Action Note of Ward Forum held on Wednesday 28th November 2007, at the Kinmylies Parish Church at 2.30 p.m.
Attendees
Councillor Pauline Munro
Councillor Alex Graham
Chief Inspector Ian Cox, Northern Constabulary
Charleston Academy:
S1
Ryan Keil
Ellie Thomson
Amy Walker
S5
Abby Campbell
Claire Ewen
Emma Miller
Sarah Croke
Richard Macdonald
Cameron Mackay
Ethan Johnston
Columba 1400 Group
Rikki Allan
Karen Oakley
Ishbel Barr
Euan Hardie
Karen Hamilton, Ward Manager – (Action Note)
Apologies:
Charleston Academy
SI
Ryan Slaney
Councillor Jimmy MacDonald
1. A Youth Event –
Co-ordinated and prepared by pupils from Charleston Academy
2. A Presentation on What do We Want in our Ward
Year 1 and year 5 pupils gave a very balanced and informative presentation on their views of activity and leisure facilities in the Ward. The Year 1 pupils told us about the poor condition of the play areas in Blackpark and Suilven and about their visit to Whin Park which they thought was just right for young and older children alike.
This was followed by an equally polished presentation from Year 5 who mourned the loss of the ‘barn’, a building they used to frequent to meet up.
Finally the Columba 1400 group told us about their Leadership trip to Mull and Iona which gave us all an insight into setting values and goals to achieve an aim. Of particular relevance was a table top exercise they undertook to allocate scarce resources to meet a variety of service demands – such as new play equipment and youth shelters!
There followed some lively debate about how these wishes could be met and best used. The issue of responsibility was also discussed and all agreed that a sense of ownership and involvement in developing ideas was very important.
Action:
It was agreed that the older group would meet further with Councillors and other relevant agencies to look at how this had been achieved elsewhere and progress ideas – Ward Manager to organise in conjunction wioth Youth Development Worker.
The provision of improved play equipment, football nets etc will be discussed with TECS services and fed back to younger group – Ward Manager
3. Community Safety Update
Chief Inspector Ian Cox then addressed the meeting. He commended the presentations and commented on the progress in improving their relationship with young people in the area over the past year. He indicated he is committed to working with young people to benefit them and others not so young in the local area and would happily feed in to any plans for a youth shelter or similar.. He hoped that the newly appointed Community Beat Officers, although limited, would further engender positive relationships with people generally out and about.
There were a number of questions:
Q. Do you think a ward by ward approach to policing is better than a City wide one?
A. Each area has its own unique issues and therefore the Ward by Ward approach is appropriate. It must however be set a against a City Wide backdrop on a Multi Agency footing to be effective.
Q. Do the police become involved in drug education in schools – give lectures?
A. There are education packages and tools provided by not sure if Police are best placed to deliver them. The young people present felt that the drug (and alcohol) education was good in schools but would respond more to delivery by people who had recovered from drug use – real life experiences.
Q. Could a Community Beat officer be located in the Community Complex?
A. This is a possibility but it would be a ‘presence’ rather than an office base.
4. General Questions and Answers
Q. There is a lot of disturbance late at night in Glengarry Road which is throughway over the canal – can anything be done about this?
A.A Night bus scheme to be piloted over the Christmas period and hopefully covering the West Ward area would take people home more directly and thus avoid them having to walk down the road. It was acknowledged this would have limited success.
Q. In relation to crime and vandalism why can’t the police attend more quickly to catch criminals and what sort of intelligence do they hold regarding potential perpetrators?
A. Inspector Cox had left by this point and it was agreed an answer be sought from him.
Action: Ward Manager
Response from Chief Inspector Cox subsequently received and reads as follows:
On average we put out core shifts for the city of between 12-16 officers, supplemented by Community Beat Officers and at the weekends by an average of 2-4 Special Constables. We are demand led to a large extent particularly over Friday/saturday nights where we respond to hundred's of different calls, many of which lead to protracted enquiries and often custodies which will require officers to deposit custodies at Burnett Road Police Office and be off the street for 30 minutes a time.
When asked this type of question the reporter of such crime is concerned only with their issue and they do not have the broader picture of demand across the city
which sees us attending to road accidents, abused wives, pub fights etc. All calls are graded in terms of response and we aim to be as efficient as we can.
We hold a vast quantity of intelligence over offenders, their trends, area's frequented and in the main are successful in a large amount of cases in identifying those responsible, we also apply for curfew orders to keep known offenders within their homes during specified times and we actively check compliance by home visits, in addition we also rely heavily on the quality and timeousness of community information provided by members of the public.
Q. A specific question was raised in relation to trees/bushes requiring attention.
A. Ward manager has taken details and will contact individual direct.
5. Thanks and close of meeting
All present were thanks for a well attended and lively Forum – the next meeting will be advertised in due course.