Drug taking and anti-social behaviour in Tarvin

At the Parish Council meeting on Monday 24 July members of the public raised concerns about drug taking and associated anti-social behaviour (swearing, verbal abuse) on the King George Playing Field and in the Community Woodland. Some residents said that they had never seen a Police Community Safety Officer (PCSO) but others had and one said that they had met with him.

I also confirmed that our PCSO, Ryan Reid, was aware of the problem and had visited the field on a number of occasions.

The Parish Council Clerk agreed that the problem on the Playing Field had never been worse than it was now.
I was able to confirm that drugs were consumed on the field, and some glue, but no evidence of harder drugs had ever been found.

The Parish Council considered what action it could take and agreed the following:

• To investigate good quality CCTV with audio, although in the past when this had been considered the Police had questioned its effectiveness. The issue of monitoring would also need to be resolved;
• To exmine the leases held by the Tennis Club, Bowling Club and Scout and Guide Movement to see when the gates to the car park could be locked;
• To encourage everyone who observed drug taking and/or social behaviour anywhere in the parish area to report it to the Police.

I also agreed to raise the issues in Tarvin at a meeting with the Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner on Tuesday 25 July. The Police and Crime Commissioner is David Keane and is based at Stockton Heath Police Station, Grappenhall Road, Stockton Heath, Warrington WA4 2AF.

He can be contacted by telephone on 01606 364000 and by email on police.crime.commissioner@cheshire.pnn.police.uk.
The Commissioner said that the problems identified were not unique to Tarvin.
PCSO shift patterns have been altered so that they can work up to midnight; officers have been given training on how to deal with anti-social behaviour, and individual PCSOs can call on support from a community-wide team.
He promised to raise the Tarvin issue with the Chief Constable but added that in solving Tarvin's problem he would be wary about moving the problem to another community.

The meeting also brought out a couple of other useful points. There is a £60,000 safer communities budget controlled by the Commissioner that might help to finance initiatives (the maximum grant is £5,000). There is also a little-used tool on the Cheshire Police website which allows residents to identify what they think local policing priorities should be. The tool can be found as follows:

• Visit the Cheshire Police website home page, www.cheshire.police.uk
• Select "Local Policing" in the heading
• Go to "Select Local Policing Team" and select "Cheshire Rural and Frodsham" (this covers Tarvin)

This brings up a page which currently shows :
policing priorities for July
a report based on June's priorities
and if you scroll further you are invited to identify your priorities.

I encourage everyone to use this facility and thereby directly influence police activity. I also encourage everyone to report every incident they see of drug taking or anti-social behaviour, using the telephone number 101, and get an incident reference number.