downsmail.co.uk Drink ‘scandal’
MAIDSTONE’s top police officer has slammed licensed premises for profiteering from selling alcohol to vulnerable young drinkers. Steve Corbishley, Chief Superin- tendent ofWest Kent Division, told the Maidstone and District Neigh- bourhood Watch AGM: “It’s scan- dalous that businesses are making money out of people who fall into a gutter andwe, together with the am- bulance, have to pick up the pieces. “You get clubs offering deals for
people to spend £15-£20 to drink as much as they want. Many of the people who take advantage of these offers are vulnerable; some are women who face the risk of sexual assault. Yet all of these businesses still make money out of selling cheap alcohol.”
Linda retires
LINDASinclair has stepped down from her position of secretary of Maid- stone and District Neighbourhood Watch after eight years. Ms Sinclair said she would still be
volunteering for the organisation and would continue to be a coor- dinator for the Barming area, which is where she lives.
Neighbourhood watch AGM |News Award for dedicated Mike
BROOMFIELD residentMike Evans was awarded Neighbourhood Watch coordinator of the year for the Maidstone area. Mr Evans began his role, which
also covers Kingswood, four years ago. He said: “I was on the parish council and we tried for a long time to get the Neighbourhood Watch well established. “I have just encouraged people to
report what they don’t like because they are usually reluctant to do that and it has proved quite successful.” Swansea-born Mr Evans was a
sales director at Whatman paper. He lived in Bearsted before moving to Broomfield. Jim Wilson, chairman of Maidstone and District Neighbour- hood Watch Association, said: “He
Mike Evans receives his trophy fromMaidstone mayor Richard Thick
has built up a network of 16 coordi- nators. He is quiet and unassuming
but dedicated to improving Neigh- bourhoodWatch in the local area.”
Emergency phone service ‘unacceptable’
KENT Police’s non-emergency 101 service has been criticised by the local divisional commander. The phone schemewas launched
in 2011 to reduce demand on 999 emergency calls. The view of speakers at the Maidstone and Dis- trict NeighbourhoodWatch AGM was that itwas not up to scratch. One of its primary critics was
Steve Corbishley, chief superinten- dent of West Kent Division, who said he was “thoroughly hacked off” by the delay in answering calls. He said: “I have phoned 101 a few times and it has taken about 20 minutes to get through. It’s unac- ceptable sowe are working to get a better service.” The number of 101 calls per day
rose between April and October 2014 by 8.1% to an average of 1,549, each costing the user 15p, with queuing times for answered calls averaging 74 seconds. At the same time, 999 callswere up by 6.7%. Ch Supt Corbishley said the system was easily overwhelmed. “One in- cident can lead to 3,000 calls,” he added.
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