Police and Crime Commissioner Meeting

There was a packed meeting at the Community Centre on Thursday, 30th July, when Parish Councillors from the Chester West and Cheshire area were invited to meet John Dwyer the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The main issue discussed was the re-organisation of the delivery of local policing throughout the county.The area has been split into 8 districts under the supervision of a Chief Inspector. Their areas will mirror local authority areas. Tarvin falls within the Chester Local Policing Unit and will be commanded by Chief Inspector Paul Williams, who is based in Blacon.
(As an aside, pictures of these Chief Inspectors indicate that they all appear very young! Apart from indicating the age of the correspondent, it should also mean that they are up-to-date, forward thinking and nippy in a chase!)

The 'bobby on the beat' will be the Police Community Support Officers who will be the visible face of the police service. It is their prime objective to get to know their area, to understand the concerns of residents, to deal with local problems and to build trust. They should only rarely be called way to assist in other areas. They will have access to much more mobile technology so that report can be written without having to return to base. This is not a new approach, but the Commissioner stressed more than once that protecting front line services and meeting community needs was a major driving force of his work. It seems that the Chief Constable shares this approach. There were 1993 police officers in the area 20/12/13 and there should be 1983 by 2016. There are also 450 Special Constables and 220 PCSOs.

Concerns were raised by some about the effectiveness of the 101 service for non-emergencies, The Commissioner had instituted an audit of calls and asked anyone who had concerns to give him feedback on police.crime.commissioner@cheshire.pnn.police.uk or by phone on 01606 364000

The issue of speeding on rural roads was raised by a number of people. The Commissioner acknowledged the lack of funds available for improvements by Highways, but urged communities where there were problems to work with their PCSOs to try and tackle the issue.

The safety of the Tarvin Roundabout/A51 and speeding issues in Oscroft were raised by the Tarvin Parish Council representative. They were noted.
(Since the meeting, a report from Highways on the Oscroft problem has been received and will be discussed at the next Parish Council meeting)