I went into Denbigh Community College last week to do a talk on Personal Safety to a group of IT Admin students during their morning tutorial session. Topics discussed were internet safety, the spiking of drinks, personal attack alarms, the dangers of drinking and driving and bogus callers. This was followed by a general chat about policing and my role as a Police Community Support Officer. An assortment of relevant information leaflets were left for the students.

Keep Safe

Liz Norman PCSO Denbigh

Hi Folks,

Here is a round up of the lastest NPT meetings we held in the rural villages recently.

25th January 2010 Pwllglas.

The meeting was well attended by 12 residents and our thanks to those that came to the meeting.

The only issue raised was that there was'nt up to date contact details for the Rural NPT in the Village. This has now been addressed and the details are displayed at the village hall noticeboard.

We will also be undertaking a speed survey in the village.

The next meeting is to be in 3 months time and the dates will be published in a future blog.

26th January 2010 Llanfair DC.

The meeting was attended by 5 local residents.

Issues taken away from the meeting are:

* Parking by the Cenotaph during the day is causing concern for some residents. This will be monitored by PC Davies and myself.

* School children crossing the main road through the village during the day to use the Village Hall. This again will be monitor by ourselves and will visit the school to offer some road safety advise.

* Groups of youths conregating by the car park causing a general nuisance. We havent had any reports of Anti social behaviour, but will monitor the situation.

27th January Llanbedr DC.

The meeting was attended by 5 local residents and 1 large Rottweiler Dog called BEN !!

Issues taken away from the meeting are:

* Speed through the the village and the main A494. In hand will attend with Marc Musgrave to conduct speed surveys.

* Street lighting in the village. This will be passed to the council for actioning.

28th January Llandegla.

Over 50 residents attended this meeting and this was the highest amount of people to come to one of our meetings. Needless to say the Community came in numbers to address the main topic of discuss ion, the cancellation of the bus service into the Village due to inconsiderate parking.

We also had 2 representatives for the bus company attend for any questions that they might be required to answer.

Also in attendance was the local County Councillor Christine Evans.

The meeting started at 7pm and we arrived at approx 18:45 and people were already sat in the Village Hall and more were arriving !!!! This issue has obviously effected many of the residents and this meeting was their opportunity to ask when and how we can solve the issue.

Feelings were running high in the meeting and everybody was trying to ask the bus reps questions which they answered. Councillor Evans made a very vaild point by saying it is a community problem and therefore the community should try and resolve it. However we all should try and communitcate with each other and raise the awareness of this problem in the Village to maintain the Bus route as it provides a vital service to the residents of the Village. PC Davies has contacted our press office and they will be sending a publication to all the local papers and to walking magazines to highlight the problem to them as the Village attracts alot of walkers to the area.

Bus drivers have agreed to carry mobile phones and to photograph any obstruction they come across that would prevent them from entering the Village, they will then contact the Police. PC Davies and myself have been in contact with our imaging department and have had some parking postcards made to be placed onto vehciles that are causing obstruction to make them aware of this issue. In our absence we are hoping to leave the postcards at the Post office but will seek approval first.

Also we intend to visit the local school and set the children a competition of designing a poster to high the issue of parking in the Village. We will ask the district Inspector Dewi Roberts to choose a winner and a prize will be kindly donated by GHA Coaches and a local resident has kindly agreed to donate a cash prize to the winner also. We then hope to get the winning poster turned into a information poster for the Village which our imaging deptarment will design.

A big thank you to all who attended the meetings it was nice to see so many peole taking an intrest in there community. And we hope to see you at the next meetings soon.

That is all for now the next round of meeting will be published soon so keep an eye out for a meeting coming to your Village soon !!!

All the best.

 Tim

To all residents of the Ruthin Rural section of Ruthin,

Can I firstly wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year from all at Ruthin Police.

We will be visiting the following locations on the dates shown for the first Police meetings of the year so if your village is on the list then please come along and if you have any concerns in your Neighbourhood please let us know and we will do our best to help you.

25th January at 7pm Pwllglas Village Hall.

26th January at 7pm Llanfair DC Village Hall.

27th January at 7pm Llanbedr DC Village Hall.

28th January at 7pm Llandegla Village Hall.

If you require further information about the meeting please contact PC Osian Davies or PCSO Tim Parker on the following numbers

PC Davies 07800993721 or you can email osian.davies@nthwales.pnn.police.uk

PCSO Parker 07766244803 or you can email timothy.parker@nthwales.pnn.police.uk

Thanks for reading

Tim

Denbigh Tidy Towns have continued to clean up Denbigh bit by bit by tackling a privately owned, unused piece of land behind Temple Bar. The land has been used as a tipping ground for some years.

Ernie Martin of Tidy Towns managed to gain permission to get this land cleared in January 2009.

With the help of the Probation Services and the support of Roly of Community Safety who kindly provided the skips and removal of the rubbish they were able to set about clearing the mess that had been left.  

The area was cleared in two stages by the Probation Services and the volunteers of the Tidy Towns Team.

Thanks again to Ernie and the Tidy Towns Team for their hard work and commitment to keeping Denbigh Tidy!  

Hello,

In many of our Neighbourhood meetings we have found the same 2 complaints rearing there ugly heads, they are Dog fouling and Litter. We all know how annoying it is when we step in Dog mess and when we are trying to get it off our shoes and the smell of it isn't pleasent !!! Not to mention the potenial health hazard it poses.

As a result of partnership working with Denbighshire County Council and North Wales Police, your local Police Community Support Officers (P.C.S.O'S) can now issue £75 fixed penalty notices for Dog fouling and Littering on behalf of the Council.

So any Dog owner who allow there Dog to foul anywhere, where a member of the public has access to, and fail to pick up there Animals mess, they are liable for the FPN of £75 or an appearance in court to answer the offence of Dog Fouling under Section 3 of the Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act. The same applys for those who drop Litter anything from an empty crisp packet, cigerrette ends to takeaway wrappers. Anyone who drops litter in a public place will be issued with a FPN or the option of a court apperance to answer the offence of Depositing and leaving litter s87 (1) AND (5) of the environmental Protection Act 1990.  If you opt for court and if you are found guilty, the very least you will get is a £150 fine plus court costs, so the choice is yours !!!!

In addition to this P.C.S.O'S will be undertaking plain clothes patrols to catch the persons commiting these offences so be aware you are being watched and you will be dealt with.

If you have any information or know of anyone who litters or allows there Dog to foul the pavement or public place and you would like to talk to someone about it you can contact your local Neighbourhhood policing team who will happy to help. Details of your local CBM and P.C.S.O'S are given below.

Mike Butlin PC 1417 Ruthin CBM  07896173171

Tim Parker PCSO 2843 Ruthin and Rural 07766244803

Fran Long PCSO 2874 Ruthin PCSO 07969033137

Surely one of the most irritating sounds possible is the tinny sound of a two-stroke engine at high revs when one is seeking to enjoy the beautiful North Wales countryside. As someone who loves to get out into the hills it is a sound that sends shivers down my spine and I wonder how the perpetrators can be so lacking in self-consciousness to shatter the peace and tranquillity in this way, but then again a lack of social awareness, or quite simply selfishness is a feature of all anti-social behaviour, of which the irresponsible use of off-road vehicles is surely an example. In fact, more than that, the use is more often than not illegal, whether that be primary legislation such as s. 34 (1) (a) of the Road Traffic Act 1988, which provides for a specific offence of driving on land other than a road, or as is also frequently the case damage that is caused to features such as fences and gates and of course the serious consequences that this activity could have on the flora and fauna.

Often the areas chosen by those who see fit to flout the law in this way are sites of special scientific interest, and I am aware that there have been occasions where well meaning members of the public have tried to point this out to those destroying the area and have been met with ignorance and abuse. The fact that the location of these incidents is often quite a distance from the centres of population (and in some cases outside of mobile phone coverage) has meant that on occasions the matters are not reported at the time and valuable evidence can be lost. In addition, even when police are informed, any ad hoc response will have a limited effect, because of the time and difficulty of getting to the area in question. Then the culprits will simply ride off as officers approach and it is not possible to follow (there have been calls for an off-road policing capability, but the effectiveness of such an approach is questionable and one must also consider the possible risks involved, not to mention the ecological damage that the police vehicles may cause).

The police team in South Denbighshire have sought to rectify this by developing Operation Udder. This operation is partnership work at its very best, underlining just how many representative bodies are committed to putting a stop to this type of behaviour and the resultant harm (including Denbighshire Countryside Services, Countryside Council for Wales, the Forestry Commission, North Wales Land Rover Club, Liverpool Land Rover Club and Countryside Recreational Access Group). One of the main benefits straight-away from this degree of buy-in is the increased in resources. As we have resolved not to go chasing the miscreants around the hills, the alternative is to apprehend them when they return to the roadway, but with such an expanse of land it is difficult to cover all of the exit routes without lots of people to assist. 

 Enthusiastic Volunteers meet at Corwen police Station on 01/02/09 to take part in Operation udder

The ability to actually tackle the issue, and to be seen to do so, has increased public confidence in this area and led to more members of the public coming forward with information. This last weekend alone a number of offenders were stopped and subject to a variety of enforcement actions; including the issuing of notices under s.59 Police Reform Act (which can lead to the seizure of the vehicles involved) and a number of prosecutions are also expected.

Further operations are held throughout the year, varying the location and the times; the message to those who use motor-cycles (and also quad bikes and other 4x4 vehicles) is clear -   

If you persist in using your vehicle irresponsibly and illegally we will catch you, we will prosecute you for any offences you commit and we will take your vehicle.

Hi Everyone

After issuing a £75.00 fixed penalty ticket for Littering over the weekend I thought i would write about this ongoing issue that seems to be so controversial. I am surprised that this person seemed to think that I was in the wrong for giving them this fine. The person that I caught throwing a glass bottle into a garden said “It was only a Bottle” – What do you think? – Is the issue of Litter really that important?

I have been working here in Denbigh for nearly 18 months now, and attended 5 Neighbourhood Policing Meetings over this time. Litter is always brought up as an issue of concern by those that attend. During my time in Denbigh I have been battling to try and educate the youth by talking to them in school assemblies about Littering, organising Litter picks with the children after school, and I even set up a poster competition and the winning poster was put up all over town. This problem is obviously of concern to members of the public and yet the issue of litter does not seem to be getting any better.

The Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990 is the main piece of legislation dealing with litter. The Offence of Leaving Litter (section 87 of the Act) says that if a person throws down, drops, deposits and leaves anything so as to cause the defacement of a public place he or she is guilty of an offence. Litter is unsightly; it can be smelly and dirty. Litter can be dangerous, unhealthy, and it can persist in the environment for a very long time. Litter can also trap, suffocate, strangle and poison wildlife. If an area is heavily littered, it can lead to the ‘broken window’ effect – more litter, dumping of rubbish, fly posting, graffiti and vandalism. It affects local communities and the people who live there. It can also have a detrimental effect on the local economy and on tourism. It costs our local Council millions of pounds a year. And, remember, clean up costs are met through Council Tax.

Ernie Martin a member of the public is working hard to clean up areas of Denbigh with his voluntary group Tidy Towns. This group of people take pride in their community and take the time to clear the litter so idly dropped. Tidy Towns get together once a month and target an area of concern and if you wish to join this worth while group please call 01745814168.

If you know of an area in which you feel is littered and needs to be dealt with you can either call the council 01824 706555 or report it on fixmystreet.com.

County Council fixed penalty tickets are given to those who are guilty of littering. The fine can only be given to anyone over 16 years old. The ticket may seem to be excessive but the issue of Littering needs to addressed and may be those caught may think twice in the future!

Have a Merry Christmas

Catrina

PCSO2897 Wilde