MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF RUGBY BOROUGH NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH HELD AT THE ROKEBY ROOM, BENN HALL, RUGBY at 7.30 pm on 27th JANUARY 2011
PRESENT APOLOGIES Howard Avis (Chair) Edward Palusinski (Treasurer) Hugh Trimble (Vice Chair) Cassim Virani Tricia Trimble (Secretary) Pat Wyatt Dave Adams (Manager of Warwickshire Probation Service) Harry Walker Roy Adams All other attendees as per the attendance log. Peter Winicott
1. ATTENDANCE AND APOLOGIES The Chair thanked everyone for attending and gave the apologies.
2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the previous General Meeting were approved, accepted and signed.
3. MATTERS ARISING Members of the Rugby Borough Neighbourhood Watch (RBNW.) Executive Committee (EC.) attended a meeting of Warwickshire Neighbourhood Watch Association at Leek Wootton in early December and were informed by a senior Police officer that Warwickshire Police had been asked by Warwickshire County Council to cut their budget by between £13 - £20 million over the next 3 years. NW Manager Peter Guillaume and his deputy Julie Dale have moved from their offices at Leek Wootton to Police premises in Leamington Spa. The Police HQ at Leek Wootton has been put on the market for sale. If members of the public wish to obtain more information about any of the changes being undertaken by Warwickshire Police as part of these budget cuts they can be kept up to date by going on the Warwickshire Police website.
At a recent Locality Panel meeting Cllr. John Vereker informed those present that two Police Districts would be removed and the work of the Police Divisional Command spread. Members attending this RBNW General Meeting expressed a wish that Cllr. Vereker be invited to the next General Meeting in April to answer questions specifically about policing matters. This was proposed by Joyce Woodings and seconded by Ann Middleton.
4. GUEST SPEAKER – DAVE ADAMS, WARWICKSHIRE PROBATION SERVICE Dave Adams introduced himself and gave an extremely interesting talk on the Community Payback Scheme he is responsible for in the Warwickshire area. Community Payback is a means of offenders working to make public money go further. In Warwickshire alone, over 55,000 hours of compulsory unpaid work were completed by supervised offenders. That’s a huge opportunity for anyone to access a labour force which can make the public purse go further. At the same time offenders will be paying back for their offences, working hard and gaining valuable skills and experience – giving them a better chance of leaving crime behind them. Offenders with an unpaid work sentence do work which otherwise might not be carried out. Community Payback is the public’s chance to have an additional impact on projects which matter to them. It is our community and we know best. In and around Warwickshire, carefully assessed offenders are supervised on individual and group placements which are making a real difference, for example:
Page 1 of 3 Supporting town centre regeneration. Garden maintenance for housing associations. Graffiti cleaning. Work in village halls.
These are the benefits:
The Community Benefits and Offenders benefit too. Work gets done which otherwise might not. Local services get a welcome boost. It helps to make communities safer as offenders re-offend less. Offenders develop new skills. Offenders understand the impact of their offending. Offenders are more likely to get jobs.
In Warwickshire, 100% of those who worked with the Probation Service said they would work with them again.
Dave offered some other facts and figures:
One in four people has a criminal record. Of all the people convicted of a crime in Britain:
71% are fined. 11% receive a community sentence – including Community Payback. 9% receive a discharge. 8% are sentenced to custody.
To summarise a comment from an offender doing Community Payback:
“I think Community Payback is really good. It’s helping the community and making the place look better. At the same time it’s making us think about what we’ve done. It’s hard work. I wouldn’t want to be put on one again.”
5. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Hugh Trimble suggested that the minutes of RBNW General Meetings be sent out via email to those who have this facility. This was agreed. If any member wishes to raise an issue, this can also be done via email prior to a General Meeting and sent either direct to the Secretary at [email protected] or to the RBNW general e-mail account at [email protected] Minutes of RBNW General Meetings once complete will also be available on the RBNW website.
The members were informed by the Chair that the whole of February was to be scam awareness month in a scheme run by Warwickshire County Council (WCC.) Trading Standards Service. It was recommended that if any member were to receive any scam leaflets through their letterbox to drop them in the “Scamnesty” bins set up at main libraries around Warwickshire. The Trading Standards Service would then check out the scam concerned, note the details and shred the leaflet. In the event that a member cannot attend a library they were advised to contact the Trading Standards Service direct (Address to be found on the WCC website). The Chair has details of the different scams if people wish further information.
Page 2 of 3 The EC were informed that PCSO Harry Webb was at present in hospital following injuries to his leg.
6. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The date of the next meeting will be Thursday 28th April 2011. The venue, which has changed, is to be a room at Rugby Police Station.
The meeting closed at approximately 9.00 p.m.
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