Call to form a crime action team in Brighton (From The Argus)
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Call to form a crime action team in Brighton
3:40pm Friday 21st September 2012 in News By Ben Parsons
People in a crime-hit city centre area are being urged to form a group to work with the police.
The community in and around St James’s Street, Brighton, has no “local action team” – a grassroots panel of residents and businesses which sets police priorities.
But officers have been made aware of fears that crime in the area is increasing after a spate of serious cases.
Local action teams are in place all over the city. The community groups meet regularly to hear updates from police on crime in their area and get briefings from other bodies about local issues.
They then set the priorities they want the police to pursue, for example antisocial behaviour, rogue cycling or drug-dealing.
Sergeant Alex Evans said: “It would be great if someone from the community wanted to come forward and set one up.
“It is a platform on which to engage with the community.”
Serious crimes Community activist Chris Cooke ran a local action team for St James’s Street until last year.
But since he stood down to chair the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community safety forum, no-one has taken his place.
This week he sent a list of six recent serious crimes in the area to local officers, based on reports in The Argus.
He told them: “I am very concerned about the deterioration in community safety in our local neighbourhood, it’s now beyond mere “perception”, there is factual evidence that the area is unsafe, particularly on Saturday evenings.
“Residents and businesspeople who live and work in the area have the view that St James’s is going downhill and fast.
“Begging has increased, so has street drinking, people loitering around and causing trouble, shoplifting has rocketed etc. It’s becoming a no-go zone.”
The most recent crime he listed was the Stanley knife attack on a 20-year-old man in Broad Street early on Saturday morning.
Police said the man suffered “life-changing injuries”. A 28-year-old man was arrested and a knife seized.
Sgt Evans said the policing of nightlife in the area would include the issuing of “Section 27” orders, in which officers can require people to move on because they are thought likely to cause alcohol-related trouble.
Information about local action team – www.safeinthecity.info .
Comments(6)
caeos
says...
9:19pm Fri 21 Sep 12
Why not continue running it till a new person can be found, perhaps should have done that first?
Chris Cooke
says...
10:57am Sat 22 Sep 12
sosparty
says...
4:54pm Sat 22 Sep 12
Citizen on Patrol Units (C.O.P) based on US/Canadian models.
Made up of volunteers from the community, they will have the full support of Sussex Police but without the powers of arrest.
I will aim to create 70 units across Sussex, amounting to about 1800 volunteers, devoting 135,000 hours per year.
These police volunteers will be brought together from all walks of life, ages and backgrounds. Each patrol will be identified by a simple uniform, made up of patrols of two. Training and equipment will be provided by Sussex police and the £30 criminal record search will be waived for all C.O.P volunteers.
Each volunteer will devote shifts of 2-3 hours once a week. They will be community minded, nice people, positive role models, keeping their families and neighbourhoods safe.
ticher
says...
4:31am Sun 23 Sep 12
I just want to walk home, once more, in my Kemp Town, without feelin vulnerable..........
......it IS a great place to be......so lets make it safe again!
Somethingsarejustwrong
says...
10:30am Sun 23 Sep 12
ticher wrote:The street drinking, homeless begging population continues to grow and places our great town at risk on a number of levels.
I moved to Brighton 4 years ago, and had felt very safe in my 'new' home/area of Kemp Town, but I must admit that in the last year I have begun to feel quite 'vulnerable' in and around St. James Street. I personally have noticed a huge change in the lack of presence of PCSO'S, experienced more 'beggers' and witnessed more anti social behaviour. One thing I was proud to say a year ago was that I felt I could comfortably walk home late at night and feel pretty much sure that I would not encounter a bad experience, this, sadly, is no longer the case. I used to be present at the aforementioned LAT meetings, but due to work commitments I could no longer attend them and so it 's upsetting to hear that the LAT no longer exists.
I just want to walk home, once more, in my Kemp Town, without feelin vulnerable..........
......it IS a great place to be......so lets make it safe again!
We should declare begging unacceptable and illegal, including the sale of the Big Issue.
We should actively 'move people on' where we find them sleeping rough in public places.
We should only pay benefits to the homeless in their last place of permanent residence (suggest that the definition of this would be the residence where they have last stayed for at least 3 years).
Lets make this a place where we can be proud and feel safe again, rather than allowing the unacceptable behaviour of a minority to ruin what could be great for all of us.
caeos says...
9:13pm Fri 21 Sep 12
wasnt it the St James's Area Local Action Team or the St James's Area Action Group ?