Hampshire Police Authority Item

22 January, 2002

Crime and the Impact on Rural Communities Conference on the Isle of Wight, 17-19 October, 2001

Report of Mrs. J. Griffin, JP

This National Conference was poorly attended with representatives from less than 20 Counties, Police Forces and Authorities, Community Safety Partnerships, County and District Councils, but none the less had some interesting speakers with innovative ideas.

The 3 day conference was chaired by Mr David Biles, MBE, a former High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight and local farmer, who expertly kept it going and took questions after each session. He also personally invited a number of high profile people from the Island, at least one per session, including the Lord Lieutenant, High Sheriff and Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, and the Island Divisional Commander.

Speakers included:-

Supt. Suzette Davenport, West Mercia Constabulary, who spoke on `Policing Rural Communities'

Anne Martin, Director, Norfolk REC - `Racism in Rural Communities'

Martin Walsh, NFU Basingstoke - `Crime and the Cost of Crime'

Meg Abbott, YOT Manager IOW - `The Work of Youth Offender Teams in Rural Communities'

Hugh Marriage, Crime Reduction Director, Home Office - `The Way Forward for Rural Communities'

Tim Addison, Head of IOW Tourism - `Impact of Crime on Tourism and Local Business'

There were a number of other speakers from the Countryside, Local Government and other Agencies.

In my opinion the most interesting speaker was John Ritchie, Community Services Manager, District of Bolsover who spoke on `Using Neighbourhood Wardens/Rangers effectively in Rural Areas.'

He described the Bolsover Scheme in detail, the aims and objectives of which are:-

· Part of the District of Bolsover's answer to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 17 in particular.

· Answering the public's concern, borne out in a survey which put Tackling Crime, and The Fear of Crime at the top of their list.

· Linking, with the Police and Social Services in particular, but also with other agencies to put together a united fight against crime and ancillary matters.

· To provide a 24 hour, 365 day a year service for the people who live and work in the district of Bolsover, based on the One-Stop shops.

· To cross-cut all departments and provide a Best Value option.

He covered, most comprehensively, the funding, the staffing, the views of the Police and Community and the outcomes and effectiveness. The scheme appears to work and there was much to learn from him.

Three consecutive days were quite difficult to manage, but Cllr Dave Knowles and I attended all but two sessions. The conference could have been compressed into 1 ½ days.

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