Graffiti Cleanup in Holsworthy

Recently

a number of areas of graffiti were identified by the Holsworthy Police

Neighbourhood Beat Team, reports to Torridge District Council and from elements

of the community such as the Leisure Centre. Some of this was very verbally,

racially or visually offensive.

 

As

a result a list and target map was created by new recruit to the Holsworthy

Policing Team Emma Tomkies. She took photographs of the graffiti which will be

kept for future reference and investigation. Torridge District Councils

Graffiti response is coordinated by its Grime Buster Officers. They worked with

the Police and the assistance of the Community Payback Team from Probations

PRIDE initiative was requested.

 

PS

Penny Channing who leads the Holsworthy Police Neighbourhood Beat Team passed

the prepared pack to the Community Payback Team from P.R.I.D.E. at the

beginning of the day. She said “The people that tag and scrawl on the walls of

our community seem to forget that this is a crime and as such anyone caught

doing so will be dealt with for causing criminal damage. We are currently

dealing with some young people from the town who have written some of the tags

and names removed today. This is a small rural community and people don’t like

this sort of thing so do tell us who is making it look a mess.”

 

PCSO

Emma Tomkies added “This has all worked really well. We identified a problem

and through working with the Council and Probation all of the graffiti we had

identified has been addressed.”

 

Andy

Tetchner who was the Community Payback Teams supervisor for the day said “This

is all part of a wider partnership encompassing not only those involved today

but also the Fire Service. The Probation Service are getting local people that

have got themselves into trouble with the law to do real work, with real and

noticeable results in the communities where they live.

 

Councillor

Adam Symons, Torridge District Council’s Lead Member for Waste and Recycling, said

“This was a real partnership approach to a community issue. Torridge District

Council is committed to this kind of joined up coordinated approach across all

of its services. By highlighting this good practice I hope that people can be

confident and reassured that we are working closely with our local Police

Neighbourhood Beat Teams to find new ways to tackle the Antisocial Behaviour

and resulting crime that affects our communities.”