I am Elaine Kennedy. I've lived in Norbiton for over 20 years. I joined One
Norbiton about 18 months ago because, having retired, I had time and wanted to
become more involved in my community. Since joining One Norbiton, I have been
involved in the Police and Safety Group - a small sub-group of One Norbiton
which meets monthly to discuss issues of common interest with other partners in
the community such the Safer Neighbourhood Team, neighbourhood ranger, council
representatives etc. The group is currently working on building and expanding
Neighbourhood Watch schemes in Norbiton.
COMMUNITY RANGERS
The group has been looking into the idea of community rangers and has visited
ranger teams in other London boroughs to see how they operate. Teams visited
provided a visible presence in their communities - patrolling the streets
(usually afternoon and evenings), making personal contact with residents, local
businesses, community representatives, council officials, and the police to
spot and tackle problems - such as anti-social behaviour. They were a highly
trained and experienced team most of whom had been in post 10 years and they
were well equipped with technology including state of the art CCTV enabled
vehicles. The teams visited were hot on deterring groups of youths from
congregating and misusing public areas (often associated with drugs and
alcohol) and worked closely with the police to clamp down on it.
One team of rangers visited were keen to crack down on other forms of
anti-social behaviour such as dog fouling, fly tipping and littering and had
issued over 170 fixed penalty notices in the previous year including one under
the Environmental Protection Act to someone urinating in the street.
In addition to their patrolling work, rangers ran a number of activities for
children and young people including football coaching and a gym club. The idea
of this work was to build relationships at an early age and guide the kids in
the right direction. Often the funding for these of events came from local
businesses.
Although the main focus of the rangers visited was on youngsters, they also
kept an eye on elderly or vulnerable residents and made sure that any problems
were highlighted with the relevant people. An example given to us was that of
a disabled resident who was unable to leave her 5th floor flat when a power cut
put the lifts out of action for a spell. The rangers were able to check on
this resident and make sure that she was okay. Another example was that of an
elderly couple who felt intimidated by a group of youths who had congregated
near their home. They called in the rangers who talked to the youths and they
dispersed.
At the time of our visit, the Hammersmith and Fulham team was enthusiastically
planning a Tea Dance for elderly and isolated residents with wartime food,
music, and memorabilia.
The community rangers described themselves "as the eyes and ears of the
police". Our impression was that they were very much more than that.
KINGSTON RANGERS
Apparently, there used to be a small team of community rangers patrolling in
Norbiton and, by all accounts, they did a good job. However, this service was
abolished a few years ago (we haven't been able to find out why so far).
Members of One Norbiton want to bring community rangers back. Obviously, in
these times of austerity, we shall need a convincing business case. We're up
for the challenge! But before going further, we would be interested in hearing
your views.
Best wishes,
Elaine