Hello again,
Well I hope everyone had a good Bank Holiday - wasn't it wonderful weather. I was off from the Friday to the Monday, got plenty of gardening done and a barbecue each day. Hope that was not our summer!
Back to work, and school holidays means youth activities. On Tuesday PCSO Kelly Drodge assisted the neighbourhood wardens with an event at Newtown Youth Centre involving an art project. Then on Wednesday PCSOs Fiona Oates, Mark Reynolds, Kelly Drodge and Ed Wiggans and I took 20 of the Junior PCSOs down to the Streetwise project in Bournemouth, Dorset. We had to take two mini-buses and the Fire and Rescue Service kindly loaned us one with Alan Fryer to drive.
Streetwise is a really good project. Built in a warehouse on an industrial estate it’s a little village with two full size houses, a railway track, roads with working traffic lights, a park, police station and other stuff. The staff, all volunteers, lead the children around the scenarios - all with a safety message. We split the children into groups of four and did nine scenarios each. These include railway safety, fire, strangers, indeed anything can be made to fit. There is a smoke machine in the house and when that goes off, they get one of the children to make a 999 call where they get an operator and have to make the call real. The train is the front end of a real train, supplied by Virgin, with the train driver controls, and a video is played. One child is chosen to try to stop the train as soon as a child is seen running across the rail track - of course they cannot stop it in time. It took about two hours to get around and was really educational, I would certainly recommend if you have a youth group or similar. Indeed it is so real there that the emergency services use it for training. As you may recall the weather was awful on Wednesday, we had planned to take the children to the beach for a couple of hours, but due to the rain, popped down to Poole Quay for an ice-cream and back home. It was a really good day out.
Fiona also arranged a trip on Thursday, where she, Mark and Kelly took some more Junior PCSO to the Down to Earth farm project in Shirley. This time the weather was good and again the children had a really good time. Once we get the photos I will add some to the web page. That was followed on Thursday afternoon by the Safer Neighbourhood teams playing a 6 a-side game of football against some staff and clients from the Two Saints project in Newtown. The game ended about 12-11 to them I think. I went on as a sub and played the full hour - I am getting too old for this!
Looking forward to next week, we have a meeting on Monday to consider a Junior PCSO Conference in the summer to promote the scheme to other parts of the county. Since Sgt Andy Williams and I did our presentation in London a few weeks ago, I have been contacted by officers from Thames Valley Police and Sussex Police about setting up schemes.
There is also the Northam Tenants and Residents Association meeting. There will also be the Tesco Express police surgery in St Mary St 5.30 - 7.30 pm - pop along and see PCSO Fiona Oates.
Tuesday is the Golden Grove patch chat where we will discuss the issues relating to that area, and again discuss the St Marys community priorities. Wednesday evening I have been invited to the St Marys Tenants and Residents Committee meeting.
On thursday there is a meeting about some planned art work for the footbridge between Northam Road and the football stadium. However this may turn into a graffiti project - and if so, we as the police will not get involved in that. So far, PCSO Mark Reynolds has previously arranged for the bridge to be painted throughout, cleaned and have the Saints logo at one end. We will have to wait and see.
And finally on Saturday, PCSO Mark Reynolds and Kelly Drodge will be taking some Junior PCSOs up to the Enviro Day at the Bargate where we will have a stand.
Another full week and that does not include all the crime stuff that the PCs will be doing.
Finally I have lost a PC, as Simon Bradshaw has moved on the tactical cycle team. He has done really well for us and I wish him all the best for the future.
Speak to you next week
Cheers
Dick
Friday, 29 May 2009
Friday, 22 May 2009
Signs of summer...
Well with the nice weather, I abandoned the computer yesterday evening and went for a patrol around the patch.
I was intending to go to a meeting in Northam, but it was cancelled, so gave me some free time. Northam and St Marys gets some bad press, but it felt really nice wandering through the areas tonight - parents and children out at the play areas and everyone friendly. On Northam there were loads of kids in the play area in the middle of Kent St, some youngsters enjoying football at the 'Globe' by the community centre and more children in Union Rd play park. I went along Radcliffe Rd and through towards the stadium and on to Golden Grove. Through the underpass there was some graffiti and some bushes need trimming, so I made a note of that and have emailed Actionline at the City Council to see if they can remedy that.
Into Golden Grove, football training in the school playing field and the play park outside Albion Towers was full of children. St Mary Street was still bustling with people and then I went into Kingsland estate. Another park, and again full of children. As it was still warm I decided to go on to South Front, back into St Mary Street, through the St Marys Church grounds into Chapel, through there, over the footbridge to Marsh Lane and into Holyrood Estate, again another park with children. Finally I came back through Hoglands Park and to the station. Amazing that the sunny weather brings out so many people, and not a hint of bother. A great feeling of community spirit and cohesion.
During the week we have had a load more meetings, and the team have been busy with a few presentations. Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Mike Kesslar-Lyne and PC Caroline Woodfield completed some presentations at City Training, part of City College, on the roles of PCSO and police. This is a rolling programme orgaised by our City College liaison PCSO, David Wright. Several of the team have also been out completeing some of our community questionnaires. Basically this is to capture the concerns of the public that may not attend residents meetings or maybe work in the area. We completed them in Northam precinct, Sure Start at Northam and St Mary Street near Tescos this week. The results were very reassuring actually. The concerns that were raised were generally our community priorities anyway, so it shows we are on the right track. The one issue that was new is speeding in St Mary Street, so we will have a look at that, and add as a concern at the moment, but not yet a priority. Thursday was the beat surgery in Northam Housing office.
I had the Holyrood Residents association AGM on Monday night, which was entertaining, but nothing of note for the police - thankfully! Tuesday I had the Kingsland Patch Chat. This is a meeting with agencies and a few residents of Kingsland about their concerns and worries, and what we, as agencies, are doing in the area. We discuss community priorities at these meetings. Nothing too much for ther Police on Kingsland at the moment - a few reports of drug use/dealing near the railway bridge, so we will patrol that a bit more often. The Housing department have a few things in the pipeline so there will be consultations to be planned to see what the residents want.
Following that meeting I went to St Marys Fire station with my colleague Sgt Andrew Williams to meet the new station manager. We had a really good chat and have arranged all our team to spend a days attachment with the fire service. They are all looking froward to that. Then I went straight on to Unity 101 community radio. Every Tuesday at 4.30pm one of our team does a 5 minute stint in the community hour hosted by Kelly, and this week was my turn.
On Wednesday I had my six weekly meeting with Wendy from the Youth Offending Team and Rhys and Hannah from Baseline. We discuss the 'ID50' group - which are the top 50 10-17yr olds within SO14 that are identified as at risk of offending. We share information on the children, on what they have been up to, any court action, involvement and intervention. It's surprising, (or perhaps not!), how the children say one thing to Youth Offending team and something else to Baseline, and that’s where this meeting is so useful. It benefits us, and in turn will benefit the children.
Next week is half term. PCSOs Fiona Oates, Kelly Drodge and Mark Reynolds have arranged a trip to Streetwise in Dorset for our Junior PCSOs and a visit to the farm project in Shirley, so they will be interesting. On Tuesday there is Kingsland, St Marys, Holyrood lunchtime meeting. PCSO Kelly Drodge is also assisting with a Junior Neighbourhood warden event at the fire station.
Well that’s about it for this week, hope you all have a good bank holiday weekend. Weather permitting, I shall be in the garden, probably plant out the pumpkins, squash and beans - hope for no frosts, then sit and relax with a glass of red wine to admire my hard work!
Cheers
Dick
I was intending to go to a meeting in Northam, but it was cancelled, so gave me some free time. Northam and St Marys gets some bad press, but it felt really nice wandering through the areas tonight - parents and children out at the play areas and everyone friendly. On Northam there were loads of kids in the play area in the middle of Kent St, some youngsters enjoying football at the 'Globe' by the community centre and more children in Union Rd play park. I went along Radcliffe Rd and through towards the stadium and on to Golden Grove. Through the underpass there was some graffiti and some bushes need trimming, so I made a note of that and have emailed Actionline at the City Council to see if they can remedy that.
Into Golden Grove, football training in the school playing field and the play park outside Albion Towers was full of children. St Mary Street was still bustling with people and then I went into Kingsland estate. Another park, and again full of children. As it was still warm I decided to go on to South Front, back into St Mary Street, through the St Marys Church grounds into Chapel, through there, over the footbridge to Marsh Lane and into Holyrood Estate, again another park with children. Finally I came back through Hoglands Park and to the station. Amazing that the sunny weather brings out so many people, and not a hint of bother. A great feeling of community spirit and cohesion.
During the week we have had a load more meetings, and the team have been busy with a few presentations. Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Mike Kesslar-Lyne and PC Caroline Woodfield completed some presentations at City Training, part of City College, on the roles of PCSO and police. This is a rolling programme orgaised by our City College liaison PCSO, David Wright. Several of the team have also been out completeing some of our community questionnaires. Basically this is to capture the concerns of the public that may not attend residents meetings or maybe work in the area. We completed them in Northam precinct, Sure Start at Northam and St Mary Street near Tescos this week. The results were very reassuring actually. The concerns that were raised were generally our community priorities anyway, so it shows we are on the right track. The one issue that was new is speeding in St Mary Street, so we will have a look at that, and add as a concern at the moment, but not yet a priority. Thursday was the beat surgery in Northam Housing office.
I had the Holyrood Residents association AGM on Monday night, which was entertaining, but nothing of note for the police - thankfully! Tuesday I had the Kingsland Patch Chat. This is a meeting with agencies and a few residents of Kingsland about their concerns and worries, and what we, as agencies, are doing in the area. We discuss community priorities at these meetings. Nothing too much for ther Police on Kingsland at the moment - a few reports of drug use/dealing near the railway bridge, so we will patrol that a bit more often. The Housing department have a few things in the pipeline so there will be consultations to be planned to see what the residents want.
Following that meeting I went to St Marys Fire station with my colleague Sgt Andrew Williams to meet the new station manager. We had a really good chat and have arranged all our team to spend a days attachment with the fire service. They are all looking froward to that. Then I went straight on to Unity 101 community radio. Every Tuesday at 4.30pm one of our team does a 5 minute stint in the community hour hosted by Kelly, and this week was my turn.
On Wednesday I had my six weekly meeting with Wendy from the Youth Offending Team and Rhys and Hannah from Baseline. We discuss the 'ID50' group - which are the top 50 10-17yr olds within SO14 that are identified as at risk of offending. We share information on the children, on what they have been up to, any court action, involvement and intervention. It's surprising, (or perhaps not!), how the children say one thing to Youth Offending team and something else to Baseline, and that’s where this meeting is so useful. It benefits us, and in turn will benefit the children.
Next week is half term. PCSOs Fiona Oates, Kelly Drodge and Mark Reynolds have arranged a trip to Streetwise in Dorset for our Junior PCSOs and a visit to the farm project in Shirley, so they will be interesting. On Tuesday there is Kingsland, St Marys, Holyrood lunchtime meeting. PCSO Kelly Drodge is also assisting with a Junior Neighbourhood warden event at the fire station.
Well that’s about it for this week, hope you all have a good bank holiday weekend. Weather permitting, I shall be in the garden, probably plant out the pumpkins, squash and beans - hope for no frosts, then sit and relax with a glass of red wine to admire my hard work!
Cheers
Dick
Thursday, 14 May 2009
A night in the life of Sergeant Partridge
Hello again,
Thanks for the comments that are coming in, and thanks for the return visitors - apparently in April there were 88 visits to blog - and not all mine! If you are looking at it, please pass on to others and tell me anyting else you would like included.
A bit different this week. As I have mentioned before I have to take part in the Violent Crime Strategy (VCS) or, as it is officially called, Operation Erwood. It is policing the night time economy in the city centre, and I and five other Sergeants take it in turns, so it works out every 6 weeks work on a Friday and Saturday night. Not what I would chose to do, but someone has to do it. So I thought I would take you through a night of VCS.
I wrote this update in the early hours of Saturday morning, after I finished the first shift.
Friday night 6.30pm:
I came on duty - it’s a 12 hour duty, so I am on until 6.30am Saturday morning. There were 35 emails from my 'day job' as a Neighbourhood Sergeant, but they may have to wait until I have finished VCS weekend. I have Monday and Tuesday as rest days after working nights so it will be Wednesday when they get dealt with. We have two briefings for the VCS officers which I lead. The first one is 7.30pm. So I have to look through the duties to find how many officers I have and who they are. On Friday night I had two from the City Centre unit, one SNT officer from Northam who is my own PC Dave Houghton and one from the Polygon beat. We were joined by a Special Constable and one student officer too. They are all due to work until 3am or 4am and until midnight I also had 2 PCSOs.
7.30 pm: Briefing.
8pm: After the briefing, off they go to keep the streets safe. I let the control room know who they are, check the custody block to see how many cells are spare - there are 10 already in custody tonight, so there will be enough room for another 10. Then check how many officers for the second briefing.
9.30pm: There are 15 officers, from Central, Portswood, Shirley and Bitterne and two Special Constables. We are also joined by the lady leading the Street Pastors scheme tonight, and two ladies from the council anti-social behaviour team who have come out as observers.
10pm: Off they go - deployed.
I undate the control room, check custody again.
10.30pm: Its time for me to go out and see how many people are in town tonight. Make sure I have allocated the officers to the right areas and hot spots.
12.20am: Come in for a cup of coffee. There's not too many people out tonight, the venues say numbers are low, but are sufficient to keep the tills going and stay open. The people who are out and about seem nice and friendly. The street pastors are wandering around without a lot to do at the moment. We have just used a power that we have to disperse a person from the city centre for alcohol related anti-social behaviour. It's called Section 27 and the person can be removed for up to 48 hrs - a really good power. So someone is having an early night. One arrest so far - a man found in possession of possible cocaine.
1am: Back on the streets, all quite jovial and friendly.
1.55am: Man arrested for coming back into town after being dispersed on a Section 27.
2.40am: Man arrested for drunk and disorderly
2.41am: Man arrested for Assault. Southampton Central cells now full.
2.50am: Three more arrested for breaching Section 27 - prisoners taken to Bitterne cells.
This leaves less officers on the streets for the final closing time with officers taking statements for several assaults or escorting prisoners.
3.15am: One of the food outlets that only has a licence to 3am is still serving, so I visit and report them.
3.30am: I am back in the station to start my report and find out how many prisoners, where the prisoners are and ensure officers have the prisoner handover packs ready for the morning. Its been a busy night over in Shirley and they are keen to have their officers back.
4am: Checked with custody, all prisoners accounted for. Officers kept on duty to complete their prisoner handover packs.
5am: I start checking prisoner handover packs.
6.30am Finally I can go home now. Time for a glass or two of wine before I go to bed. My wife often spends my VCS weekend at her sisters rather than try to keep quiet all day Saturday and Sunday while I am in bed, but all my meals are prepared and in the freezer!
That's the end of Friday night, same again on Saturday!
Thanks for the comments that are coming in, and thanks for the return visitors - apparently in April there were 88 visits to blog - and not all mine! If you are looking at it, please pass on to others and tell me anyting else you would like included.
A bit different this week. As I have mentioned before I have to take part in the Violent Crime Strategy (VCS) or, as it is officially called, Operation Erwood. It is policing the night time economy in the city centre, and I and five other Sergeants take it in turns, so it works out every 6 weeks work on a Friday and Saturday night. Not what I would chose to do, but someone has to do it. So I thought I would take you through a night of VCS.
I wrote this update in the early hours of Saturday morning, after I finished the first shift.
Friday night 6.30pm:
I came on duty - it’s a 12 hour duty, so I am on until 6.30am Saturday morning. There were 35 emails from my 'day job' as a Neighbourhood Sergeant, but they may have to wait until I have finished VCS weekend. I have Monday and Tuesday as rest days after working nights so it will be Wednesday when they get dealt with. We have two briefings for the VCS officers which I lead. The first one is 7.30pm. So I have to look through the duties to find how many officers I have and who they are. On Friday night I had two from the City Centre unit, one SNT officer from Northam who is my own PC Dave Houghton and one from the Polygon beat. We were joined by a Special Constable and one student officer too. They are all due to work until 3am or 4am and until midnight I also had 2 PCSOs.
7.30 pm: Briefing.
8pm: After the briefing, off they go to keep the streets safe. I let the control room know who they are, check the custody block to see how many cells are spare - there are 10 already in custody tonight, so there will be enough room for another 10. Then check how many officers for the second briefing.
9.30pm: There are 15 officers, from Central, Portswood, Shirley and Bitterne and two Special Constables. We are also joined by the lady leading the Street Pastors scheme tonight, and two ladies from the council anti-social behaviour team who have come out as observers.
10pm: Off they go - deployed.
I undate the control room, check custody again.
10.30pm: Its time for me to go out and see how many people are in town tonight. Make sure I have allocated the officers to the right areas and hot spots.
12.20am: Come in for a cup of coffee. There's not too many people out tonight, the venues say numbers are low, but are sufficient to keep the tills going and stay open. The people who are out and about seem nice and friendly. The street pastors are wandering around without a lot to do at the moment. We have just used a power that we have to disperse a person from the city centre for alcohol related anti-social behaviour. It's called Section 27 and the person can be removed for up to 48 hrs - a really good power. So someone is having an early night. One arrest so far - a man found in possession of possible cocaine.
1am: Back on the streets, all quite jovial and friendly.
1.55am: Man arrested for coming back into town after being dispersed on a Section 27.
2.40am: Man arrested for drunk and disorderly
2.41am: Man arrested for Assault. Southampton Central cells now full.
2.50am: Three more arrested for breaching Section 27 - prisoners taken to Bitterne cells.
This leaves less officers on the streets for the final closing time with officers taking statements for several assaults or escorting prisoners.
3.15am: One of the food outlets that only has a licence to 3am is still serving, so I visit and report them.
3.30am: I am back in the station to start my report and find out how many prisoners, where the prisoners are and ensure officers have the prisoner handover packs ready for the morning. Its been a busy night over in Shirley and they are keen to have their officers back.
4am: Checked with custody, all prisoners accounted for. Officers kept on duty to complete their prisoner handover packs.
5am: I start checking prisoner handover packs.
6.30am Finally I can go home now. Time for a glass or two of wine before I go to bed. My wife often spends my VCS weekend at her sisters rather than try to keep quiet all day Saturday and Sunday while I am in bed, but all my meals are prepared and in the freezer!
That's the end of Friday night, same again on Saturday!
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Would you come to public meetings?
As mentioned in the last blog, Sergeant Andy Williams and I went up to London to give a series of four presentations at the National Policing Improvement Agency seminar. They went very well. We had an audience of about 40 people in each session and received some really good feedback - in fact one session gave us a round of applause.
We explained how we do our community engagement in Northam, Newtown and St Marys. They were particularly interested in the Junior PCSO schemes, our stop/search role plays and how we try to engage with the harder to reach groups, especially in Newtown and things like when Andy has spoken at the Mosques during Friday prayers reagarding some of the recent Muslim issues. We took some of our newsletters, My Beat leaflets and other leaflets we use and send out - really just for people to look at, but after the first session the group took them all so we had none for anyone else! Just goes to show that what we are doing here is not happening everywhere. The audience were from police and other agencies including the Met, City of London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex forces. We have several email addresses now to send stuff off to. Overall a good experience.
Anyway, brought back down to earth when we returned to Southampton. As a result of the London trip I missed the Chapel residents' meeting, but PCSO Fiona Oates went along. I gather the meeting was much better than the previous one - for us anyway - as the vehicle crime in Chapel has reduced again.
We have had several reports this week about drug related problems and possible dealing in and around College Street, where the Drug Intervention Project(DIP) is. We have good contact with the DIP and regularly pop in, but with these extra concerns have also completed some plain clothes operations in the area. These have been useful, although after about an hour the people identify us, and give us a wave. I do not mind them knowing we are there actually, because the dealers will then be aware and hopefully move away and work somewhere else.
Regarding the policing pledge, I have included this piece in my recent newsletters about a possible monthly meeting for each beat for people to let us know of there concerns or worries. Have a look and please let me know what you think about a monthly meeting.
Policing Pledge – Monthly Meetings and Community Priorities
The Policing Pledge states that the police will arrange regular meetings in the neighbourhood, at least once a month to discuss the community priorities.
We currently discuss the community priorities at the residents meetings, where the public have full access, and at quarterly patch chats. This seems to work well, however does not exactly comply with the pledge of monthly meetings. We do have the weekly surgery at the Northam Housing office, and regular surgeries at Tesco Express, St Marys School, City College and Halls of Residence but this is not exactly a public meeting.
Would you support monthly police meetings?
I am happy to arrange monthly public meetings in Northam and St Marys to discuss the community priorities, but we would need people to attend. Please let me know if this is something that you would like me to arrange, or confirm you are happy with the current arrangements for community priority setting.
Well that’s it for now
Cheers
Dick.
We explained how we do our community engagement in Northam, Newtown and St Marys. They were particularly interested in the Junior PCSO schemes, our stop/search role plays and how we try to engage with the harder to reach groups, especially in Newtown and things like when Andy has spoken at the Mosques during Friday prayers reagarding some of the recent Muslim issues. We took some of our newsletters, My Beat leaflets and other leaflets we use and send out - really just for people to look at, but after the first session the group took them all so we had none for anyone else! Just goes to show that what we are doing here is not happening everywhere. The audience were from police and other agencies including the Met, City of London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex forces. We have several email addresses now to send stuff off to. Overall a good experience.
Anyway, brought back down to earth when we returned to Southampton. As a result of the London trip I missed the Chapel residents' meeting, but PCSO Fiona Oates went along. I gather the meeting was much better than the previous one - for us anyway - as the vehicle crime in Chapel has reduced again.
We have had several reports this week about drug related problems and possible dealing in and around College Street, where the Drug Intervention Project(DIP) is. We have good contact with the DIP and regularly pop in, but with these extra concerns have also completed some plain clothes operations in the area. These have been useful, although after about an hour the people identify us, and give us a wave. I do not mind them knowing we are there actually, because the dealers will then be aware and hopefully move away and work somewhere else.
Regarding the policing pledge, I have included this piece in my recent newsletters about a possible monthly meeting for each beat for people to let us know of there concerns or worries. Have a look and please let me know what you think about a monthly meeting.
Policing Pledge – Monthly Meetings and Community Priorities
The Policing Pledge states that the police will arrange regular meetings in the neighbourhood, at least once a month to discuss the community priorities.
We currently discuss the community priorities at the residents meetings, where the public have full access, and at quarterly patch chats. This seems to work well, however does not exactly comply with the pledge of monthly meetings. We do have the weekly surgery at the Northam Housing office, and regular surgeries at Tesco Express, St Marys School, City College and Halls of Residence but this is not exactly a public meeting.
Would you support monthly police meetings?
I am happy to arrange monthly public meetings in Northam and St Marys to discuss the community priorities, but we would need people to attend. Please let me know if this is something that you would like me to arrange, or confirm you are happy with the current arrangements for community priority setting.
Well that’s it for now
Cheers
Dick.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
