In addition to the excellent notes from the constabulary in advance of the meeting (click here) the following were the major issues which were addressed and discussed. Representatives from the police and Mike Hill from South Cambs introduced themselves and proceeded to inform us of the areas of concern since the last meeting. Most are regular topics and are an object of discussion at each meeting.

Speeding

Some current staff are very keen to be involved in controlling the speeding in the villages. There is also going to be a form on the website (link to be supplied when it is up and running) which members of the public can notify the police of areas and times of noted speeding. It is a simple form which will ask for the road, the time and the speed limit on the road (if known). A confirmation will be displayed. This will allow the police to see if there is a consistent pattern to be addressed. The link will be on ecops and tweets etc.

Burglaries

The villages have suffered an unprecedented level of burglaries in the area. The area has been flooded with plain clothes officers, other measures and a lot of resources have been put in place to identify and apprehend the perpetrators. It would be inappropriate to give out details at this stage. There has also been an increase of high visibility policing.

Graffiti

This subject was brought up by me and the Milton representative. Mike Hill (SCDC) will follow up where they are in relation to dealing with it. As asked, I did stress the problem with the Gatekeeper’s Hut.

Fly Grazing

This is something that the police are looking to instigate measures to manage this.

Sgt Mark Wavell was introduced as the new sergeant  managing our area and has stated he is happy to be contacted directly with any issues or problems.

It was also acknowledged that the 101 system is not ideal. It was suggested that if you feel a police presence is genuinely needed, dial 999 and allow the operator to make the decision on how urgent your call is in relation to current resources at the time. 101 is to notify the police of something you think they need to be aware of. A rough guide is: if a crime or disturbance is currently being committed or is about to be committed dial 999. If it is information and is not a crisis dial 101 bearing in mind whether you think a police presence is really needed.

Click on the icon below for a pdf of Jo’s report.