Councillors lament demise of SNT meetings
Wednesday, 4th March 2015.
The demise of the police public forums in Suffolk was lamented by town councillors at last night's meeting.
Suffolk Constabulary has decided to axe the quarterly priority-setting Safer Neighbourhood Team public meetings, which had been well attended in Haverhill.
In a report from Insp Peter Ferrie, read out at the meeting he said Haverhill's SNT meetings had been the best in Suffolk, but they now had to look for new forms of public engagement.
Cllr Maureen Byrne said she was 'sad and disappointed' at the decision, because the meetings had enabled residents to get to know their local police chief and his officers, and found them approachable.
Cllr Pat Hanlon, who sits on a working group being tasked with finding a replacement for the SNT meetings, said it was vital the town council continued to be represented on the group, even if he lost his seat at the coming election.
Members agreed to appoint a regular member to the group. They also heard the constabulary was going to have to make £20.5million in cuts over the next five years.
But town mayor Cllr Roger Andre said he was not interested in the financial cuts but he was interested in seeing policing me residents' local needs.
Cllr Clive Turner called for Suffolk's police and crime commissioner Tim Passmore to come to Haverhill to explain the cuts.
Suffolk Constabulary has decided to axe the quarterly priority-setting Safer Neighbourhood Team public meetings, which had been well attended in Haverhill.
In a report from Insp Peter Ferrie, read out at the meeting he said Haverhill's SNT meetings had been the best in Suffolk, but they now had to look for new forms of public engagement.
Cllr Maureen Byrne said she was 'sad and disappointed' at the decision, because the meetings had enabled residents to get to know their local police chief and his officers, and found them approachable.
Cllr Pat Hanlon, who sits on a working group being tasked with finding a replacement for the SNT meetings, said it was vital the town council continued to be represented on the group, even if he lost his seat at the coming election.
Members agreed to appoint a regular member to the group. They also heard the constabulary was going to have to make £20.5million in cuts over the next five years.
But town mayor Cllr Roger Andre said he was not interested in the financial cuts but he was interested in seeing policing me residents' local needs.
Cllr Clive Turner called for Suffolk's police and crime commissioner Tim Passmore to come to Haverhill to explain the cuts.
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