Action to tackle antisocial behaviour and violence in Stone
Police are focusing their attention on tackling issues in the town
Following antisocial behaviour and violence in Westbridge Park, police have said they are focusing their attention on making Stone a safe place to visit.
Police are focusing their attention on tackling issues in the town, community leaders have been told, following incidents involving young people.
Last year police put a dispersal order in place for both the park and Stone town centre to crack down on anti-social behaviour. And work is ongoing – including a patrol with staff from Alleyne’s Academy in recent days and more planned in the coming weeks.
Councillor Jill Hood spoke of the issues in Westbridge Park at the latest full Staffordshire County Council meeting.
She said: “I would ask you take this back to the Police (Fire and Crime) Commissioner.
“We are going through a particularly torrid time in Stone at the moment, and it breaks my heart to say this. We have a group of feral children.
“It has been well-documented in the press that one girl was assaulted on a Wednesday night, then another girl assaulted the night after by a pack of young people of a similar age. She was quite badly assaulted; I’m ashamed to say that in public, but that is what happened.
“We have a beautiful new destination park in Stone. Unfortunately it has been attracting this group of young people.
“I would like to say this to Ben Adams, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner. Since he has taken our police station out of the High Street, we don’t see police about.
“We do now of course, now this has happened. And I would like you to ask him was it really worth the pittance he has saved on getting rid of our base in the council offices and moving them down onto the A34, where no-one has access to them.
“He’s stepping up to the mark and so is Chief Inspector Giles Parsons – he’s doing an incredible job – and they are investigating every name given to them that has been involved with this. But I really have to question, does saving money counterbalance the lives of our young people?”
Councillor Bernard Peters, chair of the Police, Fire and Crime Panel, said he would raise the issue with Mr Adams when he next saw him. He added: “You will be aware that we will see the introduction of neighbourhood policing in the very near future – Government legislation has specified that and they will be embedded into the community.
“People often say to me ‘we never see a policeman’. Well maybe you don’t, maybe they’re in plain clothes, maybe they’re doing something else.
“You will see a police officer in a car, or a PCSO perhaps. But you won’t see a bobby walking the streets now unless there’s a real fracas going on, and that’s unlikely to be the case.
“I would encourage you to attend, or get your residents to attend the Police and Crime Panel meeting. We welcome representations from people and we can hear it first hand, rather than hear it from your elected member who may put a different spin on it.”
Chief Inspector Parsons told Stafford Borough councillors on Thursday (March 27) about an operation had been taking place around Stone and Westbridge Park. “In Stone we have had concerns around drug supply, exploitation of children being used to pass on drugs, antisocial behaviour and violence”, he said.
“We have got the support of an investigation team and officers looking at exploitation and drugs supply. We have made 17 arrests in relation to this over two days of action and we have numerous suspects on bail.
“We have done a lot of work to increase visibility, taking positive action to deal with youths causing antisocial behaviour and violence in town. We need to address underlying vulnerabilities causing these children to be put in this position and we have a really good partnership with children’s services.
“We need to educate them to change their behaviour. We are also doing a lot of work with schools in Stone and we have a really supportive partnership – we find children will react more positively if they see us patrolling with the safeguarding lead.
“We are doing a lot of work with the community to engage with them. We understand some of the articles on social media on events do cause concern – we want to reassure people Stone is a safe place to come to.”
Committee member Philip Leason, who represents Stone’s St Michael’s and Stonefield ward, said: “I must say Giles does meet by Zoom with councillors from Stone and representatives from community groups on a regular basis. He gives a report of what is going on in Stone.
“People are concerned about the Westbridge Park area. I know there is a camera on the canoe club headquarters that covers quite a bit of the area – a lot of people have asked if it would be possible to have a camera towards the M&S end to look at the play area.”
The committee was told there was already a camera covering that area, and there were four cameras in total. Councillor Leason responded: “People are unaware of these cameras – perhaps we could publicise there are cameras to give people peace of mind.”
Chief Inspector Parson said the cameras in Westbridge Park had proved “really useful” in responding to incidents. He added: “With Westbridge Park, it’s about getting the right balance – we want people to come and enjoy the park.”