February 5, 2010
Make Your Voice Heard
Bedfordshire Police is hard at work making contact with all minority and “hard to reach” groups within Luton so their voices can be heard and they are given the opportunity to influence how the town is policed.
Dedicated Community Outreach Officer, Cheryl Daniels, a Police Community Support Officer, who worked for Bedfordshire Police in the Sundon Park before getting involved in the programme, is busy seeking out groups that are proactively engaged in working with residents based upon race, religion, LGBT, disability or age (young and old) on a regular basis under the Community Outreach Programme.
Cheryl said: “In Luton we want to police with the general consent of the public, we cannot achieve that goal if we do not engage with all aspects of the town’s diversely rich community, hear their views and respond appropriately in our policing style.
“Normally most members of the public only have contact with the police when there has been an incident or we turn up on your doorstep to bring you some bad news. Under the Community Outreach Programme I visit people because we want to change that perception.
“We are trying very hard to build a network of people from minority and hard to reach groups to give them the opportunity to voice their ideas and concerns and actually encourage them to voluntarily feed back their personal fears, perceptions and views in such a way that will assist us to develop our community embracement and understanding over diversity still further.
“Becoming a dedicated member of the programme means I can identify underrepresented groups and be there for them if they have any issues or concerns they would like to talk about so we can try and resolve them as quickly as possible.”
As part of Cheryl’s role she also gives informative talks on personal safety and home security. She added: “I am very happy to talk to local groups about these subjects and I can give advice about a whole range of problems from crime reduction, anti social behaviour and hate crime. I can’t promise I will know all the answers to the issues or concerns raised but if I don’t know the answers I will always make a note of the questions so that I can get back to the individual with the answers as soon as I can.”
Becoming an active group in the programme is easy and doesn’t involve attending formal meetings but members can become a sounding board whereby individuals can share regular e-mail/telephone contact and Cheryl, as the outreach worker, can attend some of your meetings to sit at the back, interact and join in with group discussion.
Any groups wishing to get in touch with Cheryl can telephone her on 01582 394013 or 07931 294614 or email cheryl.daniels@bedfordshire.pnn.police.uk
