ASB - ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
What it is and what YOU can do to help
Please, please, please
do not suffer in silence!!
Noise, nuisance, litter, street drinking, drug taking, damage to property,…. Anti Social Behaviour comes in many forms and is experienced by many people. What is common in all cases is that it directly affects people’s quality of life. Whether it is a group of people outside the local shop who are frightening elderly residents or tradesmen dumping unwanted building rubble at the entrance to a field, Anti Social Behaviour can affect entire communities.
In South Bedfordshire there are a number of agencies involved in fighting the problem. Although the lead agency is the Police, it is but one part of the South Bedfordshire Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) whose purpose is to co-ordinate the efforts of all interested parties to tackle crime and disorder throughout our area.
The CDRP, however, cannot work without the total support of the community. Often residents telephone to report Anti Social Behaviour only when it has become so serious that they simply cannot bear it any longer. By then the problem has often become too large to deal with quickly. By letting the authorities know what is happening when it starts, you can directly affect the speed at which it is dealt with.
If you or your neighbours, feel that your quality of life is being affected by the anti social behaviour of others, Bedfordshire Police offer the following telephone contacts, set up for you to use according to the severity of the problem. So please read the notes alongside each one carefully.
999: In an emergency only where persons or property are in immediate danger or a crime is in progress.
01582 471212 (or 401212): Direct non-emergency contact with the police for quick advice and action.
01582 473411: Dedicated Anti Social Behaviour Hotline. This number allows you to record a brief message which is dealt with by the Community Policing Team.
0800 0282887: Drink Drive Hotline, to report someone who is drink driving. You remain anonymous throughout this process.
0800 555111: Crimestoppers, to report any crime. You remain anonymous throughout this process.
The efforts of the Crime and Disorder Partnership in this field are co-ordinated by Iain Turner, the South Bedfordshire Anti Social Behaviour Reduction Co-ordinator.
Iain has been in post since the 4th January and is very keen to hear from members of the community with regard to the situation in their neighbourhood. He can be contacted by emailing
iain.turner@southbeds.gov.uk
or by writing to him at the South Bedfordshire District Council Offices, High Street North, Dunstable LU6 1LF. Your letter or email will be treated in the strictest confidence.
When your message is received by the police, or by Iain, the Community Policing Team for your area will deal with it in a timely fashion. Such calls are never ignored and the intelligence provided by the community ensures that the police and other agencies are able to make quick and appropriate interventions.
The government has given local authorities and police forces a number of varied and effective powers to deal with Anti Social Behaviour. These range from Acceptable Behaviour Orders to ASBOs, Dispersal Orders and even eviction from council or housing association owned properties.
Iain Turner
South Bedfordshire District Council
FROM THE EDITOR
With no apologies about going on about the crime and nuisance here, more needs to be said!
PN has had contact with Ian Turner at SBDC recently and discussed the local situation which to some of us seems to be getting more and more out of control. Local policing is being supplemented by the CCTV schemes now in place around the village and these are largely (but not totally) effective in holding back the criminal elements in our neighbourhood. We need to do more!
Keep your eyes open. Vigilance does bring results: for example, rubbish dumping in Church Close has been deterred recently, simply by making it obvious to potential offenders that their actions are observed by individuals as well as CCTV. Reports are going in to the police now, not only when crimes are committed but also when suspicions are strong. Please take serious note about ASB in Iain Turner’s item on the previous page. Keep the phone numbers for reference, get on the phone to report crime or suspicious activities. Sadly, the perception is that there is little response to reporting, but this is a reason to continue calling: don’t give up! Iain talks about a new initiative by the Police and SBDC: it is largely up to us to make it work.
There are some pretty strong views in the community against particular groups and these may be well founded in some, but by no means all, cases. The perception is that there are, here in Slip End, some anti-social and disruptive individuals who are bent on crime, mainly property damage. This is not tolerable. On the positive side, signs are that the new CCTV system is reducing crime and nuisance in the Village Hall and Crawley Playground areas and it is hoped this trend continues.
Many are sickened by criminal damage caused to the hedge at the end of Crawley Close. We just wonder what is in the minds of people who do this: are they under the influence drugs or drink? It is understood by PN that this crime is being investigated and that some evidence may exist which will hopefully bring the miscreants to account.
More positively, PN welcomes the Parish Council’s initiative to provide more for our youth. We urge all round encouragement in support of the Skateboard ideas at the Playing Field: take a look on the Internet at similar schemes which are up and running here in Bedfordshire already. Young and not so young: go to the gathering in March at the Peter Edwards Hall and hear from Ken Crossett about some aspirations, hopes and plans. Then ask, “how can I help?”.
Join in, if you can, quite a bit of help will be needed with this initiative to bring it into operation.
David Kingston
BINGO
Slip End Village Hall
Thursdays 8.00 – 10.00
Slip End & District Association
VALENTINE’S DAY 14TH FEBRUARY
On Leap Year Valentine’s Days, a woman could propose marriage to her beloved. If he refused he was supposed to buy her a silk gown as consolation! Today, treating your loved one to a special meal or flowers and chocolates are more usual. To cast a special Valentine’s day spell, take strawberries (for promises of delights to come), cherries (for lively romance), hazelnuts (for good luck in love): melt chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water, dunk the fruit and nuts one at a time into the chocolate, making a wish as you do so, cool the sweets on greaseproof paper and place them in tissue in a pretty box and give it to your loved one as a gift.
A few ‘love’ poems
This message brings a world of love especially meant for you.
A world of loving wishes for today
and all year through.
A world of special thoughts
to show you’re as dear as you can be.
It brings you all these things because you mean the world to me.
The life that I have, is all that I have,
and the life that I have is yours.
The love that I have, of the life that I have
is yours and yours and yours.
A sleep I shall have, a rest I shall have,
yet death will be but a pause,
For the peace of my years
in the long green grass,
Will be yours and yours and yours.
Grow old along with me,
the best is yet to be.
Sue Cowell
AFTER SCHOOL CLUB
Slip End After School Club needs a Leader four afternoons a week, 3.30 to 6pm in term time. Children are 4 -12 years old.
Applicants must have NVQ3
or equivalent qualification in Childcare
Salary: £15 per session
Contact Sarah Ballard on 01582 415124
RECIPE CORNER
Following positive reactions to this item in December’s PN (Orecchiette con Broccoli is now a firm favourite in many Slip End cuccini), the recipe has been squeezed out this month: Sue Cowell’s yummy Dolce alle Valentino (opposite) will have to suffice.
January Meeting
WOMEN'S INSTITUTE
Well folks, here I am again! A happy and healthy New year to you all from Caddington WI. I am afraid that due to illness in the family our speaker was unable to keep his date with us; our best wishes for a speedy recovery. So a Beetle Drive was arranged literally at the last minute with thanks to Sue. This always raises a smile, especially this time as we were all out of practice!
Rita Timms came to fill us in with information about a scheme which starts in February to put a stop to “cold callers” and stop associated crime. The scheme has proved successful in one area of Luton, so when you receive your envelope, please act on the contents and don’t bin it out of hand. To finish the evening some “Gems Names” anagrams were there for us to sort out.
We did not have a meeting in December as the speaker was also unable to attend, so our Christmas Meal at “The Plough” in Woodside stood us in good stead. I’m sure if I say we all thoroughly enjoyed it, there would not be any dissent!
We meet monthly at the Baptist Church in Caddington at 7.30pm. See dates on the Diary page - see you there!
Patricia Crick
NEWS FROM AMELIA
After 3 traumatic flights my daughter Amelia and friend Lorraine arrived at Fiji on December 7th. She has a web-site with news, contact numbers and best of all for me a photo album which means I can see how she is and what she has been doing. It’s brilliant, being able to log onto the Internet sand find lots of information and see how well she is looking, something that would not have been possible ten years ago. So, although we grumble about technology this is one instance where I don’t mind the advances that are happening now. They had a wonderful restful time in Fiji, meeting the Chief of the Island after being persuaded to purchase some dried roots which he used to make Kava (tasting like dirty potato water mixed with washing up liquid!). Below is a photo of the island Church, it’s quite different to St. Andrews, probably a lot warmer!
In Sydney they were immediately won over by Australian public transport, double decker trains! In Australia they try anything. They had views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House which were amazing and settled down to see all of the tourist ‘hot spots’ for the next few weeks. Amelia’s new year involved a picnic and champagne with friends, sitting opposite the Harbour Bridge with the Opera House to her left, watching the brilliant fireworks. She describes it as amazing and a once in a lifetime experience!
She certainly seems to be getting around and enjoying Australian hospitality! They are now in New Zealand,doing the ‘Kiwi Experience’. Today I have received a message informing me that the ‘sky-dive’ was brilliant, although terrifying!
What next, I wonder!
Sue Cowell
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
Thank you for all who donated a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. By the time you read this, somewhere in one of 13 countries, in an orphanage, impoverished home or refugee settlement, a child will have experienced some of God’s caring love this Christmas, thanks to your shoebox. St Andrew’s Church donated over 130 boxes towards the appeal. The warehouse in Dunstable run by Teresa and Tony Willson processed over 11,000 boxes from schools, churches, organisations and individuals from the Luton, Dunstable, Milton Keynes and Bedford areas. Our boxes were bound for Coatia and we had a chance to meet the driver of the lorry who helped the volunteers to load the cartons on.
Teresa & Tony with the driver of the lorry
We would like to thank all the volunteers who gave up their time and energy to help with the enormous task of checking and packing the shoe boxes. It was wonderful to see people from all walks of life working together and enjoying themselves as they processed all the boxes. What a magnificent result, over 1.1 million sent
Finally, the lorry was completely full and set off for the docks to begin the long journey to Croatia and to give thousands of children some Christmas joy.
Our hard working loading team!
Lorry leaves bound for Croatia.
Teresa & Tony Willson, Sue Cowell.
Tsunami Appeal
Samaritan’s Purse is responding to the emergency situation resulting from the Tsunami that hit South East Asia on December 26th. Emergency supplies of food are getting through to most of the desperate areas and we have already provided bottled water, clothing, cooking and feeding utensils to more than 3,000 people. The long-term involvement will address the critical shortage of clean water, providing enough purification packets to decontaminate two million gallons – enough to supply 10,000 people with safe water for the next two months. We are also setting up systems that can desalinate ocean water and meet the daily needs of 12,000 people.
You can donate by phone on 020985592044 or www.samaritanspurse.uk.com.
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