Andrew Stephenson MP, Cty Cllr Jenny Purcell, Cllr Margaret Foxley, Trawden Parish Council Chairman, Barry Hodgson, Chair of the Colne Community Safety Partnership, Jerry Stanford and Cllr Sarah Cockburn-Price met with Chief Inspector Cartwright and Inspector Boast discuss a wide range of local issues. Including:
- Racing/Speeding cars
- Drug dealing
- Organised crime
- Intimidating gatherings of youths
- Police staffing levels
- Ways to communicate with the Police
- Farm thefts
- Police intelligence gathering methodology
- Multi agency approaches for young people
- The new Police Station on Carr Road, Nelson and the plans for a Colne Hub
- Working with schools and restorative justice
- Anti Social Behaviour
- Knife Crime
The Inspectors spent two hours listening to councillors' experiences in their respective areas and informing them about recent and proposed improvements to the Lancashire Police Service in East Lancashire.
Things to look forward to include:
- A doubling in size of the Taskforce Team in January 2021, with Pendle to get its own dedicated team
- A dedicated Community Safety Team and Sergeant by the end of the year
- Multi Agency Support for key young people to help them step back from crime and anti-social behaviour
- Implementation of Lancashire Talking before the end of the year - an anonymous way of gaining grassroots intelligence
- From November, it’ll be possible to report low level crime on Social Media
- Residents to get the contact details of their local policing team (Councillors already have this)
- New Taskforces devoted to issues like burglaries and farm thefts
- A significant increase in (15 extra officers in Pendle) the Community Safety Teams
- 500 officers recruited across Lancashire in the next two years
- The resumption of the Cadets’ Scheme for children
- The resumption of working with secondary school children on the theme of Knife Crime in September
- Parenting Orders being issued where necessary
- Restorative Justice being deployed where appropriate
- The new Colne Policing Hub
The Inspectors were understandably keen to point to the achievements made, but they accepted that there are intelligence gaps and that early intervention in the community is needed.
Cllr Sarah Cockburn-Price said, "We urged them to keep sharing all the good news about arrests made and sentences handed down via Social Media. I felt this was a really positive session and, as a result, I feel loads more optimistic for the successful tackling of crime in Colne, and my rural ward of Boulsworth, in particular."