Following the Blackhall PACT meeting last week we wrote to senior officers at Durham police, along with representatives from other community safety organisations, to tell them about the growing concerns expressed by ourselves and residents about crime and anti-social behaviour in our village (please see post dated Thursday 23 January 2020 for details).
Although we have yet to receive a response from the office of the Police, Crime and Victims’ Commissioner for Durham we have had a positive initial reply from both Chief Inspector Blakelock and Acting Inspector Watson at Peterlee police.
At this early stage we can confirm that we’ve had an assurance from the police that in addition to scheduled PACT meetings they intend to establish regular drop-in sessions in the village led by the police sergeant for the Blackhall neighbourhood. We are also asking for the PACT meetings to be returned to a monthly format to allow for regular and improved communications between the police and the residents and businesses of our community.
As soon as we’ve received responses from all the agencies we contacted last week we’ll update on progress. In the meantime please take the advice given by the police at last week’s PACT and report every incident of crime and anti-social behaviour directly to the police and neighbourhood wardens.