On Tuesday 9 February, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Martyn Underhill, met with a number of people throughout Swanage who each play their part in ensuring Swanage remains a safe place to live in.
Mr Underhill started the morning by meeting with the Road Safety Team. Between 7.45am and 10.15am that morning the mobile speed camera van had already caught 15 motorists travelling at over 36 miles per hour in an area which had access to two schools and three junctions in close proximity to each other.
Martyn then spoke with PC Hickman about the issues that face the Swanage Neighbourhood Policing Team before spending time with local resident, Lorna Haines. Lorna has spent the last 10 years raising money for a skate park for the young people of Swanage. In total she has raised over £102,000 and is looking to raise a further £22,000 in order to complete phase 3 of the skate park. She also hopes in the future to raise money for a mobile youth facility.
A hugely successful aspect of the park is the graffiti wall which allows anyone to paint on it. The wall is refreshed with white paint by the council every few weeks and has proved to be hugely popular and effective in preventing the park itself being defaced.
Finally, Mr Underhill met Lorraine Crabb, the Swanage Contact Point Officer, held a number of surgeries in which he had one-to-one sessions with members of the public to discuss their concerns, and then joined members of staff from his office on their engagement stand.
The engagement team were speaking to members of the public outside the Co-operative superstore to speak about the Dorset Alert system and to hear about any of their views on policing in the local area. A reoccurring theme the engagement team had was residents expressing concern about fraud and cybercrime.
Martyn Underhill said: “The day was a fantastic opportunity to meet the residents of Swanage and the surrounding areas. It is lovely to see how Swanage has the support of their neighbourhood policing team, but people like Lorna who are making a difference in the community.”
