Agenda item

You can find out what the Safer Neighbourhoods Team (from North Yorkshire Police), Street Environment Officer and Young People’s Service have been doing over the last few months.

Safer Neighbourhood Team

PC Shaun Page explained that Insp. Mark Khan could not attend as he is taking part in the police Mutual Aid programme in Hull. He informed the meeting that PC Corinne Green has moved to a different area of policing and she has been replaced on the team by PC Stuart Hodge.

Operation Bauble ran in the five week period before Christmas. This involved the issuing of warrants targeting drug use and stolen property. The information that led to the issuing of these warrants came from the community, showing that if the police get this kind of information they can disrupt criminal activity.

The Beat the Burglar campaign has been encouraging residents to take measures to prevent burglaries. There has been a slight increase in burglary. The increase is not substantial but burglary will be a focus for the Central Area Police.

The team has been focusing on the anti-social behaviour problem outside Crichton Avenue shops in an effort to reduce and combat it. The long-term solution to the problem of people congregating might be the creation of a dispersal zone, but this is only if the problem cannot be addressed by other means. The team secured an ASBO on a 15 year old who had been causing problems in the area. Punishment for breach of an ASBO is severe. In the case of one individual, the injunction has been very effective in curbing his behaviour.

Overall, crime is down by 12%. Police are working with partners and the community to maintain this downward trend. The team is also looking at new ways of engaging with young people.

PCSO Pennistone informed the meeting about a new initiative to engage young girls. Lots of activities tend to be aimed at boys but the Safer Neighbourhoods Team finds that girls are spending a lot of time on the street. For this reason they have secured funding from Safer York Partnership and City of York Council for a majorette band for all girls over 7 years of age, but particularly targeted at teenage girls.

PCSO Pennistone also informed the meeting about the planned Party in the Park, involving the army, navy and university. There will be a battle of the bands and the different organisations present will be showing what different careers and courses are like. This will be taking place on Sunday, 3 May at Canon Lee School field.

Q. Where will it be held?

A. At Canon Lee School field.

Q (Cllr. Scott) That is on the far edge of the ward.

A. We needed to find somewhere big enough to cater for the army, etc.

Q. (Cllr. Scott) What about Ashton Park or Burton Stone primary?

A. These areas aren’t big enough and we also wanted to aim it at children from the school so it makes sense to hold it there.

PC Page also informed the meeting that the Safer Neighbourhoods Team is still focused on the resident’s policing priorities. He also drew attention to the Policing Pledge, which was circulated to everyone at the meeting. The policing pledge is a response to consultation by government which showed that people felt they weren’t receiving a sufficient level of service from the police. This is an effort to put the customer first, which the police may not have done historically. Some of the pledges are already underway, and while they admit that they haven’t yet achieved all of the pledges, they are working in the right direction.

Street Environment

Iain Dunn informed the meeting that cutting down on litter is one of the main priorities of the Street Environment Officer. The York Pride budget is almost complete for this year, with the money going towards signs, dealing with overgrown hedges and graffiti clearance. There is some money left in the budget and they would like some suggestions about how to spend it. They have some freebies at the meeting directed at dog-walkers and smokers: stubbies to gather cigarette butts and bags for dog-walkers to deal with dog waste. The Street Environment Officer can be contacted through the York Pride line, on 551551.

A street sign for Clifton Primary School was changed and they arranged cleaning for a laneway.

Q. Was the laneway private?

A. It’s a snicket that’s not scheduled for regular cleansing.

Q. You mention just council property, but I know of an overgrown hedge that was cut.

A. The cost of cutting will be charged to the individual.