KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
THIS NEWSLETTER IS PREPARED BY POLICE OFFICERS AND POLICE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICERS BASED AT EASTISDE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE NATIONAL PROBATION SERVICE AND THE CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE. KEEPING EASTSIDE SAFE CADW EASTSIDE YN DIOGEL DATE: JULY 2010
Crime has again dropped from the previous month and overall crime for the year continues to fall including dwelling burglaries, violent crime and auto crime. Detections continue to significantly exceed the targets set for the year. There has been a 20% decrease in recorded crime over the past 9 months whilst a 10% improvement in the detection rate.
To find your local officer and see what they have been doing visit:
Warrants – Eastside Inspector Darren George Sergeant Trudi Meyrick
DRUGS WARRANTS
Warrants have been conducted in Birchgrove, Llansamlet, St Thomas and Bonymaen. There were a number of positive results, and a number of persons have been arrested in relation to drugs offences. Officers will continually be conducting search warrants in relation to Misuse of Drugs Act, and will be acting on the information which we receive from the public. A number of persons have been issued with cannabis warnings in St Thomas
We would urge anyone with any information to contact the numbers shown below. Any information can be passed anonymously to either Crime Stoppers or your Local Neighbourhood Policing Team.
If anyone has any information regarding drugs intelligence in their community they can call the Police non-emergency number 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 , or alternatively they can speak to their local Neighbourhood Officer. KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
Cuppa with a Copper Cuppa with a Copper meetings have proved to be a hit in St. Thomas and Birchgrove. Meetings are held in St Thomas Library, Trallwn Community Centre and also in Gelli Gardens Complex in Birchgrove. Details as below. Everyone is welcome to attend to have a cuppa with your local neighbourhood officers, and discuss the issues which matter the most to you. Details of the forthcoming meetings will be published on www.ourbobby.com - Officers look forward to seeing you there.
St Thomas All held at St Thomas Library To be confirmed. Please check back on www.ourbobby.com for dates
Port All held at Port Tennant Community Centre Tennant To be confirmed. Please check back on www.ourbobby.com for dates
Llansamlet All held at Trallwn Community Centre, / Trallwn Bethel Road Friday 6 th August 2.00 pm – 3.00 pm Friday 27 th August 2.00 pm – 3.00 pm
Birchgrove All held at Gelli Gardens Complex, ParcParc----YYYY----HeligHelig Road Friday 9 th August 12 noon – 1.00 pm Friday 20 th August 12 noon – 1.00 pm Monday 6 th 11.00 am – 12 noon September
Bonymaen Police Surgeries
Bonymaen Held in the Reception Area of Cefn Hengoed Comprehensive School 2.30pm –––3.30pm Monday 6 th September
Starting week Monday 13 th September commencing 30 th August 2010 Monday 20 th September KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
Trallwn/Llansamlet Police Surgeries
In addition to the regular Cuppa with a Copper Sessions which are held in Trallwn, the local PCSO’s have arranged for Police Surgeries to be held in The Range, Llansamlet. The public are encouraged to come along to speak to the Local Officers to discuss any community issues they may have.
All of the Police Surgeries will be held in THE RANGE, TRALLWN ROAD. Please attend at customer services and you will be directed.
Monday 2 nd August 2010 12 noon – 1.00 pm Thursday 12 th August 2010 2.00 pm – 3.00 pm Wednesday 18 th August 2010 12 noon – 1.00 pm Tuesday 31 st August 2010 4.00 pm – 5.00 pm
ANPR Operation
The ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) Team, have been out in force within the Eastside Sector once again. The 27 th July saw 5 vehicle seizures for document offences and 3 fixed penalty notices given to drivers for a range of offences. The team hit some of the areas which have received a high number of complaints from residents regarding speeding and erratic driving. The team attended Birchgrove and Bonymaen on this occasion, and throughout the time which they were there did not witness any offences taking place.
Deputy Sheriff Scheme
Officers have been attending at all of the schools in the area, delivering the Deputy Sheriff Scheme. Deputy Sheriffs are local school children who look after their school; they are the eyes and ears of their school and report anything they think is suspicious to an appropriate adult/teacher. They are not encouraged to challenge people, just merely report incidents which they feel are suspicious.
The scheme is an initiative which was started by the Bonymaen Neighbourhood Policing Team, as a result of thousands of pounds worth of damage caused to local schools. Cwm Primary School in Bonymaen suffered over £14,000 worth of damage over a six week period. Deputy Sheriff’s scheme was the introduced prior to the Christmas break, and there were no incidents of note at the school during the time.
Schools throughout the Eastside Sector have now received the lesson on Deputy Sheriff, and the Year 5 and 6 children are now sworn in Deputy Sheriff’s! The emphasis has been placed on all of the children not to put themselves in a dangerous position and to ensure that they tell an appropriate adult of any incidents which they feel are suspicious. All of the children have received certificates, badges and hats for their Deputy Sheriff role. KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
Port Tennant Spring Clean
Twenty-two fifth year pupils from Danygraig Primary School, helped the ‘Communities First Port Tennant’ Team and ‘Keep Wales Tidy’ in a ‘Community Spring Clean’ event on Friday 2nd July. Targeted areas in Port Tennant that were in need of weeding, cutting back and litter picking were cleaned up in one day.
Many partners were involved in the organisation and the work that was carried out on the day including Communities First, Keep Wales Tidy, Tidy Towns, GSP, Cllr Alan Robinson, The Police, CCS Highways Department, CCS Smoking Enforcement Team, Countryside Council for Wales and Danygraig Primary School. The pupils of the school were very enthusiastic about the day and behaved impeccably.
The team enjoyed good weather for the ‘Port Tennant Spring Clean’ which saw overgrowth being cut back in four areas and litter picking in seven. Pupils collected over nine bags containing recyclable materials such as plastic bottles, crisp packets, papers and cans.
Port Tennant Carnival
The annual GSP Eastside Carnival was held this year on Saturday 17th July. The weather was warm and sunny with lots of lovely bunting decorating Danygraig Road houses and local residents lining the parade route from Wern Terrace, along Danygraig Road, and up St Illtyds Crescent to Jersey Park. Peppa Pig led the parade which was very popular with local children judging by the amount of screaming and jumping up and down that was done! Jersey Park was the final destination and featured bouncy castles; fairground rides and games; charity stalls; information stands by Communities First, St Thomas Police, Childline, and the Samaritans; as well as displays in the main arena by the Eastside band, belly dancers, Choi Kwan Do, and the Fahrenheit street dancing group. As always it was an enjoyable day out with plenty of community spirit on show. St Thomas Police is now looking forward to next year KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
Great Guns at Mount Zion Garden Project
Cefn Hengoed pupils and the congregation at Mount Zion have been have been pressing on with the garden project. Brambles have been cut down, rubbish cleared, beds dug, paths laid, a compost heap begun. The first crops are growing and all being well, next year’s students on the Welsh Baccalaureate Programme will be able to harvest them. Interest and support from neighbours is growing, residents are ‘keeping an eye’ when nobody is on site, a local craftsman volunteered his services, made and fixed a gate. We’d like to thank PCSO Steve Lewis who told us that Wyevale Garden Centre had some flowerpots and some crockery to give away. Well, the pots are in use already holding plants waiting to go into the next stage of the garden and the crockery’s standing by for those all important breaks in the heavy digging, thanks to the good people at Wyevale too, of course! The Minister, Rev Chris Lewis said, “It’s most rewarding. The students have done themselves credit, and they’ve got the blisters to prove it. We’re glad of the support we’re getting from local people and we hope that this garden will one day, be something many more people can enjoy.” KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
Operation Vacation
It has come to the time of year again, when schools in the area have broken up for their summer holidays so between Thursday 15th July 2010 and Sunday 12th September 2010 , Neighborhood Policing Teams (NPTs) in company with Response shifts, specialist departments and partner agencies will commence high visibility patrols within the Eastside Sector, focusing on known ‘hot-spot’ areas where anti-social behaviour is known to take place.
Each area within Eastside has its own known anti-social behaviour problems and each patch has a different type of area where this behaviour takes place. During the specified period there will be dedicated officers from the Neighbourhood teams to answer all anti-social behaviour calls across the sector. Patrols will be conducted on foot aswell as in vehicles, both plain and marked in an attempt to reduce the number of incidents.
If any member of the public is experiencing anti-social behaviour in their area, they are advised to contact 101 and report it to Police.
Blue Light Disco’s
The date’s for the next Blue Light Disco will be: 15 th September at Trallwn Community Centre. 6.00pm – 8.00pm Tuesday 28 th September – St Thomas/Port Tennant @ The Naval 6.00pm - 8.00pm
Home Security Training
Over the forthcoming weeks neighbourhood PCSO’s and PC’s will be undertaking training in home security and bogus caller training. The idea of the training is for officers to be able to conduct home security surveys within their wards and also understand the way bogus callers operate, and look at ways of identifying potential victims and providing advice and security measures they can put in place to prevent those becoming victims.
Unfortunately these days, not everyone who calls at your door is who they seem. So, you should always be on your guard. The person standing on your doorstep could be a legitimate caller, a rogue trader, or even a distraction burglar. Less than 1% of people in Wales become victims each year, so make sure that you’re not one of them.
REMEMBER: Genuine callers will not mind waiting. It’s your home. You don’t have to let anyone in!
If you would like any further information on cold callers or bogus callers, please contact your Local Neighbourhood officer, or dial 101 and ask for Eastside Neighbourhood Team. KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
Children's Play Team
The children's play team van will be in Eastside during August. They will be at Monkey Park, near to Hoo Street in St Thomas on the following days and times:
Wednesday 4 th August – National Play Day! 2.30 – 4.30 pm Wednesday 11 th August 2.30 – 4.30 pm Wednesday 18 th August 2.30 – 4.30 pm Wednesday 25 th August 2.30 – 4.30 pm
All playsessions are open access which means children are free to come and leave as they please
•All children and parents welcome •We play in the rain! • Please wear appropriate outdoor playing clothes •All children under 5 must be accompanied by an adult
For further information please contact The Children's Play Team on (01792) 635 498 07796275201 07917200077
Cwm Primary School Closes
CHILDREN, parents and teachers paid an emotional farewell to their primary school as the gates closed for the final time. Cwm Primary School in Bonymaen was earmarked for closure last year under Swansea Council 's QED 2020 programme, which the authority says is necessary to tackle falling school rolls and pay to repair its crumbling buildings. Parents formed a campaign and fought long and hard against the proposal, even appealing to the Assembly, but in March the axe finally fell, bringing and end to 150 years of education at the Eastside school. To mark the closure, the school held a special farewell party on Thursday, when parents, teachers, pupils and governors spent the day socialising and reminiscing. The day was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended, and Cwm Primary will be sorely missed by all. KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
Tidy Towns Project in Eastside
After a successful clean-up operation in Trallwn last year, Eastside Neighborhood Team is bringing the Tidy Towns Project back to Eastside. Over the forthcoming weeks Officers will be identifying areas in need of a clean up within the four wards that make up Eastside Sector – Bonymaen, Birchgrove, Trallwn/Llansamlet and St Thomas/Port Tennant. Tidy Towns is a two part initiative between Keep Wales Tidy and Welsh Local Authorities, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government. The project seeks to work strategically by empowering the people of Wales to take responsibility for their local environment. This will be Litter picks and clean-ups delivered by establishing and developing community groups •Path maintenance throughout Wales who will work towards meeting the needs •Dune management of their local community by adopting areas of their local •Installing benches environment and undertaking practical improvement •Creating picnic sites projects. •Invasive species clearance and management •Improving disabled access How does Tidy Towns work? •Developing community gardens and allotments Volunteers ‘adopt’ a local area and focus on its ongoing •Running waste amnesties care. Communities will be encouraged to adopt waste black- •Habitat management and spots and restore them to their former glory. Projects biodiversity undertaken by groups include: •Churchyard improvements
Look out for updates on www.ourbobby.com for details of dates in your area or contact your Local Neighbourhood Officers for more details! Please contact your Local Neighbourhood Officer if you would like to take part in this project!
THE NEXT TIDY TOWNS CLEANCLEAN--UPUP PROJECT WILL BE :
To be arranged ––WatchWatch this space!! KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
“YOU SAID WE DID”?
Bonymaen – Youth Annoyance Extra patrols have once again been carried out in the area by officers on a regular basis. So far, one Anti Social Behaviour Order has been granted by the Courts, and Officers are looking into getting further ASBO’s granted in due course; anti social behaviour will not be tolerated. Referral forms continue to be submitted, and plain clothes patrols and marked patrols continue to be made. These are ongoing and will continue on a regular basis.
Llansamlet – Youth Annoyance – Lon Enfys Extra attention has been paid in this area by officers. Referral forms have been submitted to the Safer Swansea Partnership and parents of youths who were causing disruption have been spoken with. Officers have been patrolling both in marked and unmarked vehicles and also on foot, and will continue to do so in the area at various times during the day.
St Thomas – Parking Issues, Port Tennant Road Extra attention has been paid in this area and daily patrols have been carried out by police and Local Enforcement Officers. Officers will be dealing with any vehicles causing an obstruction appropriately, either by issuing tickets or in extreme circumstances e.g. emergency vehicles are unable to pass; officers will be removing the vehicles to a garage.
Birchgrove – Youth Annoyance Incidents have been dealt with and referrals submitted. This type of behaviour will not be tolerated, and any persons failing to modify their behaviour will be dealt with appropriately. All calls of anti- social behaviour have been responded to, and we would hope that the public will continue to report incidents to Police. Officers have been liaising closely with the schools, and youths have been identified as causing an annoyance
Enterprise Zone – Speeding Speeding operations are being rolled out on different locations on the Zone. Drivers are being spoken to regarding their manner of driving and will be dealt with appropriately. Operations will continue to be carried out at various locations with the assistance of the Special Constable and the Roads Policing Team. KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
Performance So far this fiscal year April 1 st – July 31 st in comparison to last year still sees a large reduction in the number of victims of crime. To date there has been 202 LESS victims of crime . This equates to over 50 less victims per month and these figure are extremely positive.
IN REAL TERMS THERE HAVE BEEN 21 LESS victims of dwelling burglary – 60% reduction 73 LESS victims of damage – 41% reduction 48 LESS victims of Auto Crime – 28% reduction 6 LESS robberies – 100% reduction 4 LESS sexual offences – 66% reduction
As seen from above the figures remain positive and the challenge is to maintain the reduction in these figures across the sector whilst still dealing with and improving the number of reported anti social behaviour calls.
July 12 th saw the start of Operation Vacation which has seen dedicated patrols around the Summer period patrolling our hot spot areas. The main hot spot area was Bonymaen which has seen a significant reduction in reported anti-social behaviour over the period of July. Two young persons have gone through the judicial system and are subject to Anti Social Behaviour orders. As a result of this and the dedicated patrols the number of reported ASB to date has dropped significantly. Operation Vacation will continue to run until 10 th September when a full update will be provided in the September newsletter.
Anyone with any concerns please contact your local officer so these areas can be implemented as part of the patrols. KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
COMMUNITY PAYBACK Offenders positively repaying communities
South Wales Probation Trust is the lead organisation in ensuring that offenders are appropriately punished within the community. The Swansea Community Payback Unit supervises approximately 400 offenders per week who carry out unpaid work within their communities as punished for their offences.
Being accountable and visible to the public December 2008 saw the launch of a national initiative to increase public confidence in community based punishments by making work carried out more visible. Offenders are now requires to wear Hi-Visibility vests with the words Community Payback written on the back of the garment. Latest information shows that public awareness of punishment via Community Payback has increased from 49% in December 2008 to 74% in April 2009. This is a real indication of increased awareness of punishment within the community and public confidence.
In August 2009 Swansea Offenders completed 5267 hours of work across the city and county, which equates to a value of £31,602 of free work to benefit Swansea communities.
What Beneficiaries of Community Payback said about the work offenders did via recent testimonial letters
Lo cal Rubbish Clean-up: “Your supervisor Teams of offenders maintaining and his team cleared up vast amounts of clearing brush from around rubbish. On Thursday they filled a whole skip footpaths and returned on Friday and again collected a vast amount of litter”. Beneficiary Survey 2008/09 Charlotte Lancey Communities First
Beneficiaries’ perceptions of the Single mother in need of support : “They benefits to the community of Unpaid have done an amazing job. The garden is Work are overwhelmingly positive- 100 times better, the resident and her little beneficiaries typically feel that the one can now go out there and enjoy”. quality of work undertaken by Kimberley Hillman Coordinator – offenders is to a high standard Women’s Aid (94%) and 93% of beneficiaries think that the community has Tai Esgyn Housing Association: benefited from the work done. To “Commenting on painting projects to assist view this survey in full please visit residents with special needs, “The our Community Payback pages at: partnership between ourselves and Probation is invaluable”. www.probation- Simon Rogers Operations Manager southwales.gov.uk MAKING A VISIBLE DIFFERENCE IN YOUR COMMUNITY KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
Community Payback: What offenders had to say recently about working in the community on completion of orders:
• “I feel that my time on Community • “I’m giving back to the community and was Payback has taught me a good lesson of very happy working with my supervisor. not getting involved in any trouble again. Glad to get the order out of the way and I’m Even though Community Payback has sure I will stick to the law in future”. DL . been inconvenient for my family life I feel that I have learned some new skills with • “When I was sentenced to 100 hours my time making benches and tables for community work I thought it was totally out schools working in the workshop”. LH . of my character to do. Having now finished the hours I do realise that in my opinion • “Although I didn’t enjoy getting up early community payback has made me think on a Sunday morning, when I was at more about the crime committed than what Community Payback I did enjoy the work a fine would have done”. KH and knowing I was putting something back into the community”. SC . • “I enjoyed working with the disabled children helping them around the assault • “I enjoyed meeting people”. RD . course best. The Supervisors were good to me. LO , commenting on a supervised • “I am not coming back”. KS . project at an event working with disabled children”. ET Forthcoming developments
Further national and local initiatives to provide assurance to the public that offenders are being appropriately punished within the community are continuing.
From 1st October 2009 any offender who is convicted of any offence and is sentenced to a Community Order with an Unpaid Work requirement of more than 200 hours will attend Community Payback and work 3 times per week on projects in your area. Look for the orange Community Payback jackets.
In November, offenders will be participating in OPERATION BANG – a Community Safety Partnership initiative involving the Police, Fire Service, Probation Service, and Swansea City Council. Offenders will be removing illegal and dangerous bonfires. See local press and other media for details.
At local PACT meetings Police and Safer Swansea representatives are now publicising information to residents about how Community Payback teams can provide different types of work in your areas. Engage with them. Swansea offender participating in a recent Community Payback litter pick Thank you for taking the time to read this
To refer a project please ‘post a project’ at www.probation -southwales .gov.uk or telephone Simon Morse-Jones, Placement Officer, on 07717 766199 KEEPING SOUTH WALES SAFE
Crown Prosecution Service Update
This information is provided by the Community Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, Swansea, working as part of the Prosecution Team and sentencing disposals verified with the Magistrates’ Court register.
PACT Meetings
Ward Venue Date Time
St Thomas / Port Port Tennant 17/08/2010 6.00 pm Tennant Community Centre
Bonymaen St Illtyds School 09/11/2010 6.30pm
Trallwn / Llansamlet Trallwn Community 08/09/2010 6.00 pm Centre
Birchgrove Birchgrove Community 01/09/2010 7.00pm Centre
Enterprise Zone Ramada Jarvis Hotel 10/08/2010 2.00 pm
Please visit ourBobby.com for further information regarding local policing in your community.
Should you require this document in Welsh please submit your request to:
MAKING EVERY CONTACT COUNT