Last night I hosted my Local Crime Summit in Wantage – there was a great turnout so thank you to everyone who attended as well as to St Peter and St Paul church for hosting it.
It was very valuable for me to hear more about the experiences that local people are having with crime and anti-social behaviour but, more importantly, for Thames Valley Police to hear this directly.
The Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner spoke about the work they are doing, including through their Violence Reduction Unit and their Rural Crime Taskforce. I am glad that with Government funding the Thames Valley will have more police than ever before and are set to reach 4,800 officers soon.
I was pleased that the Police took the feedback they received well and committed to going away and looking at how they are going to a better job of reassuring local people that they are taking these issues seriously. I will be ensuring this leads to improvements in how local people feel their concerns are being addressed. They also took some personal cases away to look into.
There were many issues raised but the one thing that came across loud and clear was the concern that people have about anti-social behaviour, particularly among some young people in Wantage. I know this is a problem, and I will be raising it in Parliament while continuing to hold Thames Valley Police accountable in dealing with people’s concerns.
There is a lot of work to do, but I hope this was a first-step to tackling this issue. I will also be raising this with the Home Secretary and Policing Minister. Further updates to follow.
