A RUBERY resident who was viciously assaulted in St Chad’s Park has called for a bigger police presence in the area to combat anti-social behaviour.
The man, who did not wish to be named, said throughout the summer holidays, there had been bullying, harassment, alcohol drinking and drug supply and use by the skate park which needed to be clamped down on.
And calls were also made by the man’s family for the CCTV cameras in the area – which can span 360 degrees – to be monitored more closely, rather than used for post-crime evidence gathering.
It was last month that the man and his son were assaulted after he confronted youths in the park. He was kicked in the face, stamped upon, suffering a broken rib. They were both knocked unconscious.
The family told The Standard they were not criticising the individual officers who were policing Rubery who, they said, did a good job under a lot of pressure and probably had bigger case loads than they should have.
But they added it was a case of a need for more resources.
“There needs to be a bigger police presence there with more patrols – even if officers just go into the area to let these youths know that they are there and that this anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.”
The man added: “I knew it was going to get worse during the summer holidays and I knew something could happen – I just didn’t think it was going to happen to me.”
The family say the fear is now that, despite the summer holidays being over for another year, with not enough of a deterrent in the area and with nothing in Rubery for young people to do, the youths would continue to hang around the skate park, intimidating local residents.
Rubery and Hagley are currently policed by a beat manager and three PCSOs, working under a Bromsgrove Police inspector and sergeant.
There are also two response officers for the area who go to emergency calls as and when they are needed and should be reaching incidents within ten minutes from when 999 is called.
Insp Sarah Corteen said: “We are aware of a number of anti-social behaviour incidents in the St Chad’s area of Rubery recently and have worked to reduce this issue.
“We have upped our patrols in the area and as a result have seen a reduction in the number of reported incidents.
“We want to reassure the community that we take these incidents seriously and will work with the community in order to reduce them.”
With regard to having the CCTV camera in St Chad’s Park manned, Bromsgrove District Council’s head of community services Judith Willis said: “Like elsewhere across the district, Rubery’s 17 CCTV cameras act as a deterrent for criminal activity and record events to be used as evidence by police if required.
“We can’t monitor live footage from every camera all of the time, but altogether our CCTV helped with 1,391 incidents last year.”
