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Neighbourhood watch AGM |News Gypsy prejudice ‘is like racism’


KENT Police’s gypsy and traveller expert believes prejudice against gypsies and travellers should be considered the same as racism.


PC Kim White has been the lead


officer for gypsy liaison since the gypsy liaison team was introduced by Kent Police in 2001.Although she was raised in the settled community, she has relatives from the Romany gypsy community, so she is aware of cultural differences and can under- stand Rocker, one of the many lan- guages spoken by these communities. She told the Maidstone and Dis-


trict NeighbourhoodWatch (NHW) AGM about the variations between gypsies (English Romany, who will


101 service


‘unacceptable’ KENT Police’s non-emergency 101 telephone service has been criticised by the local divisional commander. The schemewas launched in 2011


to reduce demand on 999 emer- gency calls. The unanimous view of speakers at the Maidstone and Dis- trict Neighbourhood Watch 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 min- utes to get through. It’s unaccept- able so we 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 calls were


up by 6.7%.ChSupt Corbishley said the systemwas easily overwhelmed. “One incident can lead to 3,000 calls,” he added.


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, said: “It’s scandalous that businesses are making money out of people who fall into a gutter and we, together with the ambulance, 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.”


tend to live on a permanent site and pay rent/council tax for their respec- tive plots), travellers (Irish, Scottish andWelsh, who prefer to live tran- siently but who in areas such as Headcorn/Medway and Dartford are residing on permanent sites which they own) andRoma(eastern Europeans, who have migrated in large numbers in recent years after the expansion of the EU). There are no council-owned sites housing Roma at the moment in Kent. PC White (55) said: “People still think it’s OK to be prejudiced


against gypsies, although not against other minority ethnic groups. They do still grow up with a lot of prejudice, which makes them a lot more insular and closed be- cause they don’t trust people like us who they refer to as ‘country folk’. “People think that because a lot of gypsies can’t read or write it means they are uneducated, but they are not. Many gypsies are professionals and include doctors and politicians.” One of the reasons for the increase


in gypsies living in permanent cara- van pitches in the countryside is that


they now have fewer stopping places. Gypsy children are required by law to attend school, so it is best for them to reside in one place per- manently so that the children get a good education. Her message to NHW coordina-


torswas: “If you have issues with the gypsy/travelling community don’t talk about it to yourselves; either go and speak with them or come to me and I will speak with them.” PC White, from Medway, was


given an OBE in 2012 for services to the gypsy/travelling community.


Coordinator award for dedicated Mike


BROOMFIELD resident Mike Evans was awarded NeighbourhoodWatch coordinator of the year for the Maid- stone 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 Maid-


stone and District Neighbourhood Watch Association, said: “He has built up a network of 16 coordina-


Officers tackle disorder as gypsy groups clash


ADEDICATEDpolice operation has been set up to deal with anti-social behaviour in Headcorn. Operation Ostrich works with the residents and traders to prevent dis- order that has sometimes occurred in and around the village. PC Kim White, of Kent Police’s


gypsy liaison team, said there are tensions between families on two privately owned sites in Headcorn. “There is some infighting on those


sites and it causes worry for the other residents in the area. She said: “When the new Indian restaurant opened in Headcorn we received a phone call stating there were a group of travellers refusing to pay their food bill for £230 because they claimed itwas substandard. “Itwasn’t any of the families from


these sites, but that is what everyone was saying. I knew the persons in- volved and theywent back and paid the bill.


“Shopkeepers have spoken of shoplifting, again speculation for a


particular onewas that itwas a resi- dent from the site but it was in fact someone visiting the area. The traders have my details and I am happy to speak with them if they have any prob- lems and to help to get them ad- dressed.” Mayorof Maid-


Kim White


stone Richard Thick,whorepre-


sents Headcorn on the borough council, said: “I deal quite a lot with travellers and they themselves have an issue with one particular group of travellers.They say this group is giv- ing them a bad name. “I have walked down the street


and they have spat at me, I have been sworn at and I almost got run over by one of them. They park on pave- ments and go chasing down Kings Road in Headcorn. This is not a cul- ture, this is criminality.”


Linda Sinclair


Neighbourhood Watch coordinator of the year, Broomfield's Mike Evans receives his trophy from Maidstone mayor Richard Thick


tors. He is quiet and unassuming but dedicated to improving Neighbour- hoodWatch in the local area.”


Linda retires


as secretary LINDA Sinclair has stepped down from her position of sec- retary of Maidstone and Dis- trict Neighbourhood Watch after eight years. Ms Sin-


clair said she would still be vol- unteering for the or- ganisation and would continue to be a coordi- nator for


the Barming area in which she lives. On presenting her with a bouquet at the organisation’s AGM, chairman Jim Wilson said: “She has been an excel- lent secretary and friend. “She has a wealth of Neigh- bourhood Watch knowledge and will be greatly missed.”


Maidstone South January 2015 15


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