Safety
Town Centre security is given top priority by the Directors of the new Town Centre Company. Rugby is in fact one of the safest places in England as born out by recent Police statistics but if you are a victim of violent crime you may find this fact hard to accept. We have not nor ever will be complacent about our security arrangements; we are constantly looking to improve our performance and hence drive crime out of the Town centre.
CCTV
Under pinning everything that we do in the Town centre is our CCTV system the control room being based right in the centre of the Town. Trained operators man the system, night and day 365 days a year. When the system was first introduced crime overall reduced by one third in the Town centre. We have modern tilt, pan and zoom cameras strategically place all around the Town centre, which randomly move by 360 degrees. If there is a problem the attendant will zoom in on the situation and record all the activity informing the Police Direct what is going on. These recordings are important as they are used to capture vital evidence, which makes for a successful prosecution.
However things move on and we are now in the early stages of developing a new state of the art system that will make our performance even better than it is at the present time.
What has been put in place in the last 3 years?
- We will not go into depth here as it has been mentioned earlier but the success of shopnet & pubnet cannot be over emphasised. Violent crime is now on the decrease because the pubnet system has been put in place at night. We have shoplifters on the run because of the success of the shopnet system introduce just over three years ago.
- We have banned the consumption of alcoholic beverages on the street and anytime of day unless you are sitting in a licensed café on the pavement.
- We have introduced a proof of age card for most 16-18 year olds in the Rugby Borough. This card called Validate is a national card not one just for the Rugby area. The card is not only aimed at under age drinking but also all other products such as cigarettes, fireworks, solvents etc. The cards which can not be faked, are issued in partnership with all the local schools and colleges; we believe that in the end over 90% of all young people between the ages of 16-18 will possess this card. All local business have been communicated with and they are aware that the local standards inspectors’ will carry out spot checks. Some businesses are providing discounts to card holders.
Validate Card
What of the future?
- Drug sniffer dogs will be deployed in the Town centre and a random basis to catch both pushers and users.
- We will be improving the lighting in the Town centre so as to make the act of carrying out a crime that much more difficult. It has been proven that effective lighting is as effective as a CCTV system in reducing crime.
- We are introducing a new gating system in the Town centre which cuts off susceptible back alleyways and passages to the would be criminal.
- We are looking to introduce a 24-hour secure car park targeted at night time users and Town centre residents, we hope to introduce this car park within the next 2 years.
- We are looking to introduce Town Centre Wardens to assist the Police during the day and hopefully make our customers feel that much safer.
- We are considering a whole raft of new initiatives, which are practical as the ones we have introduced in the passed; we will never be complacent.
We are doing all this to make Rugby a safer place than it already is. We are out to reduce the fear of crime; we want all to feel safe when they come to their Town centre so that they can have a good time. We want to give a clear message to all criminals, which is ”you are not wanted here but if you come we will catch you and put you away”.
|