Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP
West Edinburgh Times (Sighthill Library & Tesco Computing for Schools)
Recently I wrote about the drop in crime figures but that much remains to be done to help people whose lives are blighted by anti-social behaviour. I followed up on this by meeting more organisations in the community to explain the problems which constituents contact me about and to hear about what they’ve done to tackle the problems.
Chief Inspector Hawkins based at Wester Hailes police station explained some of the new initiatives. Police.uk is a free service that will keep you up to date with local policing issues by providing information directly to your mobile phone, computer or landline telephone. For example, if the police receive information that there are bogus workmen operating in the area, you will receive a message. They will also use the service during events to provide you with safety information or severe weather warnings or any incidents which may affect the event. To receive this information all you have to do is register your details. You can phone 0131 561 6136 for more information.
The police have also been running ‘Stand Up Together’ which is making an impact. At Halloween, the police were aware eggs were being bought by youngsters to throw at houses so they worked in conjunction with local retailers to ensure eggs were sold responsibly.
The local community police worked in partnership with Sighthill Library to help with the increasing anti-social behaviour. Groups of youngsters congregated inside and outside the library resulting in vandalism, graffiti and threatening behaviour which frightened off other library users. The library staff told me about the schemes they introduced to tackle these problems in a positive way. There’s a ‘Computer Crazies’ club, where children design their own websites and a literacy and football project ‘Reading the Game’ where participants read and write about football. These projects lead to anti-social behaviour in the library itself all but disappearing and the police reported a 60% drop in recorded anti-social incidents in the community. The Sighthill Library staff were recognised for their ground breaking work and tackling these issues in such a positive way for the benefit of the whole community by winning the “Outstanding Public Servant Team of the Year” national award.
It’s good to see Tesco’s continuing to support our local communities through their ‘Computing for Schools’ scheme. I met pupils and teachers from local primary schools at their Wester Hailes store to present computer equipment to them. I congratulated the children, staff and parents on working hard to collect their vouchers. I’m looking forward to visiting the schools to see the children using the equipment they’ve worked hard to get.
