When the bough breaks…..

All that is left of the police station in Paignton!

Sometimes it all too easy not to notice the metaphorical cracks creeping across the surface of our society. That lack of notice is usually a consequence of minimal impact upon the daily routine of our own lives. I guess that it is a little like toothache. Toothache is very much a personal thing which soon dominates the day. Once the pain is past the event is quickly forgotten.

I use that as an example because whilst we may have empathy with others suffering in some way we don’t actually feel the pain. As we rocket toward May 2015 the political rhetoric is hotting up. Meanwhile the austerity measures in place continue to impact and we must all be aware that increasingly the pressure in places is reaching breaking point.

Let me give you an example. I don’t know whether you have been aware of the changing police landscape lately but a few things have made me want to comment. We hear about the cuts to policing locally but perhaps fail to take on the potential dangers lurking as a consequence. Some years ago I found a wallet on the pavement with a considerable amount of money in it but no identification. I took the wallet to the local police station and it was eventually reunited with its owner.

If that happened today I would need to take it to my local police enquiry office. A short while ago that would have been the large building in the middle of Paignton. That very large building is now a pile of rubble in Southfield Road. (see picture). I would therefore need to hop on a bus and drop it off in at Torquay Police Station. Does that matter? Well I think it does.

Whilst we see police cars whizzing around what we might also notice is fewer police officers walking the beat. I was chatting to a friend the other day when he suddenly stopped and exclaimed “Gosh you don’t see that very often these days!” I look around but didn’t immediately see what had caught his attention. “Look, over there!” he said “Two police officers walking the beat!”

Of course Devon and Cornwall Constabulary do provide a very nice website and if you have easy access to a computer of mobile device it is possible to access all sorts of information, but for me that doesn’t replace the comfort of being able to walk into the local police station. As I say, does that matter? Well I happen to think that it does.

As the financial noose tightens many of the things that actually keep a community together seem to be being eroded and it isn’t until something happens to you or those that you love that the impact is felt. Policing is one aspect of course and as the numbers of beat police officers fall it only has to be a matter of time before the ‘bough breaks’. My worry is that in the words of that little nursery rhyme ‘…down will come cradle, baby and all!’

I happened to be at a business breakfast event the other morning with our mayor as the guest speaker. He spoke at length about many of the good things happening locally and about the challenges facing our community. There are indeed many good things happening and we mustn’t lose sight of that. We also see many of the challenges as being about reduced funding and that is a truth. At that breakfast meeting in Torquay’s lovely Grand Hotel I made the point that it isn’t simply about the money but HOW that money is spent. 

My observation was about a photograph a little while ago with two council officers in front of the now beleaguered Parkfield Youth Centre. At the time we were losing numerous youth worker posts and it made me raise an eyebrow that the combined salary of those two senior officers was over £250,000. In all probability the two well-paid officers were worth every penny but it does offer an interesting perspective I think.

As aspirant national and local politicians seek your vote it might be a good time to really think about what sort of community we really want and make that very clear to them.

Keep the smile!

From my column in the Herald Express 8th April 2015