'Ello, 'Ello, 'Ello

I have this evening been to an all-party meeting at St Anne's Street Police Station in Liverpool.

It was a heady meeting attended by no less than the following people:

Chief Superintendent Steve Watson - new to our area and upon whose direction the meeting was called, to introduce himself to the local councillors in our patch in Liverpool North

Superintendent Ian Pilling, his number two in our area.

Chief Inspector Paul White (who was Inspector at Tuebrook when I was first elected, congratulations to him for his promotion)

Inspector Dave Charnock of our neighbourhood, based in Tuebrook police station who is a fantastic locally entrenched officer and another Dave, whose surname I did not get who is the Inspector based in Eaton Road police station over in West Derby.

A fine group of men.

What a shame they are all men though, isn't it about time some women came up through the ranks? Or do you have to be called "Dave" to get anywhere in the Police? She wonders

Anyway we had the meeting and the following messages came through - and after discussion not one of these facts was contradicted by a Labour, LibDem or Liberal Councillor in the Liverpool North area - I think it is important to say that.

1. There are now 32 fewer victims of crime PER DAY in Liverpool North since last year.

2. There has been a dramatic decrease in crime in Liverpool North.

3. Burglary remains the number one most important crime in the eyes of the police (and the public) in the Liverpool North area.

4. There has been a 40% reduction in anti-social behaviour in the area.

On behalf of us all I made the following points


a. Congratulations to Paul White for his promotion (Hope the Rugby injuries clear up soon, that is one hell of a black eye and mangled ear you have there Paul)

b. Kensington New Deal Police Team are more than worthy of their regional award as the best police team in the area/region. I cannot quite recall the geography of their award, but if every area had a Sergeant Joyce, or a Tony or a George or a Shelly etc etc then we would all be very happy crime-free citizens.

c. The burglary figures for our area which show only a tiny reduction compared to the massive reductions for the Eaton Road Police Station area are pretty much down to the activities of one young man from Kenny whose name I know but wont use. Other than him and his mates burglary has gone down in our area too.

d. The police did great work last week during RESPECT week and I thanked them for that

e. Inspector Charnock used to be able to provide us and residents with a detailed report of his officers' work in the area on a day by day basis. Since the Force had decided to re-examine the legality of this exercise, these reports have not been forthcoming and have been sadly missed. They promised to get on to this and sort it out forthwith.

f. I asked about the possibility of a section 30 notice - for the dispersment of large groups o young people in and around the Newsham Park area. Inspector Charnock has agreed to discuss this with me on a one-to-one.

It was a good meeting.