There has been some good progress made on establishing volunteer led ‘Community Safety’ initiatives to an extent that I’m making a call for volunteers for the three initiatives below. In each case, please contact me with any expressions of interest and I’ll follow them up with organising a meeting with the Police to go through them in more detail. ‘Community Street Watch scheme’ allows you to make a difference where you live. It is made up of groups of volunteers from our local communities who carry out street walks but have no police powers. It allows local people to help improve the neighbourhoods they live in by walking their own streets and providing visible reassurance and appropriate engagement in local issues that matter most.
‘Community Speed Watch’ is a similar scheme which monitors traffic speed, with the assistance of a police officer, using a ‘speed gun’. The difference is that offenders will get a warning letter. Official penalty notices can only be issued by the Police and Safer Roads Partnership. Youth Club/Youth Hub. As raised in previous updates, there is a lack of youth activities in Hagley and to this end I’m looking at the possibility of setting up weekly youth club/ activities in Hagley led by qualified youth workers and police support. A point in kind is this month’s report of a burglary in Newfield Road. This followed several sightings of persons acting suspiciously in the area. I can only assume that these were ‘casing out the properties’ and looking for opportunities. With the Community Watch scheme, I would hope that an increased, high visible presence would help to deter such people.
There’s also been an increase in Anti-Social behaviour down Church Street and the passageway into the playing fields as well as over by Meadow Croft. The culprit(s) of the Church Street and playing fields have been identified and being treated accordingly. The incident in Meadow Croft has been recorded and made known to the Police.
Steve Colella - Co-ordinator Hagley Neighbourhood Watch
