POLICING is all about links in the community.
Any police officer will tell you that.
And these days a lot of emphasis is put on getting officers out there talking to people at a variety of neighbourhood forums.
There are articles most weeks in this paper about new faces on the town centre beats and in our rural areas. With the car
nival season in full
swing the one place our police should be is at the centre of the annual celebrations in our villages and towns.
Some of the best pictures of the year are taken when officers get a chance to let their hair down and join in with the fun at the tombola or bowling alley. We like to think that our taxes are paying not only for these officers to be out with speed cameras or filling in endless forms back at the station but also walking around the neighbourhood and chatting to people in the community.
I have met many policemen and women over the years and I know that what they want to do is be out on the beat keeping their ears and eyes open.
So why then has Derbyshire Constabulary decided that it will now
be charging organisers of carnivals and events £50 an hour for officers to attend?
Of course the force assures us that if there is a disturbance or any antisocial behaviour they will be there, but otherwise it will cost us.
They tell us correctly that organisers have to apply for licences to close roads as the police have no power to do so (ridiculous red tape but true nonetheless), but once we have the necessary permission to close the road you would expect we could have an officer to help with the traffic.
It is hard enough for organisers to raise enough funds to stage events as it is without them having to fork out more for services which we should be able to take for granted – having already paid once with our taxes.
Those people making decisions to charge for "staff" should listen to what people on the streets are saying.
We want to see our officers out in the community and a carnival is the perfect place.
Amanda Hatfield, editor
