PCSP Vice-Chair takes to Banbridge streets

Mr Murphy, was impressed when he spent two hours out and about the streets of Banbridge to see for himself the issues that wardens have to deal with on a regular basis.

“Spending two hours on patrol with the Community Safety Wardens was a great opportunity to see the range of situations that the Wardens dealt with even in that relatively short space of time,” Mr Murphy said.

“I was really impressed to see how the Wardens engaged with groups of young people during the evening, giving them practical advice in terms of their own personal safety whilst making them aware of the needs of local residents.

“Fostering this positive relationship with young people can only be a positive contribution making Banbridge town and the District as a whole a safer place for everyone.”

The Community Safety Wardens undertake day-time patrols in your local community across the Banbridge District, and night-time patrols in Banbridge town centre at weekends within the footprint of the town centre CCTV cameras.

In the last six months, two of the Wardens have also voluntarily piloted twilight shifts to enable them to attend local community meetings and events including the PCSP/PSNI business crime prevention advice workshops, Dromore CPLC, etc.

This has enabled the Wardens to build strong relationships with local community representatives and work with them to help resolve issues that are causing community concerns.

Since the introduction of safety wardens in 2009, the wardens have made a significant contribution to reducing anti-social behaviour across the Banbridge District as well as providing reassurance to local communities and to those enjoying the night time social economy in Banbridge town centre.

The presence of the wardens is widely recognised as having the positive impact of diffusing potentially dangerous situations and preventing them from escalating thus reducing incidents of violent assault or criminal damage.

Banbridge PCSP had been lobbying the Department of Justice recently to re-consider its decision and to continue to provide additional funding for the Banbridge District Community Safety Wardens scheme to at least March 31, 2015.

For further information about Banbridge PCSP, its members and the projects, events and activities that it supports, you are asked to please contact the PCSP staffing team. They can be contacted by email [email protected] or alternatively you can them on 028 0462 0248.