PCC visits communities in BANES
Last Friday (16th February) the PCC was in Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) where he met with local MPs, Policing teams, and Bath City Football Foundation.
The PCC started the day by having a meeting with MP for North East Somerset, Jacob Rees-Mogg, in Keynsham. They discussed about shoplifting along the Keynsham high street. The PCC Mark Shelford stressed the importance of reporting all shoplifting incidents to the police. And that some supermarkets are starting to use facial recognition in conjunction with other security methods in a small subset of stores with high incidences of organised retail theft and repeat offenders.
Jacob Rees-Mogg MP also took the opportunity of this meeting and asked about the channel 4 documentary ‘To Catch a Copper. The PCC explained he “fully support the Chief Constable Sarah Crew’s decision to invite the Channel 4 team into the Professional Standards Department and Counter Corruption Unit to follow the important work they do.
“The challenges around trust and confidence in the police nationally have been well documented and Avon and Somerset Police is showing that, to bring about long-term culture change, transparency and openness are vital.”
Following this, the PCC visited Bath Police Station, where he had the opportunity to meet with officers, Inspector Dudley Bond, and temporary Chief Inspector Jon Nash, to hear any policing and crime concerns in the area.
Whilst in Bath, PCC met with Wera Hobhouse, MP for Bath. They discussed knife crime and what we can do to tackle this, such as bringing communities and partnerships together.
Finally, PCC Mark Shelford visited Bath City Football Club Foundation, where he met with Geoff Stevens, Operations Manager and Paul Benjamin, Foundation Coach and Bath City Youth Development Officer.
They discussed the Foundation’s partnership work with Young Bristol, where they run youths’ sessions in Keynsham, and their mentoring sessions with young people in Bath.
They also discussed knife crime, and how they work and mentor young people who may be involved in crime-related activities/groups and what we can do to prevent it. This also led to their school visits where they talk about topics such as mental well-being. PCC then suggested to do a session on recognising unhealthy relationships and violence against women and girls.