What is Partners and Communities Together?
Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meetings are held every month and are designed to provide residents with information about crime and safety matters in their area. This will include crime statistics, some information about significant arrests the police have made (though we can’t name offenders) and also reports on the activities of the Police and our partners since the last meeting. The Safer Neighbourhood Team Sergeant will have primary responsibility for presenting and chairing the PACT meeting. At some of our meetings you can even have a say on "Grot-Spot" locations you would like to see cleaned up, or you can suggest projects for convicted offenders to work on as part of their "Community Payback." In Rotherham, most of our PACT meetings are incorporated into Area Assembly meetings that examine other issues of local importance.
The PACT process is far more than a monthly meeting however; it takes information from a wide range of community sources throughout the month to help us decide where we should prioritise our work. It means we are listening to what you say, understanding what is important to you and responding with action.
What is a PACT Priority?
PACT meetings aim to identify local problems that can be tackled relatively quickly by the most appropriate agency. This may be the Police, but it could also be one of the Local Authority departments, Rotherham 2010, the Fire Service or any other agency.
Because this is a partnership-based meeting, the problems you choose for us to tackle can be fairly wide-ranging. They must however, be focussed on a specific and relatively small geographic area such as a particular street, address, parade of shops, park or other defined location. This is so that we can focus our resources as effectively as possible, with the best chance of making a real difference to the lives of those who are effected by the problem. As an example, if you call South Yorkshire Police to request our attendance at an incident in a PACT priority area, we undertake to have an officer there within the hour; far quicker if it’s an emergency.
What Sort of Problems Can Become PACT Priorities?
You can suggest almost anything you like to be a PACT priority, just as long as it relates to a specific area and can be dealt with by the Police or our partners. Though not exhaustive, here is a ‘PACT Pick List’ you may want to consider:
- Parking complaints (yellow lines or obstructions)
- Anti social neighbours – loud parties, drinking in the street, etc
- Drug dealing from a particular house or in a particular location
- Street litter or fly-tipping in a specific area
- Speeding traffic
- Nuisance young people
- Underage-age drinking
- Dog fouling
- Regular burning of rubbish/garden waste
- Nuisance motorcycles
- Burglaries or car crime in a specific area/street
- Problem pub or club
- Unwanted cold callers/salespersons in a particular area or street
- Abandoned or burnt out vehicles
- Criminal damage , vandalism or graffiti
- Buildings or locations used for criminal activity (drug taking, drinking etc.)
- Anti social use of vehicles (boy and girl racers)
- Untidy gardens or general environmental problems
- Off-licences suspected of selling alcohol/cigarettes to under-age children
- Illegal firework sales