PACT – Concerns of residents

At the last R&M PACT Meeting held on 10th October, chaired by Rod McKerlich, it was agreed he should write to our local Police Inspector raising residents’ concerns on a few issues. The letter and the reply received are copied below.

If you would like to comment on this correspondence or raise other relevant issues, then the Soapbox is the place to head. Keep a look out for the date of the next PACT and Neighbourhood Watch meetings too.

Letter sent 24th October 2007

Dear Inspector Brock,

I enclose a copy of the minutes of the recent Radyr and Morganstown PACT meeting and apologise for the slight delay in sending them; this was because CPSO Tory Miller was sick and, as she was your sole representative at the meeting, it was difficult to get approval of my draft minutes.

As you can see I was instructed by the meeting to write to you with a copy to the Chief Constable to make the following points:

Pc Huw Thomas worked very effectively in our villages but recently he has not been working in the area so much. Why is he being diverted away?

Calls to 101 very rarely result in a satisfactory police response and the belief is that this is a mechanism to dampen public expectation of our police rather than a means of addressing problems.

You have a good grasp of the youth annoyance problem with lots of good intelligence but no clear strategy for dealing with offenders. Can we have a presentation on this subject?

I look forward to hearing from you and I am appreciative of your commitment to PACT meetings and Neighbourhood Watch.

Yours sincerely

Rod McKerlich 
cc Chief Constable

Reply sent 3rd November 2007

Dear Mr. McKerlich.,

Re: Policing issues, Radyr.

Thank you for your letter of the 24th October 2007 concerning policing issues in the Radyr area. May I first of all thank you for stepping in to chair this Partnership and Communities Together meeting. My sources tell me that you did an excellent job.

PACT meetings were introduced as part of our Neighbourhood Policing Programme to allow communities the opportunity to consult with us and our partners over issues that affect their community. It was not really there to examine general policing issues such as those you have raised.

I am however happy to address the points you have raised here and I will endeavour to attend at the next PACT meeting to talk about them personally with those who raised them.

Unfortunately we do not have an unlimited supply of officers and at times it is necessary to move them around as demand dictates. This can happen from time to time with PC Thomas with everyday policing matters and also in his role as a Specialist Medic with the Police Support Units.

The policing of Radyr is not the sole responsibility of Huw. There are numerous other resources with South Wales Police and the Cardiff Division who are there to address the communities’ needs. Having spoken with Huw, his time away has been kept to a minimum and he does as I do remain totally committed to providing the best possible levels of policing for the Radyr area.

With regards to 101, I could not agree totally with the statement in your letter. I appreciate from time to time problems occur but 101 do provide a highly valued service and there are numerous examples of their good work that have been publicly recognised. The 101 service in Cardiff was part of a National Project and there are many places throughout England and Wales who would love to have this service.

I think the problem is occurring with the grading of calls received by 101 staff. Calls are graded according to their severity and that then determines the type of response sent. It is here that I believe the public feels let down when the type of response they expect is at variance with our guidelines and subsequent delivery provide. Some calls are resourced immediately where as others receive a delayed routine response. Again it is striking the right balance to ensure that expectation meets the demand.

I know that managers from 101 have attended the Radyr PACT meeting in the past and I will get Huw to invite them along to the next meeting to answer any specific questions that the community may have.

The final point raised concerned youth annoyance. We do have set strategies and policies for dealing with these problems. This work together with our partners will encompass a range of options including education, to environmental issues, to actual enforcement. How we tactically deal with each and every problem varies according to the nature of the problem. I or Huw would be more than happy to answer questions on this subject.

As I said I hope to be at the next meeting. Should you wish to discuss further these or any other issues, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely:

N. BROCK SECTOR INSPECTOR