A partnership between the police force and the local community is the most effective way of dealing with crime and disorder, and our newly appointed Community Police Support Officers have a vital role to play in forging that partnership. Charlotte Davies, who serves Egremont, and Francesca Geer, who serves St Bees, Gosforth and Seascale, make it their first duty to listen to the concerns of local people and find sensible solutions to the problems that are brought to their attention. So often they depend on reliable information from the people in order to make their response effective, and the best way of encouraging this is to carry out more foot patrols in areas so they can be approached by members of the public. A very good example of the cooperation they are trying to encourage is the street safe surveys and operations being carried out in Smithfield and St Bees where police are looking to crack down on antisocial behaviour. On Smithfield a problem solving model has been devised and officers are working with Home Housing and Copeland Council to target any offenders.
Francesca has found that many people are very concerned about motorists speeding through the village and parking outside shops, particularly in Gosforth and Seascale. She has contacted Copeland Council about the need to enforce parking regulations outside the shops as police no longer have responsibility for issuing tickets for parking offences, and the Road Policing Unit (RPU) will be carrying out speed checks and issuing tickets to anyone speeding through the villages. Speed Indication Devices (SID) portable instruments that measure speed of vehicles will be placed on Gosforth Road in Seascale and the RPU has issued tickets to people breaking speed limit.
Community Support Officers take the problem of dog fouling very seriously and are prepared to issue a fixed penalty ticket to anyone who fails to clean up after their dogs. They have already been given descriptions of known culprits and they would like to encourage people who are disgusted by this offence to pass on information so that offenders can be charged. Pavements, green areas on Kings Drive and the footpath from St Bridgets Lane to Smithfield are well known trouble spots. Together we can make these areas clean again.
All members of community teams have been trained to operate a head camera which will be used for patrolling problem areas. Posters will be going up in the areas and members of the public need to be aware they could be on film!