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REBECCA HARRIS

Last week I invited the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, to Canvey Island. I wanted Chris to see some of the innovative work the police were doing on the Island to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.

The police, under their Divisional Commander, Chief Inspector Keith Davies, have been using what is termed "Problem Oriented Policing" to tackle some of the offending they encounter on Canvey. This approach, derived from American zero tollerance policing, involves the police moving away from a simple, tactical response to incidents as they happen, and more towards engaging local authorities, groups and members of the public to come up with measures which might prevent the behaviour occurring in the first place.

Keith took us to see how this working around the Avenues and talk to residents. He told us how his team had been working with the Town and Borough Councils with plans to fence off and landscape some of the places where fly-tipping had been happening. We discussed efforts to get some goal posts put up on some land near Northwick Park school, to deter youngsters from kicking balls against people's walls.

Keith also told us the police were developing a relationship with the Canvey Youth Project and Chris and I went to their base in Long Road. The project has done some excellent work with young people on the Island and elsewhere in the Borough over the last 19 years without any statutory funding.

The police's approach depends on active participation by the community. Keith wanted above anything else to get the message across that the public should not hesitate to come forward with information or concerns about offending or anti-social behaviour, and be confident that the police would be right behind them and take action.

Chris was clearly impressed with the work Keith and his team were doing, and particularly the partnerships they had built across the community. We need to support the police, and take some responsibility ourselves for keeping our community safe and a pleasant place in which to live.

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