Wardens to back up police across district

Wardens to back up police across district

18 December 2013

COMMUNITY safety wardens will be on the streets of Down District after a pilot project was given the green light.

Anti-social behaviour and crime hotspots will be targeted by warden personnel who will patrol in liveried vehicles with radios, rescue equipment and cameras, but won’t have arrest or enforcement powers.

The wardens will be fully trained in evidence gathering and legal issues and will be tasked by the Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP). Patrol logs will then sent to the PCSP for analysis.

Wardens will be expected to adopt a tailored approach and engage with young people causing a nuisance, for example, rather than just moving them on.

Approval was granted at Thursday’s meeting of the PCSP. The number of patrols planned and location hotspots have yet to be confirmed.

The programme will run until March 2014 on a pilot basis, before its effectiveness is evaluated.

PSNI Area Commander, Chief Inspector Deirdre Bones, said the warden scheme was a good example of partnership working between the PSNI and the PCSP.

“I have no doubt that the introduction of wardens will further reassure members of the public and make Down a safer place to live and socialise,” she said.

“We will be able to focus resources on those areas of the district that are experiencing increased levels of anti-social behaviour.”

Councillor Willie Clarke, PCSP chairman, described it as an “exciting programme”.

“Their role will be particularly important at key times such as evenings and weekends when they will be patrolling the district, being responsive to the needs, health, safety and welfare of the community and promoting a strategy of community reassurance particularly in town centres,” he said.

Describing it as a “fresh approach” for the PCSP, he said: “Our officers are constantly striving to develop programmes and initiatives that make a difference. Research is on-going to investigate safety interventions that are held up as examples of best practice locally, regionally and on occasion internationally.”

Councillor Clarke said Down was joining parts of Ards and Strabane who had also been running the scheme over the past year.

He said it wasn’t a case of “policing on the cheap” and that the new wardens were not intended to be on a par with Police Community Support Officers in Great Britain, who share some police powers.

“It is intended to fill a gap between our council enforcement officers and the PSNI,” he said. “The council has a duty of care to its staff and it may not always be appropriate for them to be out at night.”

Councillor Dermot Curran said he welcomed any initiative aimed at making the streets safer but that it was too early to pass judgement.

“We will have to monitor the situation,” he said. “It will be a case of wait and see.”