All aboard as CSP target neighbourhood concerns

Vehicle checks by council and police staff during MedwayCSP operation

A week long multi-agency operation targeting anti-social behaviour, roads policing and environmental enforcement issues ended on Sunday (28 February).

The Medway Community Safety Partnership (CSP)  initiative was the latest in a series of operations targeting areas with specific issues considered a priority by residents.

Led by Medway Council and Kent Police in Medway the drive included continued efforts to meet and reassure people that action is being taken to deal with neighbourhood concerns.

A three day council surgery at St Peter’s Parish Centre on Delce Road, Rochester, resulted in nearly 100 actions that will be acted on in the coming weeks.

These included everything from dealing with alleyway graffiti and pavement parking to littering and junk filled gardens picked up by council officers and by residents ignoring the bad weather to visit the surgery van.

Police Community Support Officers meanwhile got on board buses and trains across Medway to get the views of people unable or too busy to attend surgeries and PACT meetings.  There were also more than 200 house visits.

The mobile police station also toured different areas, providing a static point of contact for residents to speak with police and the council’s Safer Communities officers and to obtain crime prevention advice.

On Wednesday the UK Border Agency joined police and the council’s trading standards, environmental health and environmental enforcement team for a sweep of businesses in the Delce area of Rochester. They were also out on a multi-agency road check the following day, with officers making one arrest.

The roads policing effort included vehicle checks and a crackdown on speeding drivers. Off-road motorcycles were the target over the weekend with 59 warnings issued and three bikes seized from riders who had already received a warning within the past 12 months. Forty untaxed vehicles were also removed from the streets of Medway during the course of the week.

Chief Superintendent Steve Corbishley, chairman of Medway CSP, said: “Operations like this make a real difference in showing the public just how serious all the agencies that make up the CSP are in dealing with matters of concern to them.”

Cllr Reh Chishti, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for community safety and enforcement, added: “We want Medway residents to feel they can go about their lives knowing that the council and police are working hard on their behalf to keep their area clean and tidy and free from crime.”

Medway Community Safety Partnership is Medway Council, Kent Police in Medway, NHS Medway, Kent Fire and Rescue, Kent Probation and other agencies working together to make Medway an even safer place to live, work and socialise.