Dewsbury Forward: Anger at centre's 'yob rule' culture
PEOPLE in Dewsbury expressed their concerns that the town has fallen victim to loutish behaviour, violence and vandalism due to a lack of policing.
At last Friday's Dewsbury Forward meeting, some members expressed concern that the town was fighting a losing battle because there aren't enough police to take control of problems in the area.
Margaret Watson, chairman of the Chamber of Trade spoke out about the lack of dedicated police officers in the town centre.
She said: "One dedicated officer is not enough for this town. Dewsbury is being over-run and there are not enough police to get problems solved anymore. There is loutish behaviour going on and people are drinking and taking drugs in the town centre.
"PCSO's have very limited powers and they are not a substitute for police officers. The people of Dewsbury need more that just a visible presence. They need more dedicated officers in the town centre, who can effectively deal with crimes in our community."
Police community support officers were brought in to work alongside the police in Dewsbury.
However, PCSOs may detain a suspect for up to 30 minutes but they do not have the power to make arrests.
MP Maqsood Ahmad, head of police equality and diversity policy at the Home Office, also expressed his concern about the lack of policing in Dewsbury.
He said: "There should not be 'no-go' areas or exclusion in schools, workplaces and on the streets. These issues need to be faced up to and tackled."
Last month, Supt Nigel Hibbert, of Kirklees police explained the role of police community support officers.
He said: "They are an important part of the community and work closely with the police to provide reassurance and law enforcement.
"PCSOs are part of the future of policing."
He continued: "Recruitment is an issue we are always working on. We are always looking for ways to attract the right people to the police force."
A spokesperson for Kirklees police said: "Dewsbury Town Centre is better policed now than it has been in the last 18 months. We now have a dedicated PC to cover the town centre and we are in the process of recruiting another.
"The town centre is also served by three PCSOs and has the support of the student officers which comprises five PCs and 9 probationers.
"We feel that there are appropriate patrols in place around the clock to deal with incidents that may occur. There will be extra patrols in the build up to the festive season, due to extra numbers of people shopping and socialising in the town centre.
"In terms of shift patterns, the Neighbourhood Policing Officers are on duty at times when we know crime occurs.
"However, if we identify a crime pattern that occurs outside these shift patterns, we will look at changing shifts to deal with that particular issue."
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Weather for Dewsbury
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 6 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North west
