Weymouth community come together to crack down on crime in Littlemoor (From Dorset Echo)
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Weymouth community come together to crack down on crime in Littlemoor
9:53am Tuesday 12th February 2013 in News By Rachael Burnett
WORKING TOGETHER: PC Christine Gould at St Francis Church, Littlemoor
A WEYMOUTH community is coming together to crack down on crime blighting the area.
People in Littlemoor say they have had enough of a handful of problem families ruining the lives of the law-abiding majority.
Police officers, church groups and youth workers will be working with the community to tackle crime.
Littlemoor’s Safer Neighbour-hood Team (SNT) is clubbing together with St Francis Church and IMPACT youth group to combat crime and anti-social behaviour in the area.
The move follows a spate of vehicle break-ins and arson attacks on cars in the area, with more than a dozen arrests in recent weeks.
Local SNT officers will be holding weekly drop-in sessions at the church in a bid to work with the community to bring an end to the recent problems.
PC Christine Gould said residents will be able to raise concerns and get advice and support on community policing issues.
She said: “What has been fed back to us is that the people of Littlemoor want more engagement with us.
“With this in mind we have set up these drop-in sessions where there will be information for residents on crime prevention and people can raise their own concerns.
“Rather than just doing more foot patrols we are trying to go to people and talk to them about local issues.
“We are trying to bring together as many different groups as possible, we’re working with IMPACT youth group and are planning to have Synergy Housing here in the near future.
“There is only a minority of people who cause problems and commit crimes in Littlemoor and we want to put a stop to it.”
PCSO Dave Hill encouraged residents to get in contact with SNT officers.
He said: “This is for anyone and everyone to come along to, we want to try and be more accessible to people.
“There has been a lot of work going on in Littlemoor behind the scenes and now we want to make sure the public know that we are here to help them.
“There are so many ways people can get in contact with us – when we’re out on the streets, over the phone, on email and we’re on Twitter now.
“The sessions will be led by the people who come to see us, if they raise a concern we will go away and find out more about it and do more to support them.
“There are a lot of young people and elderly people living in Littlemoor and I think it’s important to break down age barriers, which is where groups like IMPACT will come in.”
Darren Dalton, of St Francis Church, said: “Our church’s role is to be an active part of the community.
“These regular sessions will be a great way for people to come and speak to the police and take advantage of our community cafe.
“It’s about promoting unity within the different groups and organisations in Littlemoor and making sure people know we are working towards the same goal.”
The sessions will take place from 11am to 12pm every Friday.
For more information about Littlemoor SNT email littlemoorsnt@dorset.pnn.police.uk or Tweet @LittlemoorSNT
Campaign by residents ends lights blackout
STREET lights in Littlemoor were switched back on after a campaign by concerned residents.
A request to turn the lights back on in certain streets was sent by Dorset Police to Dorset County Council.
It comes after a spate of arson and vandalism in the area.
Inspector Les Fry, of Weymouth and Portland police, said the force decided to act after listening to concerned and frightened people in the area.
More than 300 people signed a petition launched by the Littlemoor community to get the lights back on last June.
Littlemoor was plunged into darkness when street lights were switched off across the county each day between midnight and 5.30am.
Comments(13)
MattWey77
says...
10:53am Tue 12 Feb 13
Has anyone else noticed that the lights are turned on closer to 5.50am these days?
Howlin Wolf
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1:14pm Tue 12 Feb 13
Is it me or is everything rubbish?
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2:21pm Tue 12 Feb 13
bedpans
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4:15pm Tue 12 Feb 13
Really?? Could you not have worked this out yourself PC Gould. Did you need the residents to tell you this? Isnt it obvious that the police should be regularly communicating with the local community.?
"Rather than just doing more foot patrols we are trying to go to people and talk to them about local issues."
PC Gould. If you do foot patrol on a daily basis, you will naturally meet people, and they will be only too happy to tell you there problems and whats going on in the community. Maybe if you and your fellow Officers walked on foot patrol on a daily basis, before this trouble erupted, then the problems may not have occured so frequently. Be Proactive and not as you are now doing, being Reactive.
Bob Goulding
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4:52pm Tue 12 Feb 13
bedpans wrote:You really don't get it do you.
She said: “What has been fed back to us is that the people of Littlemoor want more engagement with us. "
Really?? Could you not have worked this out yourself PC Gould. Did you need the residents to tell you this? Isnt it obvious that the police should be regularly communicating with the local community.?
"Rather than just doing more foot patrols we are trying to go to people and talk to them about local issues."
PC Gould. If you do foot patrol on a daily basis, you will naturally meet people, and they will be only too happy to tell you there problems and whats going on in the community. Maybe if you and your fellow Officers walked on foot patrol on a daily basis, before this trouble erupted, then the problems may not have occured so frequently. Be Proactive and not as you are now doing, being Reactive.
Even if you were to 'line the streets' with police officers you would not prevent crime.
A major part of crime prevention and detection is about dialog with the community and removing the fear of retribution. This not something that you could achieve by simply increasing foot patrols and waiting for the opportunity to 'react' to criminal behaviour.
Initiatives like this are designed to connect with and reassure the community and provide a conduit for targeted, intelligence lead crime detection and prevention. I call that 'proactive' policing.
bedpans
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5:05pm Tue 12 Feb 13
Bob Goulding wrote:Mr Gould. It is a proven fact that if you have Officers walking the beat, there is less likelyhood of a crime being committed, as even the most brain dead criminals are unlikely to committ a crime in front of an Officers eyes. If you increase foot patrols, crime will fall, and you are being Proactive. Sitting in a hall with tea and biscuits will not prevent crime.
bedpans wrote: She said: “What has been fed back to us is that the people of Littlemoor want more engagement with us. " Really?? Could you not have worked this out yourself PC Gould. Did you need the residents to tell you this? Isnt it obvious that the police should be regularly communicating with the local community.? "Rather than just doing more foot patrols we are trying to go to people and talk to them about local issues." PC Gould. If you do foot patrol on a daily basis, you will naturally meet people, and they will be only too happy to tell you there problems and whats going on in the community. Maybe if you and your fellow Officers walked on foot patrol on a daily basis, before this trouble erupted, then the problems may not have occured so frequently. Be Proactive and not as you are now doing, being Reactive.You really don't get it do you. Even if you were to 'line the streets' with police officers you would not prevent crime. A major part of crime prevention and detection is about dialog with the community and removing the fear of retribution. This not something that you could achieve by simply increasing foot patrols and waiting for the opportunity to 'react' to criminal behaviour. Initiatives like this are designed to connect with and reassure the community and provide a conduit for targeted, intelligence lead crime detection and prevention. I call that 'proactive' policing.
PortlandandWeymouth
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5:19pm Tue 12 Feb 13
bedpans wrote:Ah, Bedpan, the 9 o'clock jury. I understand the PCC has requested more Special Constables. Perhaps you would like to join up and provide assistance to the Police and Littlemoor with your vast knowledge of dealing with this particular kind of situation.
She said: “What has been fed back to us is that the people of Littlemoor want more engagement with us. "
Really?? Could you not have worked this out yourself PC Gould. Did you need the residents to tell you this? Isnt it obvious that the police should be regularly communicating with the local community.?
"Rather than just doing more foot patrols we are trying to go to people and talk to them about local issues."
PC Gould. If you do foot patrol on a daily basis, you will naturally meet people, and they will be only too happy to tell you there problems and whats going on in the community. Maybe if you and your fellow Officers walked on foot patrol on a daily basis, before this trouble erupted, then the problems may not have occured so frequently. Be Proactive and not as you are now doing, being Reactive.
Bob Goulding
says...
5:57pm Tue 12 Feb 13
bedpans wrote:You obviously still do not understand the strategy.
Bob Goulding wrote:Mr Gould. It is a proven fact that if you have Officers walking the beat, there is less likelyhood of a crime being committed, as even the most brain dead criminals are unlikely to committ a crime in front of an Officers eyes. If you increase foot patrols, crime will fall, and you are being Proactive. Sitting in a hall with tea and biscuits will not prevent crime.
bedpans wrote: She said: “What has been fed back to us is that the people of Littlemoor want more engagement with us. " Really?? Could you not have worked this out yourself PC Gould. Did you need the residents to tell you this? Isnt it obvious that the police should be regularly communicating with the local community.? "Rather than just doing more foot patrols we are trying to go to people and talk to them about local issues." PC Gould. If you do foot patrol on a daily basis, you will naturally meet people, and they will be only too happy to tell you there problems and whats going on in the community. Maybe if you and your fellow Officers walked on foot patrol on a daily basis, before this trouble erupted, then the problems may not have occured so frequently. Be Proactive and not as you are now doing, being Reactive.You really don't get it do you. Even if you were to 'line the streets' with police officers you would not prevent crime. A major part of crime prevention and detection is about dialog with the community and removing the fear of retribution. This not something that you could achieve by simply increasing foot patrols and waiting for the opportunity to 'react' to criminal behaviour. Initiatives like this are designed to connect with and reassure the community and provide a conduit for targeted, intelligence lead crime detection and prevention. I call that 'proactive' policing.
It is true that the visibility of police officers does deter some criminals at the time but it does not stop them from committing crime when the officers are not visible. Neither does it deter criminals from committing crimes out of sight of foot patrols.
I agree that 'Sitting in a hall with tea and biscuits will not prevent crime' but that is not what is planned and it is not what was suggested in the Echo's report or PC Gould's comments.
In the hope that you are actually willing to view this more objectively I can only repeat my earlier observation that this initiative is designed to connect with and reassure the community and provide a conduit for targeted, intelligence lead crime detection and prevention.
If you were a victim of crime, or you were genuinely afraid that you may become a target of criminals, you would welcome this opportunity to engage with those that are there to help, in a safe and secure context.
By the way my name is Goulding not Gould.
outsidelookinin
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9:09pm Tue 12 Feb 13
wurzelbasher
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9:18pm Tue 12 Feb 13
Tactical
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12:04pm Wed 13 Feb 13
EtaoinShrdlu
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1:31am Sun 17 Feb 13
Mr_Blue_Sky says...
10:18am Tue 12 Feb 13