Tag: Cambridgeshire Police

Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner – the four candidates

Meet with the four candidates for Police Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire

Tuesday 12th April 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: In a month’s time, or just under a month actually, you will have the chance to have your say on how Cambridgeshire should be policed. It is the Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Over the next few days you’re going to hear from each of Cambridgeshire’s four Police and Crime Commissioner candidates, talking about why they want the role and what their priorities for policing would be. Continue reading “Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner – the four candidates”

Richard Taylor Cambridge on volunteering to help the police

“We’ve got volunteers doing all sorts of things in Cambridgeshire Police. We’ve got people looking at CCTV in Ely, we’ve got people monitoring ANPR. We’ve got the SpeedWatch volunteers and the people who use speed guns and prompt people to be sent warning letters. We’ve got all sorts of volunteers.”

09:24 Tuesday 1st December 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Do you fancy becoming Cambridgeshire’s next big detective? Well our county’s police force could be about to make your dream come true. Cambridgeshire Police have placed adverts for a couple of jobs that it wants members of the public to fill. The first job is for a volunteer detective to find stolen property, whilst the second role is to wash it’s patrol cars at Cambridge police station. Seriously though, is this the future? Is this .. as budgets continue to be stretched, is this the future? Should we do more to patrol our own communities? Are you helping? Have you helped the police? Is this Cameron’s Big Society in action here? Citizens on Patrol. Should there be a People of Peterborough Police Force or a Cambridge Residents Constabulary? Well Richard Taylor is a political blogger from Cambridge and has put this story online and well many many people have commented already Richard. Morning.
RICHARD TAYLOR: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: So Citizens on Patrol. We’re all doing our bit Richard. What a good thing that is. Big Society.
Continue reading “Richard Taylor Cambridge on volunteering to help the police”

Cambridgeshire Police Commissioner candidate warns of incipient privatisation

10:24 Monday 1st February 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We’re also talking anti-social behaviour. Many of you getting in touch today with your stories. We heard from John earlier. Les from Cambridge says “After nine months of stone-throwing against my window amongst other things my support worker organised mediation. Any way, I think we need to join up the thinking between unemployment, anti-social behaviour and immigration.” says Les from Cambridge. Obviously I haven’t seen any studies that do link those, but maybe there is something there says Les in Cambridge. But if anti-social behaviour is making your life a misery we’d like to hear from you this morning. And how do you think we should stop it? We heard about the Arbury Estate in Cambridge earlier, where residents say drug use and poor driving were causing problems. Well now a row has broken out in Peterborough about how the city there should tackle anti-social behaviour. Some councillors say they want council staff to be able to tackle anti-social behaviour, which includes aggressive begging. But others are concerned about the scheme and want it thrown out. One of them who wants it thrown out is Labour councillor Ed Murphy. Ed, morning.
ED MURPHY: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: What’s wrong with it, on the face of it, tackling anti-social behaviour?
Continue reading “Cambridgeshire Police Commissioner candidate warns of incipient privatisation”

Bedfordshire police force could become unviable says Commissioner

09:51 Thursday 5th November 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We’re also talking about policing, particularly in Cambridgeshire this morning, Olly Martins the Police and Crime Commissioner in Bedfordshire warning that his force could soon become unviable, and that we here in Cambridgeshire Police may have to merge or take over. Mr Martin is also threatening to switch on every speed camera and raise the council tax charge. So we’re asking this morning, merger a good idea? Ed Murphy who stood to be Police and Crime Commissioner in the last election in this county for Labour says it might have to happen. We may have to pay a bit more. And certainly Government should be paying a bit more. I’m pleased to say we can speak to the man who’s making waves this morning, Olly Martins from Bedfordshire, the Police and Crime Commissioner. Olly morning.
OLLY MARTINS: Hello there.
PAUL STAINTON: Easier to get you on than Sir Graham Bright. Thank you for coming on . Big ideas. A lot of talking. A lot of scaremongering?
Continue reading “Bedfordshire police force could become unviable says Commissioner”

Police chief to retire within weeks

11:16 Tuesday 16th June 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Producer Ben has got some breaking news for us this morning. Morning Ben.
BENOIT STEVENSON: Yes Paul. A big announcement coming from the Cambridge Constabulary this morning. Simon Parr the Chief Constable of Cambridge Constabulary has today announced he is to retire at the end of July 2015. So this is the man in charge …
PAUL STAINTON: Next month.
Continue reading “Police chief to retire within weeks”

Police predict rising crime figures

08:09 Friday 24th April 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: “I don’t feel safe anymore.” Those are the words of a disabled Peterborough veteran as he comes to terms with being the victim of a horrific attack. It comes as the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show there’s been a sharp rise in violent and sexual crime in Cambridgeshire. The number of violent crimes is up 45% from last year. Sexual offences are up 53%. And robbery is up 30%. .. Let’s talk to Ed Murphy. Ed, you’re a Peterborough Labour councillor. You’re also a former candidate for Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner role. Good morning.
ED MURPHY: Good morning.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So we’ve heard from the Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Graham Bright. In a statement he says that these crimes figures are up because people are reporting more crimes. Do you agree?
ED MURPHY: No. He’s actually lying through his back teeth once again on this one. He’s in denial. Three months ago I was talking to your listeners about rising violent crime, particularly in the Peterborough area. We’d had four muggings, including Richard, and he’s just in complete denial. Your figures that you quoted from the Office for National Statistics are really alarming. In Cambridgeshire violence against the person that year up 45%. If you look at another comparable police force, the Police Service in Derbyshire, it went up by 4%.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So what do you think is driving the rises then Ed?
ED MURPHY: What’s driving it is a cut in the number of police officers and waste. I’ve calculated about £7 million on Graham Bright’s office since he came in. Cambridgeshire is the fastest growing county in the country. We need more police officers, not less police officers. And we need to tackle this so people like Richard can feel safe in going out in their own town they live in. It’s absolutely disgraceful that too many people don’t feel safe and secure in their own towns and villages throughout Cambridgeshire. And quite frankly, for police officers to be put on by Graham Bright who’s afraid to come on the radio, and try and make out it’s because more people are reporting crime, is a nonsense. Your listeners have tried ringing 101 and reporting crime. They know it’s a lie.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Well let’s talk now to Chief Superintendent DanVajzovic who’s the Head of Territorial Policing at Cambridgeshire Police. Dan, thanks for coming on this morning. You heard there Ed Murphy saying it is a disgrace that people in Cambridgeshire are afraid to leave their homes at night. Do you agree?
Continue reading “Police predict rising crime figures”

Sir Graham Bright on a steep rise in reported crimes in Cambridgeshire

08:19 Friday 30th January 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: It’s a week after new data revealed a rise in crime figures for Cambridgeshire over the last year, and now Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner is available to speak to us. The information was released by the Office for National Statistics. It shows sexual offences are up 55%, violent crime is up 44%, and violent crime resulting in injury is up 33%. Sir Graham Bright issued a statement at the time but has been too busy to schedule an interview, that is until today. Sir Graham, some people might say that in the light of these figures, which you can’t deny do sound alarming, sexual offences up, violent crime up, robberies up, you’re only here to talk about this more than a week afterwards. How do you explain that?
GRAHAM BRIGHT: Well first of all we need to try to understand those figures, and we are still working on just that. They are confusing, without any doubt, and we’ve got to sort of dig, dig underneath. I’m asking the police to give a full report on this to me, which will go to the Board, where we hold them obviously to account. And we hope to bring some more information out on that. There’s obviously, certainly with some of those figures, we were expecting an increase, because we’ve been encouraging people to report crime.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Excuse me Sir Graham. I’m just going to interrupt, and let’s go back to this delay of a week. I accept what you say, that sometimes you need a little bit of time to interpret figures, but a week? Isn’t it your job to come on the radio and reassure the public about figures like this?
GRAHAM BRIGHT: Well you went ahead so rapidly, and I was in a meeting elsewhere and couldn’t be with you. And then ..
DOTTY MCLEOD: We’re a news organisation. We can’t apologise for reporting the news quickly.
GRAHAM BRIGHT: Well you sometimes sort of try and jump in even before it happens. I hadn’t seen those stats at all, and it took us by surprise when they came out.
DOTTY MCLEOD: I don’t find that particularly reassuring, that the media were picking up on crime figures before the Police and Crime Commissioner.
GRAHAM BRIGHT: Well the Police and Crime Commissioner was elsewhere working. I’m not sitting looking at reports all the time.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Isn’t it your job though to be on top of figures like this? Continue reading “Sir Graham Bright on a steep rise in reported crimes in Cambridgeshire”

An interview with Sir Graham Bright Police and Crime Commissioner

07:06 Friday 12th September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: This week we’ve been focusing on how Cambridgeshire Police is adapting in the face of tough budget cuts. Today we go to the man who holds the purse-strings, and sets the objectives for the police force to follow. It’s nearly two years since Sir Graham Bright was elected as Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner. It’s his job to hold the police to account, making them answerable to the public. Regular listeners to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire will know that we have had difficulty at times securing interviews with Sir Graham on air, but I’ve been to see him, and I have recorded an extended interview that we’ll be playing in two parts, the first one now, the second one in about an hour’s time. In Part One he speaks about how he has been able to influence policing policy in Cambridgeshire, and I asked him why he so rarely agreed to be interviewed on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Breakfast Show.
(TAPE)
DOTTY MCLEOD: So going to start with something that we’ve just been touching on really, the role of the Police and Crime Commissioner. Turnout in the elections when you were elected was quite low. A year into the job we went out and asked people in Cambridgeshire whether they knew who you were and what you did, and what a PCC did. A lot of people didn’t. Is that a problem?
Continue reading “An interview with Sir Graham Bright Police and Crime Commissioner”