My Barnoldswick & Earby Times, Colne Times and Nelson Leader Column for Friday 7th September 2018...
This week MPs returned to Westminster following the summer recess. Parliament doesn’t sit during August, allowing MPs to either take a holiday or spend more time in their constituencies.
I always spend August in Pendle, because there is so much going on, from the Trawden Show and the Rhythm and Blues Festival to the publication of GCSE and A level results. And not having to travel up and down to London allows me time to do even more than I would in an average week.
This year I decided to spend shifts out with different people to get a better in-depth understanding of the challenges they face. I went out on a delivery round with a postman in Barnoldswick, spent the morning collecting the bins with a refuse team in Nelson, spent the day with Pendle Council’s environmental crime team and spent 12hours out with paramedics on an ambulance.
I also spent an 8hour shift out with Lancashire Police, responding to incidents from Colne Police Station. Local policing has been a hot topic this summer, with a big rise in the anti-social and illegal use of fireworks in Brierfield and Nelson, an incident involving a police officer arresting a 14-year-old girl in Accrington which went viral on social media and controversial changes to neighbourhood policing being proposed.
I’ve been out on shifts with our local police before and regularly meet officers to be briefed on local issues or raise residents concern with them, so I appreciate the challenges they face. The expectation of the public for policing has changed substantially over the past decade, with rising complex crimes such as online fraud, child sexual exploitation and domestic abuse.
A growing amount of officer time is also now spent helping to safeguard vulnerable people, such as missing children, people suffering from mental ill health and vulnerable adults. What hasn’t changed is the commitment of officers to prevent crime and keep the public safe and I saw that again first hand when out with them.
They do an incredibly difficult job and deserve our support and respect. My thanks to Sgt Chris Hinchcliffe for the background briefing at Colne Police Station and PC Arron Taylor for taking me out with him.
