Redlands (Reading) Neighbourhood update - 02-07-2008

Here is the latest update for the Redlands neighbourhood from Police Community Support Officer Steve Vaughan:

There is a new face on the beat in the Redlands neighbourhood.

Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Rafal Gorniak has been working on the neighbourhood for the past three weeks.

Originally from Poland, PCSO Gorniak moved to England three and a half years ago and has previously been working as a driver.

He said: "I am really enjoying my new job as a Police Community Support Officer. I have always wanted to work for the police and it is nice to be in a job where I feel that I can give something back to the community.

"I am enjoying getting to know the Redlands neighbourhood and it is a real pleasure to meet the community who live there. The rest of the neighbourhood policing team have made me feel very welcome and are helping me to settle into the role."

The 3 top priorities for Redlands are,
1) Anti-social behaviour.
2) Environmental issues
3) Personal safety.

Anti-social behaviour
In June there have been some issues with anti-social behaviour in the area, with one man being arrested for public order offences towards police staff.
Street drinking and late night anti-social behaviour in the area of Watlington Street and the surrounding roads have been reported to the neighbourhood team and with this in mind the team has increased its patrols in this area. We have been stop checking anyone that is behaving badly and also carrying out licensing checks on the local shops and petrol station in the area.

Environmental Issues
June saw the first of the Neighbourhood Action Group's (NAG) Environmental Visual Audits take place in the area of Cintra Park. The next one is due to take place on July 8 and meeting point will be the Wokingham Road junction with Belle Avenue at 10.30am. The team would like to ask anyone that is interested in what the audits do for the area, to come along and join the walkabout.
With the summer holidays coming up fast, some of the areas roads will be a lot emptier and the team is going to take this opportunity to remove any untaxed and abandoned vehicles. Over-flowing skips and materials that are left on the road side will also be removed to prevent obstructions.
In June, two skips were removed due to them being over-loaded and a number of builders in Donnington Gardens were asked to remove materials from the road into the property they were working on.

Personal safety
I have carried out a number of safety talks to pupils Kendrick Girls' School and Reading Boys' School, covering the topics of personal safety on the street, looking after property, property marking, anti-social behaviour and under age drinking. This was received very positively. I also carried out security marking on more than 100 mobile phones and iPods.

Other news

Myself and PCSO Gary Johnson from the Newtown team, were involved in the arrest of a man in connection with drug offences on June 9.

He tried to run off after being stopped but he was located again and was arrested when a police unit arrived.

He was found with what is though to be more than 20 wraps of a Class A drug. He has been released on bail until July 8.

I think this arrest is an excellent result for the area, sending a clear massage that drug dealing will not be tolerated in the Redlands area.

You can contact the team by calling 0845 8 505 505 or, to find out more about them, please visit http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/ and follow the neighbourhood policing links.

Ends
Berkshire West Communications Team
0119 9536191

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