13 minute read
Keeping Southend safe as it becomes a city
Southend Keeping
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safe as it becomes a city
Southend is a safe place to live, work and visit, and this is a really exciting time for the area,” says the District Commander, Chief Inspector Ian Hughes (photo). He welcomes the increased profile that city status will bring and is looking forward to the warmer and busier spring and summer months but says the force have plans in place to combat anyone intent on committing crime in the district.
Priorities include high-harm crimes such as robbery and violence, and policing the night-time economy. The Southend Town Centre Team have been increasing the force’s visibility in hot spot areas for off ences, including in and the around the skate park in Warrior Square. Ch Insp Hughes says the force is taking “a zero-tolerance approach to violence within our community” but there are “challenges” around young off enders and young victims. Keep people safe To address those issues, offi cers are working alongside colleagues from children’s services and the adolescent intervention and prevention team at Southend Borough Council. Another initiative will see a mix of uniformed and plain clothes offi cers patrolling to help keep people safe when they’re out enjoying Southend’s nightlife. Offi cers have been working closely with licensed premises and will be monitoring alcohol consumption and suspicious
Southend is famous for behaviour at venues. Ch Insp its hospitality but when Hughes says offi cers are not alcohol is consumed, we out to spoil anyone’s fun. don’t want a small minority of people to spoil things for everyone else. “We welcome visitors to Southend and we want people to enjoy themselves when they’re here. All we ask is that they do so responsibly and respect the local area.” Anti-social behaviour drop Encouragingly, last year saw anti-social behaviour in Southend drop by almost a quarter. Between 1 January and 31 December 2021, 5,700 anti-social behaviour incidents were recorded, a 23.3% reduction compared with the previous 12 months.
Ch Insp Hughes says that as well as offi cers patrolling in the town centre and down at the waterfront, they will continue to engage with local communities by attending public events and holding informal meetings like Coff ee with Cops throughout the summer. He adds: “Our offi cers are there to protect and serve the people of Southend, and we want Southend to be the best place it can be for residents and visitors.”
It’s really important to know your security ‘ABC’ in fact it’s the bedrock of your safety and security which, once followed will help you feel safe, secure, protected and confident. Most of us don’t like spending money on things that don’t really give us something immediately ‘tangible’ in return. Traditionally us ‘Brits’ consider security as a grudge buy
Security Know your ‘ABC’ of and tend to leave it until something happens, which of course means we become victims of ever increasing crime 'stats'. If you feel like you’ve done all you can to secure your property and belongings you might want to run through our 'ABC Checklist' to make sure you’re really 'on the ball'. We’ve numbered them according to their importance as follows:
1. Locks 2. Safe/ Security Boxes 3. Alarm 4. CCTV 5. Laminated Glass/ Bandit Film 6. Grilles, Bars and/or Roller Shutters
1Your locks will be the first point of attack so it’s vitally important that you’ve got the very best for the job in hand. It might be surprising to know that around 80% of British homes have locks installed that are not up to insurance standards. Not only is this shocking, it’s highly likely that your Insurance Company will not pay out if you are indeed burgled (Ouch)! Another dreadful statistic is that a disturbing amount of people do not lock their doors properly, thinking that 'pulling the door to' is sufficient; this mentality has led to a marked increase in burglary across the country and is very easy to remedy if you simply deadlock your door.
“Don’t be a victim, follow the 'ABC' system”
2If you’ve now installed your high security locks you’re probably feeling a little safer than before, but burglars can be somewhat determined so they’ll probably now 'have a go' at breaking a window to gain entry. Once they’re in they’ll generally not take long to grab any valuables that are laying around, which is why having a good quality safe is paramount. Most people think safes are only for jewellery, deeds, wills and large amounts of money and whilst this is true, you really need to secure the stuff that you might ordinarily leave lying around such as passports, driving licenses and credit cards to help protect against identity theft. Although it might be obvious, it’s important to lock up your vehicle keys too. A high percent of vehicle theft across the UK is primarily due to people not deadlocking their doors and the subsequent theft of car keys left either hanging up by the door or on the sideboard just inside the door.
“Make sure your safe is working for you”
Security
Applying the 'ABC' principle
is all about making it harder for a potential burglar or assailant to gain entry to your premises. Some people may argue that they’ve nothing for a burglar to steal, however it might not be your valuables that they’re after. I don’t know anyone, not even very lonely people, who’d want to wake up in the middle of the night with a stranger standing over them whilst they are in bed. It is not our intention to scaremonger you but we are making you aware of the possibility that this could happen.
Website: brights-locksmiths.co.uk brights-autolocksmiths.co.uk
Email: info@brightsgroup.com Phone: 01702-346274 Address: 41 Alexandra St,
Southend-on-Sea SS1 1BW
3So you’ve now got serious locks and an awesome safe and the burglar has still managed to get in through a window because you’ve either left it open or he's smashed his way in. Either way they’ve now got time to wander around at their leisure unless of course you’ve got an alarm or an aggressive dog, whichever works for you. An alarm will make a lot of noise and should make them either make a fast exit or not to enter at all, but then again so would your dog unless it's a 'real softie' in which case it might lick them to death so an alarm is probably the safest bet. Make sure you get the right type of alarm too and that it's graded accordingly.
“Your safety is our mission”
4So, we’re getting there and Mr & Mrs Burglar was indeed frightened off either by the dog or the alarm siren but there’s no evidence to prove who tried to break in, how they did it and when they did it, which is where the close circuit television (CCTV) comes in. CCTV gives you added security, peace of mind and allows you to see what’s going on 24/7, 365 days of the year, and depending on the system you choose, allows you to see what’s going on anywhere in the world whenever you like. You can even get your alarm system to call you on your mobile phone to let you know the alarm has gone off and you can also ‘listen in’ to what’s going on in your house.
“CCTV: Your eyes and ears whilst you’re away”
5Laminated glass might seem a bit of 'overkill’ but it depends on the level of security that you’re after. It’ll certainly stop a quick smash and grab as laminated glass is harder to break. Alternatively, using various grades of protective fi lm can make your glass anti bandit, anti-blast and even bullet resistant so you should be okay even if you get caught in the middle of a bandit gun fi ght, AWESOME!
“Who’s up for a gun fi ght?”
6And fi nally to make your place safer than safe you should consider installing grilles, bars or roller shutters to further safeguard your windows and doors. You know the ones, they’re the sort that we all see when we’re abroad, the ones that make your place pretty impregnable. So, now you know your 'ABC' and all that remains is NOT to do the typical 'Brit' thing; to sit back and wait for something to happen, but to take the 'bull by the horns' and to do something about it before it’s too late.
“Forewarned is forearmed”
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continues from page 10 You will appreciate that the cost of housing for a London Borough is greater than it is in Southend, so for some, placing people in the relatively cheaper accommodation here makes economic sense for them; essentially, they can rent accommodation here at less than the level their home LHA sets. Whilst we are unsurprisingly uncomfortable with this practice, not least because we think that disconnecting people from their support networks is unhealthy and can exacerbate other challenges in their lives, there is nothing we can do about it as it is perfectly legal for councils to operate in this way. I am proud to say that Southend does not imitate this practice by placing people elsewhere, but of course the impact of others in doing so on the availability of affordable housing makes our job even harder. So, what is the solution to homelessness?
Solution urgently needed
There are many reasons people become homeless, often relating to structural issues such as job insecurity and poverty, as well as things such as family / relationship breakdown and domestic abuse. Societally, we need to tackle some of these if we are to ever reach ‘functional zero’ homelessness. Some of the challenge may come from poor landlord behaviours, and we seek to tackle these through approaches such as landlord regulation (all HMOs must be licensed, and in Southend all rental properties in some neighbourhoods must now also be licensed. The recent Levelling White Paper promises even more reform in this area, such as landlord registers and decent homes standards for all private rented property). Some of the challenges will come from the person themselves, be this organic or behavioural (landlords often tell me that they experience poor tenant behaviour and have no choice but to evict). There is a growing body of evidence to support ‘what works’ and the aforementioned Centre for Homelessness Impact, is pushing good quality research in order to try and promote the right interventions and supports being delivered. Their website is worth a look:
www.homelessnessimpact.org
What is clear is that we need to support people both to prevent homelessness and to help relieve it when it does happen, and to do so in such a way that the experience of homelessness is short and non-recurrent.
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Family business established over 60 years
PAIDTOPPrices
Gold wanted.
DON’T MISS OUT!
89 West Road, Shoeburyness, Essex SS3 9DT
enquiries@andrewsltd.co.uk www.andrewsltd.co.uk
Today’s high prices paid for gold. Today’s high prices paid for gold. Bring your unwanted gold coins/ Bring your unwanted gold coins/
jewellery in to be valued jewellery in to be valued in exchange for the best price in exchange for the best price you could hope for.
Use that unwanted jewellery
and put it towards something you really want.
Hurry whilst you can take
advantage of this great deal advantage of this great deal
WE HAVE NO CONNECTION WITH ANY OTHER LOCAL BUSINESS WITH A SIMILAR TRADING NAME
07102 292 472
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