Swindon residents' concerns on crime won't fall on deaf ears
The Swindon Community Safety Partnership hosted their first public meeting in an effort to improve communication with locals
As part of the Swindon Community Safety Partnership, Swindon Borough Council, Wiltshire police, the local fire service and NHS staff hosted their first public meeting.
Each department laid out plans to prevent and tackle crime.
Domestic abuse, knife crime, counter terrorism, drugs, anti-social behaviour, and graffiti were all topics of conversation at the meeting.
“The purpose of the event this evening was to invite members of the local community to come and hear about our strategy, hear about the work we’re doing and hear about our plans but more importantly – it’s for us to take questions from members of the community about issues facing them,” Assistant Chief Constable Deb Smith said.
She sat alongside Chief Superintendent Phil Staynings, Professor Steve Maddern from Public Health Swindon, Michael O’Conner from the Violence Reduction Group and representatives from the council.
The meeting also included members of the public and businesspeople who were concerned about safety in the town.
“You’ll have seen us frantically taking notes," she said, "we will weave some of the challenges and issues that were fed back to us from the people who have attended into our plans and into our ongoing work.”
“It’s given us that community voice around what we should be focussing on and what’s really important.”
Vince Ayris runs a shoe repair and key cutting business on Havelock Street: “I wanted to hear what the community has to say about the town centre because of the antisocial behaviour.
“It’s not got any better and it is very concerning because it’s my livelihood and I’m not going to give that up very easily.”
Though his concerns haven’t gone away, he believes the meeting helped bridge communication gaps with the community.
“We’ve seen some faces we can talk to and they seem keen to support and help us,” he said, “there’s a positive approach from this.”
Jenny works at a sports shop in town and shares his views.
“We deal with theft on a daily basis, hour by hour,” she said, “on one incident my colleague was threatened and told they would be assaulted with a weapon.
“But Wiltshire police are taking steps forward – they’re meeting retailers and talking to us. We all need to communicate so we can step forward together.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkonson is confident this open dialogue with the community will help the town feel safe but also help the police do their job.
“While we know the majority of these incidents are targeted and involve certain groups of people who are known to each other, it doesn’t stop the wider public from being concerned about what is happening - not just in their local area but across the whole town,” he said.
“This is why we need communities to stand with us in the fight against these crimes.
“Our policing teams need as much information as possible to be able to effectively target their resources and get those serious offenders and weapons off our streets.”
The top concerns from residents included terror prevention, knife crime and education in schools – how do we protect children from organised crime groups?
Though there was some trepidation, residents felt their grievances had been noted and appreciated the conversation being left open.