If you want to voice your concerns about policing in your area, there's a new scheme underway in Cardiff that will allow you to do so and I am happy to add my support to it.
The nationwide PACT scheme aims to bring Police And Communities Together to address specific concerns in specific neighbourhoods.
At monthly meetings, residents get the chance to talk about local problems and a PACT panel, made up of members of the local police, local politicians and the community, sets up to three policing priorities for the coming month.
The police go away and concentrate their efforts on these priorities and report back about what they have done at the next meeting.
This sounds like a good idea to me and I was glad to be able to attend PACT meetings recently for Whitchurch and Tongwynlais, and Gabalfa. Both were extremely well-attended.
Most of what concerns people seems to be anti-social behaviour, something which often makes life very unpleasant for people and which, understandably, causes great distress.
After discussion in the Whitchurch and Tongwynlais meeting, the priorities set were Court Field, Coed Arian and Silverbirch Close and Merthyr Road in Tongwynlais.
I hope the police will use all the powers made available to them by the Government - penalty notices of �50-�80 can, for example, be issued to anyone 16 and over who is committing an offence.
These offences include things like being disorderly while drunk in public, littering or being under 18 and drinking alchohol.
In addition, to address the increaseing problems caused by mini-motos, there has been new guidance recently published under Labour's Respect Agenda, that will mean that irresponsible users of mini-motos could get points on their licence, face a driving ban or have their vehicle crushed.
All these powers are there to crack down on anti-social behaviour and I hope they will be used effectively by the police.
It's not just down to the police, however, It's up to all of us to take action. The National Assembly needs to do its part in funding local authorities, which need to do their part in addressing problems. And in Westminster, we need to make sure that there are enough resources and powers given to the police. |
