The meeting was attended by the myself plus 21 members, 1 NPT PC, and also 2 police officers and the Chair of the Project Griffin team. It was nice to see such a large turnout and I thank each and every one of you for attending.
Apologies were received from Catherine Smith,
A brief report on the crimes for the period 16.10.09 – 15.11.09 was given
by PC Chris Maynard.
These included:
Burglary Dwelling 6,
Criminal Damage 6,
Burglary Other 3,
Theft from Motor Vehicle 6 and
Theft of Vehicle 1.
Both Burglary Dwelling and Criminal Damage are well down on last
month. The Theft of Motor Vehicle is the same. There were 0 reported
Thefts from Motor Vehicle last month with 6 this month but I think this
may have been an omission in last months figures. PC Maynard
confirmed that crimes in this area are well down when compared to other
areas.
Following a query raised at the last meeting we were given an excellent presentation regarding Project Griffin by PC Andy Leat, the Project Griffin Co-ordinator, supported by Collin Wiggins and Mark Winterbourne the chair of the group. He outline the fact that Project Griffin was an umbrella group for various ‘watch’ schemes in the area, such as neighbourhood watch, shop watch, pub watch, horse watch etc. It provides a central number to feedback any information regard suspicious activity around the airport and surrounding areas. The project is run by a civilian committee supported by the police.
They will be running a number of information days designed to make the public aware of security and crime issues around the area. In particular what to look for; when and how to report it.
More details will be included in the next newsletter, including how to apply for a place on one of the information days.
We currently have £826.45 in the bank with a further £20 to come in, plus the advertising revenue from the next newsletter. There has been quite a bit of expense over the last month or so. We had to have the printer drum refurbished and needed to purchase ink, envelopes, labels and paper. We are still in a good financial position however.
Having now had some time to collate and combine the four lists of co- ordinators I was given when I took over as chair, it is apparent that over time we have lost 27 schemes (plus a further one I learned of at the meeting) amounting to 629 homes. (These are only the ones we know of) This was due to a number of reasons, people moving house, people simply resigning and in some case unfortunately people passing away.
It was only fair that I mentioned PCSO Sarah Harrison. Over the past few weeks she has been extremely helpful by assisting me to update the list, visiting numerous co-ordinators and photocopying letters for me to distribute to scheme members etc. I also want to thank James Crowther and Sarah’s other colleagues for their invaluable help.
So far leaflets seeking new co-ordinators have been delivered to Larkfield Road, Avenue, Drive, and Crescent, Far Well Road/Rawdon Town Street (part), Barfield Avenue, Hawthorne Avenue and Swincar Avenue; so far without any response.
Leaflets were also delivered to Intake Lane/Billingwood Drive and Batter Lane resulting in co-ordinators being found for those Schemes. Additionally an existing co-ordinator has volunteered to extend her scheme to cover an adjoining scheme currently without a co-ordinator and at the meeting a further 2 co-ordinators came forward and offered to assist with a nearby scheme until a new co-ordinator can be found. I expressed my thanks to them at the meeting and want to reiterate that in these notes.
We have a number of new schemes now running or pending. The new schemes are Larkfield Mount, and. Lakeside View, (I leafleted all the Lakeside estate and Mount Vernon Road whilst doing the Larkfield area) There are potential schemes pending in Lakeside Chase, Billings View and Emmott Drive.
Our prime objective where possible, is to find new co-ordinators for the schemes which existed, and then to increase the number of new schemes.
A short discussion was held regarding the presentation of crime figures in the newsletter. It was decided by the members that a brief resume be given without the time and date of each crime. Full versions of the crime figures will be available on the website. If anyone without internet access would like a copy I will see if we can find some way to provide them.
At the start of the meeting there were 13 volunteers for the project, I am pleased to say this increased to 16 at the end of the meeting. The search project proposal document was submitted at the end of last month, unfortunately the Inspector dealing with the issue was on leave for a couple of weeks so as yet I have not received any feedback.
For those reading this who missed the previous newsletter; the project would provide a number of volunteers to search for missing children or vulnerable adults when required.
A number of suggestions have been put forward regarding speakers for future meetings. I think we are now in a position to seriously look at this if can maintain a 20 plus attendance at the meetings. With the previous attendance of 10/12 there was no incentive for speakers to give up their time to attend. I will speak to the Crime Reduction Officer and ask if he can provide a speaker at one of the meetings
A member suggested that the police officer or PCSO attending the meeting should give crime prevention advice rather than just read out the crime figures. I will discuss this with the relevant people, in particular how qualified the PCSOs are to give such advice. Whilst I am sure they are more than able to do so, it depends whether it is in their job description and allowed by their superiors.
I gave updates on two scams, details of which will appear in the newsletter, it is likely that these have been around for a while and may have been stopped - but they will reappear at some point, thinly disguised as something else.
NW signs were mentioned and this is ongoing, as is the provision of member starter packs for the new schemes.
Sorry to anyone who raised any issue I forgotten to list.
The next meeting has been confirmed as 17th January 2010 at 7.30pm at the LA Fitness Centre.
Notes were taken by the Chair in the absence of a minutes secretary,
(I have taken the decision not to mention members by name, especially those raising specific issues. This is to encourage more people to speak at the meetings who would otherwise feel uncomfortable and fear having their name published.)
Dave Lawson – Chair 01943 877606
lawson_d1@sky.com