Police busy on the beat in Ballymoney

Six Neighbourhood officers are responsible for delivery of community policing in Ballymoney town.

In the Glebe area are Constables Sam Picken and Ricky Black, Carnany - Constable Anna Picken and Constable Tim Patton, while in Castle Constables Dessie Shirley and Paul Creith are on hand.

These officers are in regular contact with their local community and are focused on dealing with local problems to improve the quality of life for everyone living, working or socialising in the town.

At a meeting of the District Policing Partnership on Thursday afternoon, members were informed of a number of activities carried out in these areas from April to June.

In April, neighbourhood officers participated in the Glebeside Community fun day where interaction with youths included stranger-danger, road safety advice for children and the opportunity for a close up look at our police vehicles.

There has also been considerable work within Glebeside estate to address anti-social behaviour and low level crime.

The ‘Dreamscheme’ project centred on the Community House continued to progress and focused primarily on outdoor activities given the time of year.

Young people have been involved in an extensive clean and tidy operation including painting and gardening around the Community House and removal of graffiti within the estate.

Local community leaders have completed training in England to deliver workshops on issues such as behaviour, respect, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual awareness and good citizenship.

These will be delivered during autumn/winter with incentives for those young people who successfully complete the programme. Phase 2 of GAP (Glebeside Awareness Project) in conjunction with the local youth football club involved neighbourhood officers working closely with local 11-16 year olds to increase awareness of the impact of anti-social behaviour on their own community and the potential implications for themselves.

As an incentive, those participating received new training tops.

In partnership with Cheers Youth Club, neighbourhood officers were involved in another initiative to address anti-social behaviour.

The ‘Young People and Law and Order’ programme carries an OCM Level 1 accreditation through CRUN. Two groups of local young people participated and neighbourhood officers were involved in delivering presentations on policing, the Juvenile Justice system and the role of prisons.

Some of these young people will visit Boston in September with the Ballymoney Youth Forum and will include studies of the U.S criminal justice system compared to Northern Ireland.

Camp Rock was a week long music and dance event at Bushmills Residential Centre for secondary school aged youth, mainly from Ballymoney, Coleraine and Magherafelt.

The NEELB have a leader exchange programme whereby young leaders came over from Boston and helped in leading and getting involved with the local youth in their activities.

The music aspect was facilitated by The Nerve Centre, Londonderry (some of the musicians were previously part of the Undertones) and the dance was with the Karen Graham Riada Dance School. Police involvement helped break down barriers and provided an opportunity for positive interaction.

The Peer Leadership and 'Makin Sense' projects were both been shortlisted for presentation at the 2010 National Community Safety Network annual conference in June 2010.

This event attracted hundreds of practitioners from the field of Community Safety from across the UK and was a wonderful opportunity to showcase Peer Leadership which is delivered in conjunction with Tommie Linton (Cheers Youth Club). The latest Peer Leadership programme concluded with an evenings Go Karting by way of reward for participation.

Neighbourhood officers are in regular contact with Castle Community Association. Police surgeries are a regular occurrence in the community centre, made possible with the assistance of the Community Association.

An additional surgery was arranged in St Patrick’s Parish Hall recently in response to concerns and requests from local residents from Queen Street/Union Street. These surgeries are advertised through the local press and a leaflet drop and provide an opportunity for police to listen to local concerns, deal with problems affecting the quality of life of the local community and provide advice on basic home security.