Safer Neighbourhoods Awards
2012
Stevenage
Local Community Safety Champions
Announced in Stevenage
Hertfordshire Police Authority has
named the regional winners for the annual Safer Neighbourhood
Awards 2012. The winners are invited to a ceremony at
Hertford’s County Hall in May, where the overall county title
winners will be announced on the night.
A local panel of judges from the
Police Authority, Constabulary and Stevenage Borough Council went
through dozens of nominations to select the deserving
winners. They were:
Community Safety Citizen’s
Award
Stevenage Street Pastors
The Stevenage Street Pastors are a
voluntary group and were nominated for the award as a result of the
good work they do in Stevenage looking after vulnerable young
people on Friday and Saturday nights. They work in the town and on
the leisure park making sure young people can get home safely and
often providing water, foil blankets and more suitable footwear for
girls, if they need it, to enable them to get home.
Neighbourhood Police
Officer of the Year Award
PC Caroline Brown from the Stevenage SNT
Caroline received a letter of
thanks from a local resident regarding the fact that his quality of
life has significantly improved as a result of her efforts and the
work of her team in tackling anti- social behaviour (ASB) in
his area. This relates to a section 30 dispersal order that has
reduced ASB from youths significantly since August 2011 to the
present day.
Caroline created Op Ability to
tackle drug dealing and associated ASB in the Oval area. Days of
action were planned involving uniformed officers and officers in
plain clothes patrolling the area and obtaining intelligence,
conducting drug searches and stop accounts. Once intelligence had
been obtained, six drug warrants were obtained and executed
simultaneously in 2011 resulting in drug seizures and arrests by a
large amount of officers. This sent a clear message to the
offenders that police and the public would not tolerate such
behaviour in the locality. It is clear that ASB levels have reduced
in the locality as a result of Caroline’s efforts, to an historical
low.
Caroline has also forged close working relationships with her local
councillors, notably the mayor of Stevenage - Carol Latiffe. Also
Catherine has been at the centre of Pride of St Nicholas, which is
a project that promotes community spirit within St Nicholas.
Police Community Support
Officer (PCSO) of the Year Award
PCSO Craig Rogers from the Stevenage Neighbourhood
Team
Craig reviews management
information daily, and directs his visible patrolling to the areas
within his ward where he believes he is needed. As a result he is
often in the right place to catch drug dealing.
On one occasion he was able to
chase a drug dealer who he had disturbed in the act of dealing.
With another PCSO, Craig chased caught and detained the suspect in
Stevenage Old Town and contained the situation until other officers
arrived. The outcome was that the man was charged with Possession
with Intent to Supply Controlled Substances.
On another occasion Craig chased,
caught and detained a man who had decamped from a car that had
crashed in Stevenage. Craig was chaperoning a new PCSO at the time,
and was able to ensure the safety of this officer whilst safely
pursuing the suspect and maintaining commentary. At the end of the
pursuit he then detained the violent man until more officers
arrived.
Craig also received a letter of
appreciation from a member of the public regarding anti-
social behaviour in Epsom Close and its reduction following the
implementation of S30 Dispersal Order.
Neighbourhood Policing Team of the Year Award
St Nicholas and Martin’s Wood Neighbourhood Team
PC Caroline Brown, PCSO Craig Rogers and PCSO Mark
Howard
The team have reduced anti-social
behaviour within the St Nicholas locality - most notably in
relation to the Epsom Close area as a result of a section 30
dispersal order for six months, a street meet, a street survey,
regular patrols with other Safer Neighbourhood Team officers and
the Specials, regular visits and updates to residents for
reassurance and the use of CCTV.
This team has also targeted crime
series such as a spate of shopliftings at the co-op where nine
photos of unidentified offenders from CCTV were placed into the
local paper and eight of the nine offenders were subsequently
arrested and charged.
Six drug warrants were also
executed as a result of intelligence work submitted by this team
targeting a local gang. All six addresses within this locality were
searched simultaneously with drugs seized and arrests made. This
has reduced drug dealing around the Oval area.
Nigel Brook, Police Authority Lead for Stevenage said: “These
awards are a great opportunity to recognise the excellent work of
police officers, PCSOs and members of the public who work together
to help keep local communities safe. I have been very
impressed with the number of nominations we received this year from
members of the public and local partners.
“It has been a difficult decision
to identify those who should go forward to the County judging
panel. The heat winners were agreed by the judging panel
because of their exemplary contribution to local communities, and
helping to keep Stevenage safe. However, I would like to
express my thanks and appreciation to everyone who took the time to
make nominations, and of course to those who were nominated for all
of their excellent work.”
Chief Inspector for Stevenage,
Richard Liversidge added: “It is great that people have taken the
time to nominate both members of my teams and others in the
community with whom we work. All are very worthy nominations for
the award and it is great to see their good work recognised in this
way.”
Nominations opened in December 2011
to members of the public and ‘partners’ of the Constabulary from
across Hertfordshire, including local councils, the Fire &
Rescue Service and voluntary groups, such as Neighbourhood
Watch.
Hundreds of nominations were
received online and have contributed to one of the most
hotly-contested Safer Neighbourhoods Awards in its six-year
history.