8:00pm Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Tyrone Marshall
BURNLEY and Pendle residents from Poland and Lithuania are being given the chance to meet regularly with local police officers.
The new meetings are being run by neighbourhood police officers who are aiming to reach out to all sectors of the local community.
The PACT meetings will be aimed at the large communities of Polish and Lithuanian people, after recent meetings for groups including youths, the elderly and the disabled proved successful.
Eighteen months ago firefighers, police and council officers took courses in Polish, with members of the Polish community learning English, to improve relations.
Police Community Support Officer Ivan Hartley said the meetings were being held to give everyone in the community a voice.
“PACT meetings exist to give all sectors of the local community a voice and to ensure that anyone who wants to have their say and help influence local policing priorities can do just that,” he said.
“Every single council ward in Burnley and Pendle has a PACT meeting which anyone living in the respective area can attend.
"However, we do realise that there may be barriers that prevent some people from coming along which is why we are holding special meetings in some areas.”
Unofficial estimates have put the number of migrant workers who have come to Lancashire since 2004 at above 50,000.
According to figures released in 2007, 900 Polish people are registered to work in East Lancashire, with around 350 of them in Burnley and Pendle.
Polish communities are said to be instinctively suspicious of any uniformed services due to experiences in their homeland, which was under Communist rule until 1989.
PCSO Hartley said: “Anyone who does want to come along to the meeting will receive a warm welcome, help from a translator who works with us on a voluntary basis, and a chance to work with us to address any crime or disorder concerns they may have.”
The Polish PACT meeting will take place on March 20 at Burnley Library and the Lithuanian PACT meeting will take place on March 27 at Christ Church in Nelson, both at 2pm.
Full details of regular PACT meetings can be accessed via the Lancashire Police website at www.lancashire.police.uk.
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