Old Colwyn (East) Residents Association
David Curtis
Secretary
12th July 2003
Mr R Brunstrom
Chief Constable
North Wales Police
Headquarters
Glan y Don
Colwyn Bay
Conwy
Dear Mr Brunstrom,
I write to you as secretary of the above named Association as a result of a resolution from our last open meeting. Ours is a newly formed Association in a thriving community which is plagued by the usual problems which beset people in towns and villages presently such as drug culture, theft and anti-social behaviour.
The community is openly supportive of the police in Colwyn, supplying information regularly and eagerly to enable them to do their job effectively.
What we find however is that the police locally are unable to respond with any degree of regularity to calls which require immediate attendance in the eyes of the person making the call.
We are told regularly that the call rate has increased to such a huge extent that the system struggles to cope and response has to be prioritised.
We have no problem with the issue of prioritisation. It is the apparent ability of the resource which is tasked to respond, to carry out its function properly which causes the problem from our point of view.
This resource we are told is the response vehicles. Not every police officer is tasked with response, beat managers are very busy researching the problems of their neighbourhood and looking for solutions. When we want a policeman fast, the beat manager’s function can be seen by some as
The response car is tasked after the call is prioritised and because there are so few of these cars out at times the system just creaks through a lack of functionality. There have been a number of cases recently when residents have called the police to respond to dynamic incidents, such as that of a group of men selling drugs openly in the local church yard. They were there for about quarter of an hour and left.
The response car arrived after fifty minutes. The two female officers on board were apologetic they were the only two officers on duty that evening and all night in the whole of Colwyn Bay. How stressful it must be for them to be late for incidents all the time because of low resources.
This is one of many similar incidents of late arrival and ‘drive-by’s’ after the event. Low resources are an ever present problem but why? Maybe ten or twelve hour shift systems, leave, training- courses. You know the answer but you keep it close to your chest. Openness is apparently one-way, where your style of management is concerned.
We await the move of the Central custody to St Asaph Business Park. That is a potential problem waiting to happen in most people’s minds. Everything is based these days on a business case. Big is beautiful and savings are to be made accordingly.
If a single custody block for the whole division is the only way forward, St Asaph is a questionable location to handle prisoners from Penmaenmawr, Betws y Coed and Rhyl and all stops in between not to mention the southern area of the Division?
The traffic which builds up on the A55 in summer could cause chaos with your new custody plan. It is all very nice and money-saving on paper but maybe not quite in the real world.
Response vehicles will probably operate from St Asaph, with the same problems. Prison bus type vehicles would be equally bogged down. The result of all the apparent foreseeable chaos will be a diminishing of the service to the public in the most important service of all, RESPONSE to dynamic incidents.
Every right thinking individual in North Wales applauds the Arrive Alive initiative. The prevention of unnecessary deaths is a police function.
There is a balance to be made however between one police function and another. The Office of Constable has other facets and you cannot choose which to take to extreme at the expense of the others. They are all your responsibility.
All the public get is a flurry of initiatives, pretty words and long explanations such as ‘Dyna Ddigon’. The reality of this initiative is that the police officer is not going to go out and confront face to face, the hooligan the moron who disfigures our communities……etc.
Your officers are too hard pressed to do that now on the street. You have more officers now than you have ever had. People would like to see a few of these officers decentralised and confronting the hooligans.
If taxes go up to fund extra officers, then the public need to see results not beat managers looking for the problems in the community and trying to solve them. I make this last comment with respect to beat managers who do their job well given the constraints of rest days and leave.
To finish, I quote the words of Mr Wolfendale “I think the people in North Wales know when they’ve had enough and it’s our duty to respond to that feeling” When does it all come together Mr Brunstrom?
Please accept our invitation to talk to our Residents Association on any second Wednesday in the month.
Yours sincerely
David Curtis
Secretary
Copy to the Chair of the Police Authority.
Attached:- Minute of last open meeting of the Association re address by Inspector Ken Jones, Colwyn Bay.
TEXT SCAN OF REPLY FROM THE CHIEF CONSTABLE
SWYDDFA’R PRIF GWNSTABL CHIEF CONSTABLE’S OFFICE
GLAN Y DON GLAN Y DON
BAE COLWYN COLWYN BAY
LL29 8AW LL29 8AW
R. Brunstrom, B.Sc.(Hons.) M.Sc.
Prif Gwnstabl/Chief Constable
Em Cyf:/Our Ref: CC/0300/GD 12 August 2003
Eich Cyf:/Your Ref:
Mr David Curtis
Old Colwyn (East) Residents Association
Dear Mr Curtis
Further to your letter dated 12th July 2003, I am now able to provide you with a response to the points raised in your letter
I understand that Chief Superintendent Julian Sandham is attending your Association’s meeting on 10 September and he will deal with any questions you may have regarding operational policing in the area. Unfortunately, my current commitments prevent me from attending. Should Mr Sandham be unable to satisfy your concerns on local and force-wide issues, I am sure you will let me know!
It is difficult to comment on the specific incident mentioned in your correspondence without more detail, such as date, time etc, as this would have a bearing on why there was a delay. Also it is dependent on the how the call was recorded from the informant and the subsequent grading of the response to it. We have our objective of responding to 90% of immediate calls within 20 minutes. If it was not classed as an immediate then there could be a delay dependent on what else was happening in the section.
Colwyn Bay officers work a 10 hour shift system and this gives the benefit of having extra officers at times of peak demands. The management of these officers working is by the district inspector, he naturally requires the most officers at his busiest periods. Abstractions do have a substantial affect on the policing numbers - these can take the form of training, sickness, commitment of officers to assist in major incidents through out the force, court, etc. Colwyn Bay has an agreed strength figure and we endeavour to keep that number of officers - There are no vacancies within the Colwyn Bay area, but the above does impact upon it.
We currently have 9 officers in training centres/training units who will become operational between August and February 2004. (It takes approx 10 months to get an officer from being recruited to becoming operational).
The area of Old Colwyn has its own beat manager, and, up until the l August, this was PC Clive Davies. However, due to personal reason he has moved to the Rhyl area. We have immediately replaced this officer with WPC Vicky Roscoe, Prior to moving to Old Colwyn, she was a beat manager in the Rhyl area and brings with her experience and skills from her previous role.
Inspector Ken Jones has had considerable success in reducing crime in both the Colwyn Bay and Old Colwyn area. He is committed to reducing anti-social behaviour in his area. I know that you have had meetings with him to discuss these issues.
I am disappointed you consider that I am not open. I am more often accused of vocalising my opinions and objectives in too frank a fashion. As you know; shift patterns (significantly affected by European legislation), leave and training courses all impact on resource availability. There are not hordes of officers behind desks in headquarters, nor working in specialist units. North Wales Police is a very devolved and de-centralised organisation (to address a further point in your letter), with 80% of cash and resources managed at divisional level. Can you identify another force that is less centralised? Some 70% of NWP officers are deployed on front line patrol duties; one of the highest figures in England and Wales. I want more constables and more of them as CBMs and response officers.
You appear to have formed an opinion of the “Dyna Ddigon campaign before it has begun. I have deliberately launched the scheme as a pilot in three small areas of the force in order not to engender false expectations. How do you know “The police officer is going to go out and confront....’? Most issues of anti-social behaviour are endemic and long term. They require properly worked, lasting solutions; not a police officer turning up immediately and “shooing” the culprits round the corner. This is what CBMs are all about. Generating ASBOs, pressuring parents, working with schools and local authorities all takes time... and continuity.
I wish you every success with the Old Colwyn (East) Residents Association. The commitment of individuals and groups such as yours is essential in supporting the overall policing effort. Where public goodwill such as this exists, it is my firm intention to meet our side of the bargain.
I hope that the above response, combined with the visit of Chief Superintendent Sandham will give your members the reassurance they need.
Yours sincerely
Richard Brunstrom
Prif Gwnstabl/Chief Constable
LETTER TO THE CHIEF CONSTABLE JULY 2003 AND REPLY AUGUST 2003
