“Partnership attacks crime”

 

A partnership of agencies have joined forces to combat crime by creating a “joined-up” approach to communicating information around the town. The re-launched radiolink scheme will combine the strengths of the PSNI both in crime prevention and the town centre beat officer, the CCTV monitoring suite, the 24 hr security manning of the Flagship Centre and the eyes and ears of many retail managers with their staff.

 

With funding from the North Down Community Safety Partnership and Policing in the Community Fund, the scheme, which historically was started and managed by the Flagship Centre, will now be managed by the town centre management team based in Main Street. During the daytime, its aim is to combat retail crime by creating a radio network amongst business premises, the PSNI, the CCTV suite and security teams working in different premises. In the evening a similar network using the same system will link different licensed premises to PSNI beat officers and CCTV to apprehend those engaged in criminal damage and assaults.

 

Karen Marshall, manager of the Flagship Centre said: “We where pleased to be able to initiate this system into Bangor many years ago but we felt that it needed to be reinvigorated and managed by a body with a broader oversight of the town. We where very pleased when the town centre management team came on board. They have provided a much-needed boost. The partnership arrangement with PSNI, CCTV and retail managers is an enormous strength.”

 

Re-launching the scheme before Christmas is a statement of intent from all bodies combating crime. Andrew Culbert, PSNI Inspector commented: “The message we want to convey is that crime will not be tolerated at any time. Having this communications link will aid policing. Christmas is a particularly busy time of the year and the PSNI will be very active on the ground in Bangor. The extra eyes and ears keeping in touch will reduce response times and involve many more people in reducing crime.”