ON behalf of SAFER (Safer and Further Empowerment for Ramsbottom), we would like to thank chief superintendent Garry Shewan, inspector Steve Clark, local councillors and residents who attended a meeting on Dec 14.
The meeting was arranged to address concerns about the safety of residents on our streets; more specifically, the problem of what we consider to be the increase in anti-social behaviour.
Our new action group was formed after a particularly horrific attack on a resident. The incident was reported in the Bury Times on November 12, under the heading "Mob used man's head as football". This was the latest of many unprovoked attacks and has resulted in on-going hospital treatment for the man concerned.
The SAFER group came together because people were completely at a loss to explain why such attacks on innocent people were seemingly going unpunished. Frustrated at the lack of visible policing on the streets, there were even murmurs that some residents wanted to take matters into their own hands.
We therefore invited Mr David Chaytor MP, Ramsbottom councillor Barry Theckston, and councillor Sam Cohen (member of the Greater Manchester Police Authority) to an informal meeting. We presented to them a petition, signed by more than 300 residents, urgently requesting a greater police presence on the streets in Ramsbottom.
It was thanks to Mr Chaytor and Coun Theckston that another meeting was quickly arranged with senior police officers. This gave us the opportunity to explain to them that residents no longer feel safe when walking the streets after dark. We want to see more police patrols out and about and Ramsbottom police station open on a more permanent basis.
On the whole, we thought the meeting was positive. We recognised that the chief superintendent was committed to tackling anti-social behaviour in the Ramsbottom area and he did say that, by working with other agencies, our community could expect to see a real difference in 2005. He added that it would not be possible, however, to open Ramsbottom police station more often at this stage, but he did offer us the assurance that every effort would be made to increase support for residents.
We would like to thank Ch. Supt. Shewan and our local councillors for their contributions and look forward to our next meeting in the new year to review progress.
THE SAFER GROUP,
Ramsbottom.
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