subject of graffiti which is a blight on our streets. There had been a big media exercise, recently by the Chief Constable but there were much more prominent areas of graffiti and it was difficult to get any movement now.
Sgt Kelly said “Tell Chris Williams and it will be done quickly, you have my assurance”.
The Chair said “We have recently had Gary Ashton here with positive ideas; it is refreshing to hear your attitude tonight. We are grateful for Chris and the job he is doing. We think tonight has been very positive.
He thanked Sgt Kelly and there was a round of applause.
