On the Beat in the Calder Valley

Calder Valley Parliamentary Candidate Craig Whittaker went on patrol with police in and around Brighouse to see what life on the beat is really like. This is what he found:

The biggest issues, by far, which I get complaints about as a Councillor, revolve around Anti-Social behaviour. As the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for the Calder Valley, many people ring me to talk about law & order and generally they object to:

• Criminals not being effectively sentenced due to our prisons being full,
• a perception that we need more police on patrol,
• a total disdain for the minor criminal damage that occurs in our communities and the high levels of anti-social behaviour.

The general feeling is that the Police do a sterling job but their hands are tied.  The Conservative Party have said for many years now that it is red tape and bureaucracy that ties police man hours up – but is this really the case?

I thought it was time that I found out what the Police had to cope with, so that I can better understand what their pressures are. So on Friday night, I set off to start my Friday night 10-hour shift with the local PCSO’s and on patrol with two PC’s in and around Brighouse.

We start with the ubiquitous health and safety briefing and then it was out on the streets pounding the beat with PCSO James Boakes around Rastrick. Our first point of call was a reported abandoned car blocking a resident’s garage. A few enquiries established where the car had come from – the owners traced and called, then a house call to the resident who had complained.

I continued on foot patrol, pounding the streets, until around midnight. What struck me in a big way was the number of residents who came out of their houses to have a chat and generally complain about issues affecting their streets – mainly parking, but after a couple of house calls with polite pieces of advice, the issues were sorted. At a conservative guess, PCSO James Boakes dealt with around 30 different residents (some in small groups) on issues ranging from parking to people out on the streets drinking and being rowdy.

Throughout our patrol, we received regular updates from the Daisy Road park area where a small group of youths had been moved on.  This came as no surprise to me, as it is one of the main areas that I get complaints about because of noise and anti-social behaviour on a weekend. The residents understandably are at their wits end by the end of summer, not to mention the danger to young children in the park after they have left their broken bottles and masses of litter in the form of empty beer cans. The cost of clean up of course is down to the Council. We all pay the price whether it is directly or indirectly.

These updates indicate that the youths have moved on and gathered in Wellhome Park, next to Tesco, and were being watched. After a brief dinner break, we head down to Wellhome Park with PCSO Amy White to have a chat to the now swelled number of over 30 youths.

Generally they were well behaved but clearly they had all been drinking. Several of the youths that I spoke to had come from Dewsbury and Bradford, but the majority from Brighouse and Rastrick. On investigation, whilst they had all been drinking, there was no physical evidence of alcohol. We then got a tip off to say to check the bushes in Tesco car park, where we found a couple of cases of beer.

The mood of the youths escalated when the two PCSO’s confiscated the alcohol , a car was radioed for to come and collect the beer and, after taking several names from under aged drinkers, the booze safely taken away, we then resumed the patrol.

At just on midnight, I joined two PC’s, PC Gemma Brett and PC Laura Napp out on patrol in the police car. As it happened this evening was a quiet one, so we spent the next four hours checking areas of the lower valley where they have had complaints recently – housing estates, quiet unlit lanes, parks, community centres, pubs and night clubs.

Whilst it was relatively quiet for our low response team in the lower valley, the radio activity indicated that there was a hive of activity elsewhere in Calderdale.

Domestic violence after midnight seemed to become the order of the night. It takes up about 60% of Police Officers time on the night shift, particularly on weekends.

So what did I learn? Well, I without question went home after my 22 hour day feeling safer in my bed. Our PCSO’s and PC’s do an incredible job against so many odds.

But are they tied up in Red Tape and bureaucracy? Definitely.

An incredible amount of time is taken up by our police force by filling out reports. Up until just a few years ago, the desk Sergeant could make the call as to whether someone was charged with an offence. Not any more. The Crime Prosecution Service has to be called, day or night, where a solicitor is assigned and all the relevant information has to be written up before hand and faxed over for the case to be reviewed and a decision made. If someone is arrested it takes an average of 5 hours to process of the PC’s time just to process no matter what the offence is. I understand the need to be thorough; however is this really the best use of a PC’s time?

I will be passing on what I learnt to my Shadow Cabinet colleagues. The Conservatives are committed to reducing the burden of government bureaucracy and red tape that ties their hands so often for so long. Seeing the reality has opened my eyes as to why it is so important to make us all even safer and to help mend our broken society.