In advance of the meeting police officers had already acceded to our request to return PACT meetings to their original monthly format (some time ago the number of meetings had been cut to alternate months as reports of crime and anti-social behaviour diminished, in turn reducing attendance at monthly meetings to just a handful of regulars). In addition, the police had also agreed to our request to establish regular drop-in sessions where residents will be able to meet on an individual basis with police officers to talk about any police-related concerns they have about their community. These pre-booked sessions will be additional to monthly PACT meetings and can be held either at the Resource Centre or in the homes of individual residents.
Following some of the issues raised at the January PACT meeting we asked whether meetings in future could include senior officers who might be better able to respond to questions about operational and technical matters. The police have agreed that this could be arranged, but only if those officers were available and not otherwise engaged in policing operations.
We also suggested that officer-level meetings could be held as and when required to establish a quicker and more joined-up response to local concerns as and when they arise. It makes sense that a much more efficient and effective reaction to residents’ concerns can be put in place if essential officers from the neighbourhood policing team, the council’s private-sector housing office and neighbourhood wardens were able to get together at short notice and on an ad-hoc basis. This initiative was agreed and the group will be convened as soon as possible to determine its scope and terms of reference.
At the meeting we talked about the poor condition of some of the former colliery-owned properties in the village, and also about the unacceptable reaction of some private sector landlords when concerns are expressed about the conduct of their tenants. It was recognised that at the moment the authorities have only very limited powers and are severely curtailed in the way they are able to deal with these landlords, many of them from other parts of the country and most completely indifferent to the impact their properties and some of their tenants are having on our community. At this point we referred to the county council’s proposed Selective Licensing Scheme and how it is intended to put right those issues described above. A period of statutory public consultation on the Scheme is scheduled to take place this month and will give residents and businesses the opportunity to offer their views on the proposals. Full details can be found in the post on this site dated Thursday 16 January 2020.
The police acknowledged that their ability to respond to all types of crime has become significantly impacted over the years. They didn’t use the usual excuse of drastically reduced numbers of police officers - although this is undoubtedly a major factor given there are 23,000 fewer police officers today than there were in 2010. Instead they drew attention to their evolving role as police officers, part of which includes dealing regularly with incidents that were once the domain of other public services, the obvious example being social workers. The increased demand on police officers who would otherwise be engaged in tackling crime is of course completely unacceptable, but we have to accept that it’s just about unavoidable given the devastating impact a decade of government austerity continues to have on our public services, and consequently on our residents and their communities too.
Despite the current circumstances the police have emphasised the importance of reporting every incident of crime and anti-social behaviour to the relevant authorities:
Police (non-emergency and local beat team): 101 or peterlee@durham.pnn.police.uk
Police (emergency): 999
Neighbourhood wardens: 03000 261 000 or help@durham.gov.uk or at www.durham.gov.uk (for incidents of anti-social behaviour, bonfires, discarded needles, noise nuisance, environmental issues, litter, dog fouling, abandoned vehicles, graffiti, fly-posting, stray dogs etc)
Crimestoppers (confidential): 0800 555 111
Peterlee Police Website: durham.police.uk
To finish on a positive note, as we were following up on developments from last week’s meeting, we were told that the county council is in the process of employing an additional eleven neighbourhood wardens to tackle increasing incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour across the county.
We will continue to update on progress as initiatives take shape and develop.
