Many thanks to all those who placed coloured stickers on the large white board enabling us to gather your views on the 30 priorities identified by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC), the Police, Fire and Health services, and others. The top priority identified by residents at each event was ‘Anti-Social Behaviour in the East Riding is minimised’. This is high on my list of priorities and also the agenda of all partners represented on the team.
Anti-social behaviour can mean different things to different people. Anti-social behaviour can mean different things to different people and is not just the province of young people, as older people can also be anti-social in their actions. The ERYC has adopted the Home Office definition as, “any behaviour, which causes, or is capable of causing nuisance, harassment, alarm or distress to persons from a different household.” In other words, behaviour that undermines any person's right to enjoy their home, their neighbourhood and their daily life in peace and safety. This can include, persistent verbal abuse or threats, threatening and intimidating behaviour and damage to private property.
During 2008 the crime rate in Howden and Howdenshire was 2.4 crimes per 1,000 people, which is well below the average for the East Riding and makes the area a safe place in which to live. Conversely in terms of the biggest anti-social behaviour issues facing the Goole and Howdenshire area, 49.3% of respondents to the 2008 Household survey believed that teenagers hanging around the streets were a very big or fairly big problem.
I am shortly to be part of an ERYC Review Panel to embark on an in-depth investigation of anti-social behaviour, which should report back within a year.
The local Police working in partnership with the Council’s Safer Communities team and the Neighbourhood Action Team are doing many things to combat Anti-Social behaviour in Howden and Howdenshire villages, including a specific project aimed at underage drinking being delivered in a number of communities. This project includes face-to-face interaction with young people as seen at the LAT stand, where members of the ERYC Youth Service, Police, and Fire Services talked to young people about drinking and the effects of alcohol, including using ‘beer goggles’ to replicate the effects of drinking to excess.
(pictured with ERYC detached youth workers Richard Innes, Jonathan Morris & Helena Holmes)
But the Police and the Council need your help in cracking down on underage drinking, and anti-social behaviour committed by adults as well as young people - and I urge residents who experience any of this behaviour to report it by telephone to the Police on 0845 60 60 222 or the ERYC Safer Communities Team on 01482 391012.
5 comments:
I'm staggered no one has yet commented on this topic Paul. Its sad but true that the English will tolerate an inordinate amount of trouble before they take action. People will complain to each other but not to the authorities.
Mind you the authorities have a lot to answer for in this respect as there are all sorts of initiatives which end up weakening the rule of law until there is little or no respect left for it. Take as a dreadful example the case of locals being refused service in a Goole ethnic shop. Did we see police action? - Did we hell! All we got was a stupid letter to the local paper from a senior police officer effectively saying he was sure there had been a mistake. Of course the independent corroboration of the refusal by a reporter was glossed over.
We are lucky to see a policeman around the village nowadays. The PCSO does a valiant job but is not empowered in the way a full status constable is. The best we get full status wise is a drive through when it suits.
My personal hobby horse, and I make no apologies for it, is to ask why we had a residential police presence in most of the villages a number of years ago which was paid for by a much smaller population at lower local rates bills than we have now with a much larger population and significantly higher council tax bills. No one seems to have any real answers but we get lots of waffle.
The question of why the Courthouse and police station in Howden was sold off cheaply (I heard the developer got more for the wood in the courthouse panelling than he paid for the site) only then to need to build a new police station has never been properly answered. Similarly Market Weighton no longer enjoys its judicial facilities and the same in Brough. Poor, Poor , Poor management!
I could go on but will yield the floor to others if they are interested enough.
"During 2008 the crime rate in Howden and Howdenshire was 2.4 crimes per 1,000 people, which is well below the average for the East Riding and makes the area a safe place in which to live. "
Really?
Do you not mean the REPORTED crime rate?
The figures you quote fail to take into account the unreported incidents.
Many A/S incidents I'm sure remain unreported due to the apathy that exists today.
Is there any wonder when we have come to expect our reports of anti-social behaviour being ignored or dealt with by 'lottery'?
Of course in many cases no police presence ever materialises, fuelling the apathy towards reporting future A/S behaviour.
Lets stop wasting time and money on these 'action teams' committees, steering groups etc etc etc and put more money into increasing Police presence on our streets.
The only reason there is so much A/S behaviour is that the culprits know they have very little chance of being caught and brought to book.
I'm still young enough to remember when Goole and Howden boasted three shifts of around 12 officers per shift to look after the area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. When you rang Goole Police you were answered by a policeman at Goole Station Nowadays we have some faceless civilian in a control room almost 30 miles away deciding on what action needs to be taken, by whom and when.
25 years ago we had regular FOOT patrols in the most sensitive areas and A/S behaviour was nipped in the bud.
These days the only time you see a uniform is when one gets out of their Proton cars and goes for groceries at Tesco's..
Or we see a PCSO or two wandering around ...even they are so few and far between as to be almost as rare as rocking horse droppings. These people are neigh on next to useless in curbing A/S behaviour in Howden or Goole without Police back up.
We keep hearing that Police numbers are remaining constant yet we fail to see the evidence of this in actual 'Bobbies' on our streets.
We never had to 'import' police officers from elsewhere at weekends before...why is it seen necessary now?
Could it be the actual police numbers BASED in Goole and Howden number far fewer than we are led to believe there are?
If so stop throwing money away and throw a little more towards the Police budget and get more coppers 'out there' where it matters.
John Jessop...I did comment although Paul seems to seen fit not to publish what I submitted...so I'll have another go and re-iterate that the figures Paul quotes are of course the REPORTED crime totals and fail to take into account all those incidents that go unreported due to the apathy local people have towards such things. Who can really blame them for 'not wanting to be involved' when reporting an incident often results in little or no action being taken. The decision as to whether action is taken rests not with any police officer based in Goole but often a civilian in a control room nearly 30 miles away. Even that depends on there being a police patrol available.
I am old enough to remember when Goole and Howden didn't have to import police officers from outside the town at the weekends, we had our own 12 man per shift three shifts per day 7 days a week 365 days a year Police presence actually based in the town. When you rang Goole police you spoke to an officer IN GOOLE..not some faceless person 30 miles away.
We really don't need another committee 'looking into' A/S behaviour...we know it exists and we also know why it is so rife in the area...It's because those who indulge in anti social behaviour know with unerring certainty they have little chance of being caught.
All the steering groups, committees etc in the world won't solve anything...what we really need our resources spending on is getting Police officers off their backsides out onto the streets like it used to be. I really can't remember when I saw a police officer 'on the beat' either in Goole or Howden...I often see them doing their shopping in Tesco's and the occasional PCSO wanders aimlessly by ...this is not enough to dissuade those of nefarious intent from causing mayhem and spoiling the quality of life for the rest of us.
Kev
Sorry about that - found your original comment in the spam folder
Paul
Paul, How strange...never been a fan of Something Posing As Meat personally...It belongs in a bin...
To follow on from my last and perhaps address John's comment about the 'Polski Sklep incident' as it were...I believe there really wasn't a lot in the accusations apart from some young lady perhaps misunderstanding what was said to her and wanting to get her pound of flesh in media attention. (The following is said with tongue firmly in cheek)...Of course with a local media system like ours anything not related to growing large onions is worthy of national headlines...(end of T/I/C section)
Logically speaking now...Who goes into an (to use John's words).."ethnic shop" to buy a drink when there is a newsagents right next door whose staff can understand you and you them?
There is enough xenophobia around without fabricating more and I think the Police stance at the time adequately served that purpose.
We are so quick to condemn actions of others who settle in our country for not doing that which we would expect them to...yet we conveniently forget about the hoodlums we export abroad each year that run riot and call it a 'holiday'. They don't show any respect for those that live there either...why are we so surprised ...nay offended, when people come over here and act likewise?
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