Ribble Valley Community Safety Partnership

Custody visitors wanted

Lancashire Police Authority is on the hunt for volunteers to join its Independent Custody Visiting Scheme and are looking for your help to promote this in your neighbourhood.

Information about custody visitors:

Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and live or work in Lancashire .

Custody Visitors are unpaid volunteers, who make random visits, in pairs, to police stations across the county. Their unique status allows them to see for themselves the conditions of the detainees and to provide an independent check on the way police officers carry out their duties in respect of detainees' rights. Their opinions are valued and their views are listened to.

It is hoped that each custody visitor will carry out a minimum of 10 visits per annum. The Authority currently has over 50 custody visitors on its files and is seeking to increase that number.

The Authority provides full training and support for the role and has a DVD available with full information for anyone wanting to learn more.

Applications are welcome from all eligible people irrespective of gender, ethnic origin, religious belief, sexual orientation, disability or any other factor.

People wanting further information on the ICV scheme or a copy of the DVD should contact Mrs Jay Nicholas at Lancashire Police Authority, tel: 01772 532251 or e-mail: Jay.Nicholas@lancashire.gov.uk.

Police and Council officers are delivering sturdy poly-carbonate glasses to all pubs in Clitheroe, Longridge and Whalley plus other licensed venues in time for the World Cup which will be held during June/July 2010.The aim is to prevent breakages and glassings and to encourage more people to drink responsibly.

Over 3,000 glasses will be distributed to relevant premises.

Trained Door Staff

Ribble Valley CSP is funding training for door staff in accordance with Drinks Industry requirements. Places have been offered to 20 staff for a four day course which will be held at the Dog Music and Sports Bar from 4th to 7th May 2010. Training looks at Health and Safety, Risk Assessment, First Aid and Anger Management issues.

Speed Gun for Longridge

Longridge Police will soon have their own speed gun for detecting speeding vehicles in the Longridge area in  PC Paul Worswick has successfully bid for funding to the CSP and this will enable 'boy racers' coming in from over the boundary to be targetted more effectively than at present. Expect more Fixed Penalty Notices, boys and girls!

Licensing Visits

Longridge will be targetted by Licensing officers in the coming weeks; all Licensed premises will be visited by Police/Council Officers to check that licence conditions are being adhered to, reminding off licensees about proxy sales and the 'Think 21' campaign run by LCC Trading Standards.

Ribble Valley crime at all-time low - one of safest places to live in Lancashire 

CRIME in the Ribble Valley has hit an all-time low and the borough continues to be the safest place to live in Lancashire. This is according to latest crime statistics revealed by Clitheroe Police Inspector Chris Saville. 

He reported the rate at which police are solving crimes locally is higher than ever before, with Clitheroe Police having the best detection rates for criminal damage and violent crime in the county. It was a bumper crime-busting year, which saw an overall 9% reduction in all crimes compared to the previous year.

According to the figures, there was an impressive 17.3% reduction in violent crime and robbery since April and December last year, with an impressive 93.2% deduction rate in drug-related offences and a 62.5% detection rate in violent crime. 

Vehicle crime fell by 24.9% and there was also a 6.2% reduction in criminal damage across the the borough. A slight increase in burglary was noted during the summer months of May and June, but figures have remained stable since then. There were six incidents of knife crime since April and one of those was a child brandishing a craft knife.

Insp. Saville, who took charge of Clitheroe Police in September, said the figures were encouraging.

"We have had a sustained reduction year-on-year and I am delighted to report that crime in the Ribble Valley is at an all-time low. For example, in 2003 there were 217 crimes committed in one month compared to 145 in 2009. This is a significant reduction.  

"The rural borough continues to be the safest place to live in Lancashire and is in the top five safest places in the country.

"However, the biggest problem is how crime is perceived and we are not saying the Ribble Valley is a zero- crime area. Crime still occurs, but our detection rates are better than they have ever been. This has a knock-on effect because if people know they will be brought to justice they are unlikely to commit crime.

Insp. Saville went on to say: "These are genuine, significant reductions in crime brought about by a a lot of hard work by police officers as well as our partner agencies such as Ribble Valley Borough Council's Crime and Disorder Partnership Group and members of the local community, but the challenge for police now will be to maintain crime levels and reduce them further.

"People tend to forget that the Ribble Valley geographically is a very large area to police. Therefore, we try to make the most of the resources we have. The good news is that we now have two analysts that identify crime hotspots all the time and forward the information on to officers".

 Looking ahead, Insp. Saville added: "There is no room for complacency and over the next 12 months we aim to improve this performance further. 

"However, we cannot do this on our own and need the help of vigilant members of the public to come forward with information about any crime they have witnessed or know about.

"Please call Clitheroe Police on 01200 443344 or the free and confidential Crimestoppers line on 0800 555111 with information."

Partnership Saves Family Lives

A Ribble Valley Family are indebted to the hard work of local agencies after sparks flew in their home.

In the early hours of Thursday 7th January Clitheroe Fire Engines were called to a house fire in Pendleton near Clitheroe, it was thought a fuse box had triggered the blaze. The Fire Service attended the scene within six minutes and within the hour had brought the fire under control. The family who had been sleeping at the time all escaped from the fire all because they had been woken by a free fire service smoke alarm. 

The family had been visited by a local ECSO (Emergency Community Support Officer), Susan Hartley for a free Home Fire Safety Check. The resulting fit out of the home with smoke alarms have no doubt coupled with the advice they received from the fire ECSO on making their emergency call, saved the lives of the local family.

  Ribble Valley Community Safety Partnership Co-ordinator, Bill Alker said, "we are incredibly proud of the work of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and that of the Emergency Community Support Officers (ECSO) provide to keep Ribble Valley as one of the safest in the country. It is only through the hard work of all agencies in the partnership that Ribble Valley remains to be a safe place to live. In context the average number of fires across all 14 district council is 307 fires per month, in Ribble Valley this is just 7 fires per month. A big thank you to all the contributing agencies for their work into preventing injury or worse to this particular family. " 

If people would more like more info about the work of Lancashire Fire and Rescue service, or to enquire about a Home Fire Safety Check, then please contact them on 0800 169 1125 or visit their website at,

http://www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/lfrs/home/default.php

Going plastic to cut pub violence

Plastic beer containers are being handed out to pubs in the Ribble Valley in a bid to crack down on violent glass-related incidents.

Thanks to funding from Ribble Valley Borough Council's Safety Partnership Group, Police in Clitheroe are giving away 3,000 stronger polycarbonate pint "glasses" to avoid breakage and to stop them being used as a weapon in a pub disturbance.

The shatterproof plastic versions have been welcomed by Clitheroe Police's licensing officer PC Cath Towler. She said: "We have had a handful of glass-related incidents in the past and we want to prevent these incidents altogether.

We realise that the pub trade is going though a hard time due to the recession and a box of 48 plastic pint glasses cost approximately £35 to purchase, which is more expensive than the glasses pubs currently use. But the polycarbonate glasses are not only lighter, they are virtually unbreakable and will create a safer environment for drinkers."