Council meet Police regarding Anti-Social Behaviour
22nd June 2021
A representative from Kent Police was invited to a recent parish council meeting to discuss recent instances of anti-social behaviour in the popular Riverside area and how best to tackle them.
The meeting was attended by a representative of Kent Police and a number of local residents and parish and local councillors. There was a long discussion about the ongoing issues, the causes, impact and possible solutions.
The issues were affecting local businesses, residents and other visitors to the village that we welcome.
It was largely agreed that no single solution exists but the most likely to have a meaningful impact is a significantly increased police presence in the village. Eynsford is not alone in such problems within the district, and as such is in competition for valuable police resources. The key message is, as a community we need to report every crime witnessed, this allows the police to identify problem areas and allocate resources to counter the issues.
Police officers are unable to act if they do not witness the crimes themselves or have sufficient evidence to charge or prosecute individuals. Ensuring officers are present more often and at crucial times will hopefully deter those committing crimes, and enable the police to witness any incidents.
Unfortunately, for all the problems we are concerned about, a relatively small number of crimes have been reported, which leaves the police little leverage to significantly increase patrols in the area. The Inspector attending did take on board all that was said and will continue to work with the council to address issues as best as possible, but the key message is report all crime on 101 or online at https://www.kent.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/.
In terms of traffic and parking, the council will continue to lobby SDC to enforce existing parking restrictions and work with SDC and KCC to implement new solutions in problem areas.
Kent County Council will be contacted regarding a replacement Community Warden.
Meanwhile, the council will meet with the police and the SDC Community Safety Unit to discuss further.
