Community Meetings in Shanklin and Lake
Your Voice Counts in Co-operative stores
Police are extending a partnership with a leading food retailer in providing extra opportunities for the public to express their views about local policing. The Southern Co-operative stores across the Isle of Wight now contain official police 'Your Voice Counts' post boxes where people can collect and return A5 cards about the crime and anti-social behaviour issues that matter most in their area. These boxes are one extra way for the island's local Safer Neighbourhoods teams (SNTs) to keep in touch with the communities they police. Safer Neighbourhoods teams already use 'Your Voice Counts' forms during beat surgeries, street mapping house-to-house surveys, and other community events for people to fill in what they consider to be the three most important policing priorities in their local area. These forms have been adapted into an A5 card specifically for use in all Southern Co-operative stores across the Isle of Wight. The cards will be collected on a weekly basis by PCSOs so issues highlighted can be dealt with by the police and other appropriate partner agencies.
Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Jackie May of the Lake Safer Neighbourhoods team on the Isle of Wight said: "I discovered the project during my research on how to improve services for residents in Lake. Having discussed the idea with colleagues in Portsmouth, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to introduce the scheme to the island.
"I've been holding beat surgeries in the Co-operative for three years now and decided that closer working with the store could lead to 'Your Voice Counts' becoming available in island stores so the public would have another option to air their views and influence how we tackle their concerns.
"I believe these boxes are a convenient extra way to expand the 'Your Voice Counts' idea to many more local residents who may find it difficult to access a computer. These Co-operative stores provide an important service to the thousands of customers who visit them every week. By placing a post box in every store on the island, it means that each person who shops there is given the chance to take just a few minutes and fill out a card, whereas they may not have had the time or opportunity to do this before."
PCSO Jackie May added: "Police on the Isle of Wight also work closely with The Southern Co-operative to help prevent a range of crimes from shoplifting to underage drinking. We're grateful for The Southern Co-operative's well-established pro-active approach to crime prevention, and their continued support in helping the police to have a presence within their local shops, which are an integral part of their communities we both serve."
Gareth Lewis, Protection & Audit Services Manager for The Southern Co-operative stated ''In partnership with the police, we have launched the Your Voice Counts project in several areas on the mainland and it has proven very successful in providing a link between the community and the local Safer Neighbourhoods team. As a retailer with strong community links it made perfect sense for us to work with Jackie and to ensure that all 13 Southern Co-operative stores across the IOW and the stores of our Franchise partners (operating under the Welcome banner)on the island were involved.''
Gareth Lewis, PCSO Jackie May and Peter Fisher
Photograph courtesy of Giant Leap Video
Lake Neighbourhood Surgeries
A neighbourhood surgery is held on the first Tuesday of every month at the Co-Op store, Sandown Road, Lake between 11.00am and 12.00pm.
A neighbourhood surgery is held at Morrisons supermarket, Newport Road, Lake on the first Thursday of the month between 11.30am and 12.30pm.
If you have a particular issue or problem in your area that you would like to discuss with members of the Shanklin and Lake Safer Neighbourhoods teams, you can contact them individually or invite them to attend a meeting to speak to a group. Return to the main Shanklin and Lake page for full contact details.
Online links to partner organisations:
Shanklin Town Council
http://www.iwight.com/parishcouncils/parishcouncilsdetail.aspx?id=20
Lake Parish Council
http://www.iwight.com/parishcouncils/parishcouncilsdetail.aspx?id=13
