The police watchdog – Kent Police Authority - has asked shoppers where they would save money in the policing service. Kent Police Authority visited the ASDA store in Folkestone, last week, to ask for views from the police council taxpayers on what they would do if they were the budget holder.

A total of 75 people took part in the Folkestone road show and results were as follows:

• Back office - police officers (28 per cent)
• Declined to vote (24 per cent)
• Back office - police civilian staff (21 per cent)
• Neighbourhood policing e.g. local police constables and police community support officers (11 per cent)
• 999 call handlers (four per cent)
• Investigations (four per cent)
• Emergency response teams e.g. the patrol cars that respond to an emergency call (3 per cent)
• Specialist tactical policing units e.g. firearms, dogs unit, marine unit (five per cent)

Back office posts were considered the main categories where savings could potentially be made. This was broken down into two categories. Police Officers that are in office based functions at Police Headquarters, e.g. crime prevention roles, and civilian staff that provide support, and help to run the organisation e.g. through departments such as Finance, Human Resources, Research, Corporate Communications.

Some 24 per cent of the public declined to vote as they felt it was too difficult to make a decision.

The summer road shows follows the announcement that the Police Authority will have to find over £20million in the next three years.

South Kent Police Authority member, Graham Hodkinson, took part in the event with Police Community Support Officer, James Chadwick, and Police Community Support Officer, Mark Ball.

Ann Barnes, Chair of the Kent Police Authority said: ‘One of the roles of the Police Authority is to consult with the public. Our countywide road shows allow us to speak face-to-face with the public on saving money. It’s not just the police, but all public sector services are going to have to make financial cuts of some kind. There are some really hard choices to make and we are looking at all the categories we chose for the survey. It’s interesting to note that some people did not cast a vote. It really is hard to cut back on any one area of policing, as they are all so important. The Authority and Force will have to make a tough decision in the autumn, we are expecting to lose 20 – 40 per cent of our Government police budget.’

All the information from the road shows will be fed back to the Chief Constable, and will be considered at a Police Authority budget meeting in early 2011.

And there’s still time to vote. As the Authority is not visiting every town the public can cast a vote online. There is a dedicated Facebook page called ‘Where would you make savings in Kent Police.’ You can access this site on our homepage.

Source: http://www.kentpoliceauthority.gov.uk/news/folkestone-shoppers-would-cut-the-back-office

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What is happening in Hawkinge today? I went to pick up my daughter from Hawkinge Primary School (Friday just after 3pm) and as I drove passed I could see two police cars and one ambulance parked close to the Doctors Surgery in Canterbury Road. There were also groups of teenage kids standing around and a couple of Police Officers too.

I went into Tescos to buy some bread and milk and two Policemen came running in - they seemed to scout around as if they were looking for somebody and then they rushed back out and got back into their car and drove off.

I asked the Tesco shop assistant what had happened but he didn’t know for sure - he said he had heard that somebody had their ear ripped off!

I went back to my car which was parked next to the hall and there were a small group of teenage kids hanging around in the car park - they were talking about somebody having an ear ripped off too.

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Please be aware that a conman and woman are approaching local shop owners in Folkestone, Sandgate and recently Hythe offering to build websites, carry out promotion work and advertising etc. They will claim to have worked with Bannatyne’s, Debenhams and have links with Saga.

They will demand payment up front and if you are lucky you may get an amateurish website before they start ignoring your calls or usually nothing at all. You may even end up giving them things for free such as food, treatments, dogs (seriously!).

They are currently on bail for fraud so I am afraid I cannot give names/descriptions as I do not want to prejudice the case against them.

If you have been a victim or have been approached please contact Folkestone Police and register your case. There are currently 20 local business owners under the case number FY/19981/09. The officer in charge is DS Bland assisted by PC Cox.If you are in Sandgate you can talk to your friendly PCSO, Mark Wilson who knows all about it.

If they haven’t come in yet, remember to show them the door if they do.

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The Sandgate Society hold monthly talks on the 2nd Wednesday of the month (although these dates may change). The talks are held in The Chichester Memorial Hall, Sandgate High Street (next to car show room).

Talks are Free to members or £2 to visitors who are most welcome. Refreshments are also available.

• 10th March - Annual General Meeting - Committee Elections
• 17th March - An account of how Apollo 13 was crippled by an explosion on the way to the Moon in 1970 - Speaker: Reg Turnill
• 14th April - Frontline Folkestone – The Step Short Project - Speaker: Charles Fair
• 19th May - (instead of 12th) The Greenwall Lecture -  Global Warming – What it means to Sandgate - Speaker: Ian Currie
• 9th June - Sandgate in People, Prose and Poems - speaker David Cowell
• 1st Aug - Garden Party
• August - Sea Festival
• 15th - (instead of 8th) September Sandgate Sea Cadets - Speakers: John Barber and Sea Cadets
• 13th October - Remembering Joyce Grenfell (1) to include songs and monologues - Speaker: Avril Woolf
• 10th November - Building Schools in Nepal The Pahar Trust - Speakers: Derek and Diana Clayton-Brown
• December - Christmas Party - Chichester Memorial Hall
• 12th January 2011 - Remembering Joyce Grenfall (2) - speaker Avril Woolf
• 9th February - Westenhanger Castle Restoration - speaker Terry Whitling
• 9th March - AGM

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The introduction of PACT (Partners And Communities Together) and neighbourhood task team in the three policing districts (Dover, Shepway and Ashford) is making a real difference in the task of reducing crime.

Superintendent Mark Nottage said: “The south Kent area has a strong tradition of crime reduction and these latest figures show all of my officers are working hard to make sure it remains a safe place.

“The introduction of neighbourhood t ask teams in all three policing districts has clearly made a real difference, but we cannot be complacent and will continue to listen to individual community issues through our Partners and Communities Together (PACT) process and by talking with residents in the areas where they live about any issues they want tackled.”

The latest police figures for south Kent reveal that crime has fallen by more than 11 per cent, with reported drug offences up by 17 per cent.

The statistics show criminal damage is down 24.9 per cent, sexual offences down 22.6 per cent, home burglary down 20 per cent and violence against the person down by 11 per cent. Knife crime in south Kent has also gone down, by 40.6 per cent.

Due to targeted action which included the use of warrants and closing of drug factories crimes related to the supply and use of drugs are showing an increase by 17.1 per cent.

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