By Isle of Wight Observer
I hope everyone is well, and the gap in the rain has been very welcome I am sure. My heartfelt wishes go to all those affected by flooding and landslips; we really have been through a hard time.
As cabinet member for community safety, I am aware that cases of abuse, harassment or intimidation has risen, not only for councillors and council staff, but I am also incredibly sad to say that I have witnessed abuse towards staff in many places. My concern is that it has been normalised.
Everyone should be free to go about their duties without fear of threat and intimidation. The recent assault on a member of our parking team is not acceptable. Let us put people first and not tolerate abuse of any kind. I have undertaken training on positive bystanding.
What does that mean? Positive Bystander Action is an approach that can be used to improve situations where it looks like someone could use some help. It is about being an active, positive contributor, instead of ignoring the situation or expecting someone else will step in and fix it, all the while keeping yourself safe. If you would like to know more about positive bystanding, please get in touch.
I attended the opening of Cowes police station last week, which is great for the community. It is in the middle of town and I feel that it is a much better site than before, although for the time being it will be open for certain times. There will also be dedicated and named officers/beat bobbies. Their role will be to concentrate on where we live, get to know what affects us and help resolve issues. This does not take anything away from any other team of policing on the Island. We still have PCSOs, neighbourhood, rapid response, and traffic teams. I see this as a very much welcome addition which we lobbied for and collaborated on delivering with our police and crime commissioner.
I have an open-door policy so you can contact me anytime on 07506 930109 if you have any questions or need support.
My absolute best wishes to you all.
