News Council slam police for no-shows at meetings
Police have been slammed for failing to show up to Neighbourhood Watch meetings - which they themselves encouraged residents to attend.
Not a single policeman or police community support officer (PCSO) has shown up for a meeting of the Snaith Neighbourhood Watch Group over the past nine months. Yet, according to town councillors, it was police who encouraged local people to set one up.
The police no-show was highlighted by Snaith and Cowick town councillor John Barrett, an ex-police inspector who has been a regular attendee at the monthly meetings.
In a report to the town council, he said that the committee was "very disappointed" by the lack of commitment shown by police.
"It meant that the committee had no idea of crime trends, what areas should be looked at, or what type of crimes they should concentrate on," said Cllr Barrett.
"Needless to say, the committee was very disappointed at the lack of commitment shown by the police."
Cllr Barrett added: "I found that there has been no police representation or PCSO attendance, and not even any type of report for the meetings from the police for the last nine months."
He said the Neighbourhood Watch committee had requested that the town council send a letter to Inspector Michael Bower, head of the neighbourhood policing team, informing him that there had been no police presence at the meetings for nine months, and - as a result - no police reports on recent crime trends. The committee also asked the council to urge police to attend every meeting and make a regular report.
"It was further suggested that it would be an ideal opportunity for the new police sergeant for the area to meet with the committee," added Cllr Barrett.
Cllr Barrett's letter was presented to councillors during a meeting of Snaith and Cowick Town Council on Monday.
Cllr Greta Lawton called on the council to write to Inspoector Bower about the problem, adding: "I think it's important that they do come."
Town mayor Cllr Frank Townshend said: "There's no point in having them (the meetings) if the police aren't going to show up."
Councillors voted in favour of Cllr Lawton's proposal to send a letter to the police inspector.
Inspector Michael Bower said: "Relationships with local groups must be conducted in a dynamic, quick and responsive manner with emails, telephone calls and face-to-face contacts with Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators.
"The ward which covers Snaith runs from Snaith and Pollington in the west, to Airmyn just north of Goole, under Goole, and across to Adlingfleet and Ousefleet in the east, which would make the prospect of having police officers present at every Neighbourhood Watch meeting impractical."
He added that effective police work - in dealing with anti-social behaviour problems, for example, would be "diminished" if officers were tied down to attending every meeting with prepared reports.
"Having police attendance at every meeting means taking police officers off the streets," said Insp Bower. "I would rather my staff were giving maximum effort to victims, with a realistic level of appropriate support to community groups.
"The Neighbourhood Policing Team in the area have a good working relationship with the neighbourhood watch group and information of note has been circulated to them.
"If members of the group are unhappy with the service they are invited to contact local officers or myself, to express these concerns to us."
Call Humberside Police on: 0845 6060222 and ask for Inspector Bower at Goole Police Station.
Published on 19th June 2008 in News.
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