Booze-fuelled crime: Chief reporter's story... (From Chard & Ilminster News)

Booze-fuelled crime: Chief reporter's story...

6:05pm Tuesday 28th August 2007 in Chard By Steve Sowden

THE chief reporter of the Chard and Ilminster News, Steve Sowden, accompanied the police and relevant agencies on Friday night as they carried out the latest in the Operation Relentless series of initiatives - this time aimed at cutting down on night-time crime fuelled by alcohol. Here is his report.

THE look on the faces of two 16-year-old youths said it all when they walked round the corner of a building within the grounds of the lower school at Holyrood in Chard and bumped into police community support officer Dave Travers early on Friday evening.

Somewhat startled and guilty-looking they quickly tried to conceal two bottles of lager they were holding behind their backs, but PCSO Travers had already spotted their intentions and when they confirmed their ages the booze was seized and poured away in front of their eyes.

The two lads should be commended on the way in which they totally co-operated with the officer in a polite manner, even though it could have been more of a case of it's a fair cop, guv' such was their shock at meeting him.

But that could be an overriding message of today's new-look police team - PCSOs are the front-line of policing and their remit is to provide a high-visibility presence in the town. And as those two unsuspecting lads discovered, you could bump into them at anytime or anywhere.

In days gone by seeing a police officer walking the beat would often raise eyebrows from people and immediately get them thinking that something was going on, but nowadays the PCSOs are such familiar faces on our streets they almost blend into the background.

The Chard, Ilminster and Crewkerne area is lucky in that it has got a good and enthusiastic team of PCSOs who want to do their bit' to make our communities feel safer and, more importantly, make residents feel safer. They are not intended to be cracking big time' crime, but the more mundane incidents - the kind of things that really irritate residents such as littering and vandalism.

Although it had been a relatively peaceful night, it certainly gave me an insight into the work of the PCSOs and, I for one, think they will make a big difference.

And, as a relative newcomer to Chard, may I say it was refreshing to meet some of the town's youngsters and, by and large, dispelled the myth that just because they are out of an evening in groups of friends does not necessarily mean they are out to cause trouble.