This weekend an incident occurred in Fore street Bridgwater which set off a series of petitions and responses around the town. Liam Tucker posted “Just finished work. Walking down the high street. Lot of shouting going on. Found a large gang of teenagers ganging up on a 71 year old man. Throwing food at him. Spitting at him. In the high street. Women and children present. I intervened and stayed with the pensioner until one PCSO turned up. He was called by the coffee 1 manager who also attended. The cameras in town are not being monitored. Police presence bare minimum”.

Liam’s post immediately got the Facebook church bells ringing and comments ranged from  “when these kids gonna be stopped” to “this is getting ridiculous”,”this town really is becoming lawless” “these feral teenagers” and “as a local councillor is there nothing you can do, our MP doesn’t give a damn”

Petition Launched

Within a very short while a petition was launched “Increase Police Presence in Bridgwater Town Centre” and it was targeted to “To: Ian Liddell-Grainger MP, PCC Sue Mountstevens, Avon and Somerset Police, Bridgwater Westover ward councillors Brian Smedley and Kathy Pearce”

Within minutes our Facebook Drone Cllr Leigh Redman, had monitored the comments and reported in to base camp. I don’t normally get involved in Social Media, particularly on issues that we were already dealing with, but it had named me and my fellow Westover Councillor so I felt I ought to set the record straight publically. So I got straight on to the Leader of Bridgwater Town Council. Luckily, that’s also me.

I put out the following holding statement while myself and Cllr Redman investigated the substance of the issue.

Town Council Statement

“As myself and Kath Pearce are named here I will respond. The Town Council takes Police matters very seriously and every meeting Police report is the first item on the agenda. The Police always attend and answer all our questions. However, town council is not the body responsible for their funding, control or disposition. We can try to influence though. We have pressured them about the town centre ASB issue for months and at last weeks meeting we were told they had turned a corner on this, identifying numbers of them and apprehending 6 ringleaders. However, the Police in Bridgwater remain ridiculously understaffed and will be even more stretched as more Hinkley contractors come into the town. The reason for this is the Government cuts to Police – so it is correct to put pressure on Liddell-Grainger and his Government. But also allocation of given resources is down to Sue Mountstevens the PCC. She has refused our requests to come to a meeting so far this year. What action will we take as town council? I have written now to the local Police for a report on this incident and what theyre doing to deal with it. I will write to Mountstevens and Liddell Grainger and invite them to a special meeting with town council and public about police levels in the town. We will launch a campaign to ensure they take this issue seriously, and I know you will all support us in this. We have also, incidentally, increased town grant aid to young people this year as it’s also no point just blaming as they have to have stuff to do as well. Brian Smedley

Meanwhile we researched the incident – as we would always do as councillors – talking to Police and witnesses. The outcome is the following statement from the Police

Police Statement

Sgt Joseph Piscina, local Sgt for Bridgwater Town Centre, said: “Over the past three months we have experienced some incidents with anti-social behaviour in the town above what we would normally expect to see, and sadly they have involved young people on these occasions. “We have upped our patrols in the area and have also increased the local Beat Team with an additional PC and PCSO joining us. 

“We have been working with local schools and ensuring we have processes in place to communicate with and educate local young people as to the impact on others and the consequences of being involved in such incidents, and this has proved successful as we have seen a decrease in the number of reported incidents. The majority of young people in Bridgwater are not involved and are very positive and welcome members of the community. I wouldn’t want the majority to be labelled due to the actions of a small minority.

“Unfortunately those who have been involved in some of the recent incidents have ended up in the criminal justice system. We have issued four conditional cautions to certain individuals which prevents them from coming into town; we have also undertaken one community resolution process and four ABC contracts. Putting young people through a criminal justice process is not ideal and we would much prefer that they don’t put themselves in that situation. However, we won’t tolerate any intimidating, criminal or anti-social behaviour in the town.

“We have now seen a decrease in reported incidents and with the Beat Team conducting additional patrols in the area we hope this will continue. I would ask the local community to report any issues to us officially via the website, the 101 number or by calling 999 when appropriate.”

The Thin Blue Line

As a result of this there’s several factors which we hope will reassure the public.

1. Posting on Facebook is a good source of alerting the public to issues, but also people  need to report to the POLICE and to THE AUTHORITIES to get the facts and follow up actions
2. Bridgwater South (which includes the town centre) has a very active County Councillor, Leigh Redman, who responds quickly and in detail to reported incidents on his patch
3. Bridgwater Town Council has been on to this subject for several months and is working with the Police to find solutions
4. The Police are under-staffed and the people responsible for this issue are the Conservative Government (so it is right to put pressure on the Tory MP to change this)
5. Police resources are allocated by the PCC  so Town Council have rightly asked Sue Mountstevens to come to a public meeting to explain her Policing policies for Bridgwater
6. Whilst resources in Bridgwater have been reduced  The Police nevertheless DO respond to incidents and are dealing with this particular ongoing problem
7. Contrary to rumour, CCTV  is in fact working .
8. I would also personally say well done to Liam Tucker and the assistant manager from Coffee #1 for intervening to calm down an incident and for reporting the matter to the Police and to the wider community

Cuts have Consequences

Government cuts, through a harsh policy of ‘austerity’, have resulted in the loss of 600 officers in the Avon and Somerset area through the life of the last Government. The demand for a Police response from the public has increased but the numbers available to respond have diminished.

We know that the Police will do their best with what resources they have and we will support them. But we can support them better by giving them the resources they need – and that’s the resources WE need too.