The police and the ASB team have agreed to do a Shopwatch meeting for us

At this meeting, we will discuss the recent rise in crime, issues raised over the summer, policing hours, WhatsApp group, etc. The BID team will also be on hand to sign people up to the DISC system.

We have had an increase in people using DISC as businesses have started to recognise the importance of reporting crime and how it directly influences the number of policing hours we have. Although there has been an increase over the summer in comparison to other towns around Cornwall our crime is still extremely low and therefore their limited resources will always go to areas where crime is higher, unfortunately even with our rise in crime we are still often hailed as a shining example of how low crime can be. There is a huge amount of reporting going through DISC at the moment but most relate to parking violations and the public realm, very little crime reporting is taking place.

Our current neighbourhood policing team consists of PC Saint (Part-Time), PCSO Webb (Tuesdays and Wednesday). The Police have assured us they have now recruited for our missing 40 hours per week role and they are waiting for the new person to start.

Both PC Saint and PCSO Webb are also really frustrated by the lack of resources they have but they have been fantastic at keeping us updated, working alongside us, and helping us make businesses understand the importance of reporting.

In recent weeks the Chair of St Ives BID has met with senior Police, Alison Hernandez (Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner) and Councillor Linda Taylor for St Ives East, Lelant & Carbis Bay and also responsible for the leadership of Cornwall Council to concerns from the businesses. There has been a huge amount of discussion with businesses on and off Shopwatch about resourcing our area but when we analysed the reporting and data it was painfully low. They cannot share 101 and 999 data with us but there were only 4 crime reports on DISC for the whole of August, reporting at this level will not increase resourcing for our area.

Shopwatch

The Shopwatch WhatsApp group has recently been talking about incidents around town but if it’s not being reported then in the eyes of the law or enforcement then it’s not happening.

The key to getting more policing hours is to report everything as it is entirely data driven. No lobbying or petitions will change policing hours, only crime data will change that. If you need a login to DISC please let us know via info@stivesbid.co.uk

Can we also please remind everyone that the Shopwatch WhatsApp group (not run by BID and not GDPR compliant) does still have a code of conduct. This group is a very useful tool to share information across town quickly but we are getting increasing complaints from businesses wanting to come off as it has become a platform for and we quote “moaning”, this group should be about knowledge sharing and supporting each other as a business community. DISC have recently launched an Instant Messenger on our system that IS GDPR compliant which we could launch and switch over to if people prefer but for now the WhatsApp group is very useful to most businesses so please do not abuse it.

Have your say on Policing

Devon & Cornwall Police are inviting the public to take part in a new and ongoing community survey to hear their views about issues that are affecting them in their local area.

What issues are affecting your area? How safe do you feel walking alone after dark? What is good about your neighbourhood?

The intention is to provide a permanent way to survey communities to ask for your views on local priorities and topics such as anti-social behaviour (ASB), uniformed police presence, and how safe people feel.

Visit https://alerts-survey.dc.police.uk/…/4be542cd-672a-4842… to take the Devon & Cornwall Police community survey.