I attended the PACT meeting tonight with Cllr Rita Potter & Councillor Mary Bateman, there was once again a very poor public attendance. New Wednesfield North Police Sgt Martin Danher attended for the PACT meeting for the first time and he gave the police report. It was an interesting report. But for me the monthly snapshots are giving a false impression on what crime is actually taking place here in the Ward.
For the Record it is important that I state from the outset that Wednesfield North is a Low Crime Ward. Tonight it stands fifth in the UK Crime Statistics League – June 2015 to May 2016 – table of surrounding Wards within a five mile radius.
The ‘Powers that Be’ must surely though start to consider how these PACT meetings can have new life breathed into them! They are basically dying on their feet. The public are not attending and participating as they once did. Tonight there was 6 public members, three City Councillors, the Chairman plus the Secretary, and Police Sergeant Danher.
We were given the Police report which in truth was a pretty glowing report of low crime statistics taking place in July. Good news I think!
But when you look closely at the monthly statistics they mask what is really taking place in the Ward over a longer period. What may surprise people is the lack of crime in Wednesfield North – for instance in these tough categories.
- No Reports of Possession of a Weapon
- Just one report of a Theft from the Person
- Just two Bike Thefts reported
- Other Crimes – Just six reports
- Drugs – Surprisingly Just 11 crimes reported
- Public Order – 16 crimes reported
I personally would like to see PACT meetings looking at these statistics and formulating policy initiatives accordingly. The monthly reports are just a snap shot of what is happening. But if you compared monthly stats with the yearly stats, a whole different board game comes into view.
The fact is that over a 12 month period you can see what crime is really like in the Ward and that may just widen your eyes a little! What we will hopefully start to work out, is the sort of strategies that can start to lessen the major crime in the Ward. Just take a look at the situation which informs us that the number one crime over a year is rotating around violence? Why is that the situation? What causes these number of reports?
In a twelve month period the most reported crimes in Wednesfield North are
- Violent Crime with 124 reports
- Anti Social Behaviour with 88 reports
- Vehicle Crime with 73 reports
- Criminal Damage & Arson 53 reports
- Burglary 47 Reports
Violent Crime is a real nasty crime. and it dominates the reasons why the police are called to action here in Wednesfield North during a year – according to UK Crime Statistics.
My view is that if the PACTs were looking at how they could together with the Police deal with the substantial policy issues above, then a sense of purpose could be the ‘cheerleader’ to improved and better partnership, leading to bigger attendances and participation.
Something needs to be done to shake them up!
