Policing in Medway – Two Ways of Looking

Most, though not all, things in life have at least two ways that one can look at them, sometimes diametrically opposite views.

For example, community policing numbers in Medway seem to be strongly slanted toward what were Labour or Lib Dem-held wards when the system was set up, based around the current ward structure. Here is a table of PCs, PCSOs (including the occasional PCSO Supervisor) and councillors by ward (click on the image for a larger display)...


As you can see, the only urban wards with more than three PCSOs allocated (according to Kent Police's website today) are Chatham Central (5 PCSOs), Gillingham North (also 5), Gillingham South (4), Luton & Wayfield (5), and River (6). The sprawling Peninsula ward has four PCSOs, but that's simply for geographical reasons.

Most wards have just one actual Constable, the exceptions with two apiece being (again) Chatham Central, Gillingham North, Luton & Wayfield and River, along with Rainham Central for some unknown reason (though perhaps because the council's Community Safety portfolio holder represents that ward: just a wild guess).

Thus one viewpoint might be that the police were politically-motivated in concentrating their efforts into making Labour (and the odd Lib Dem) wards seem better managed via their elected representatives than (specifically) Conservative-represented wards.

There is some merit in this, especially when one looks at my former ward, Rochester South & Horsted (RSH), which is one of the larger and most complex urban wards, and with a fair chunk of locales with histories of crime and anti-social behaviour. Yet this three-councillor ward has just two PCSOs, and I am told that they didn't even have both of those posts for a while not so long ago. Indeed, it is the only three-member ward with just two PCSOs apart from Strood Rural, and also Rainham Central but that ward has the additional full PC to compensate.

However, isn't it better to deploy one's resources where the need is greatest? Apart from the RSH situation, which is distinctly odd, it does look as though the distribution of Constables and Support Officers is reasonable, especially (I strongly suspect) if one has access to the crime etc statistics for all areas, as I had issued monthly for my ward for a while, back in 2007.

Whatever is done, it will never be enough to suit every area's needs and wishes, at least until the national culture has changed sufficiently so that the need for such policing is significantly reduced. As it is, there are 27 Ward Constables for the 22 wards of Medway, and 65 PCSOs, which is a lot more than when I was on the Council. I know that this was as much the Portfolio Holder's doing as the police themselves and the wishes of the then national government, but all had a hand in improving this vitally important local policing situation.

Similarly, when looking at the David Craggs saga, there will be at least two ways to look at what is still unfolding, so it is better not to jump too strongly in any particular direction at this time. That hasn't stopped the local Lefties predictably using that business as an excuse for Tory-bashing (some things never change, and some lessons are never learned!) both Labour and Green. The way that is being described on local Labour and Green 'blogs is hugely (though not entirely) at variance with now well-documented facts. At least one of them is suggesting that the media have taken a stance that I certainly cannot see in any of their reports, all of which I have on file here...

It is little wonder that both those parties' futures here look like being at the bottom of the pile, with the Greens still going nowhere in Medway (votes of just 0∙8%, 0∙9% and 1∙5% here in last May's General Election) and Labour's long-term and now clearly terminal decline aiming them toward somewhere near the same point a few years hence.

As I have noticed for quite a few years now, it is their way of looking at things that so often shows them to be out of touch with real people's views. I realise they are trying to manipulate public opinion (it is their way, as always, ever since Pravda & Izvestia and probably before) but Medway folk aren't as easily fooled as that, especially nowadays – and it shows, at every election, both local and national.