Cllr Steve Tierney
Wisbech could have citizen’s patrols to “take back the community we love and to make town safer”
By John Elworthy
Friday, March 15, 2013
1:16 PM
TORY councillor Steve Tierney is to meet police to see if citizen’s patrols can be set up in Wisbech “to take back the community we love and to make the town safer”.
Cllr Tierney, a Cambridgeshire county and Wisbech town councillor said: “The idea is best described as a little bit like a mobile version of Neighbourhood Watch.”
He said: “A citizen’s patrol is a police and community partnership which is about reclaiming the traditional values of good citizenship. It’s about being visible in your own community and providing reassurance to others. It helps to build bridges, increase understanding and respect within and between communities, and bring back confidence to our neighbourhoods.
“It is about engagement, not confrontation. It isn’t about policing or replacing police officers.”
Cllr Tierney said in other areas where they operated the members are trained, supported, police-checked and covered by relevant insurance policies.
“Other places in the country have similar issues to those which are common in Wisbech,” he said. “ In a time of tight budgets and growing fears it is a very positive and proactive way to take back the community we love and to make the town safer.
“Volunteer citizen patrollers would work in teams, often with some sort of uniform so that they can be identified.”
Categorically it was not “some sort of vigilante scheme – but is about positive communication and visibility, providing structure and surety for the worried, the vulnerable – and most everybody else”
He said if enough people contact him he will get it under way and he would like to have “some names in the hat and be ready to roll” when he meets with police.
A police spokesman said they were “open minded if it reduces crime and makes people feel safe but it has to be self running and not a burden”.
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3 comments
Full credit to Steve Tierney for trying to make Wisbech a better place, although looking at the town these days I think he's fighting a lost battle. It's not long ago this paper was reporting that the Police themselves were too frightened to go out on their own after dark!
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Citizen of EUSSR
Friday, March 15, 2013
While I am the only councillor named in the article, it should be said that I have not been working on this idea alone. Its origins spring from a discussion with town Cllr Michelle Tanfield, who is working with me on the issue with a focus on the idea of Street Pastors (another scheme which works well elsewhere) and county Cllr Sam Hoy who has been involved in the discussion from the start. We did approach the police before taking the idea forwards to make sure they were support - which they broadly are. We have also received encouragement from Cllr Simon King, who has agreed that exploring this initiative would be constructive. We are now in the "early idea" phase and trying to get an idea of whether local people would support this, whether we would get the volunteers and addressing challenges and concerns. If anybody would like to constructively engage with us by suggesting things, or better still volunteer to be part of the project - please do contact myself, Cllr Tanfield or Cllr Hoy.
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Steve Tierney
Friday, March 15, 2013
So the police say they are “open minded if it reduces crime and makes people feel safe but it has to be self running and not a burden”. Using the example of known problem areas in Wisbech (park, cemetery etc) where law enforcement seems challenged, whilst I'm concerned lack of policingfunding is underpinning Cllr Tierney's argument for using volunteers this way; pat on the back for Steve's boldness in seeking solutions...
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Cynical Irony
Friday, March 15, 2013