06 April 2009
The Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership are giving residents of the Caerphilly county borough the opportunity to have your say on which areas of the borough you would like to see tackled first as part of the Home Office's Community Payback scheme.
The Caerphilly county borough was recently selected as one of the Home Office's 60 pioneer areas throughout England and Wales for the "Justice Seen, Justice Done" campaign.
Community payback is a critical element of this campaign, as it demonstrates to you, the public, that community sentences are not soft options, and that criminals face tough consequences for their actions.
The Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership is committed to ensuring that community payback carried out in our area is highly visible – offenders that take part in community payback activity are made to wear highly visible orange jackets with the words "Community Payback" written across the back.
This ensures that members of the public can clearly see that justice is being done, and emphasises that community sentences are not "soft" options.
A wide range of work can be undertaken as part of community payback including graffiti removal, street clean-ups, recycling projects, building maintenance and improvements to parks and other community facilities.
The partnership has drawn up a shortlist of five areas within the borough, which receive among the highest number of "calls for service" from partner agencies such as Caerphilly County Borough Council and Gwent Police. These areas have been deemed appropriate for community payback activity.
The shortlisted areas are:
- Forsythia Close, Elm Drive and Manor Way, Ty Sign, Risca
- Graig-y-rhacca
- Penllwyn, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood
- Churchill Park, Caerphilly
- Apollo Way, Blackwood
Community Safety Manager, Howard Rees said "I am delighted that the Caerphilly county borough has been chosen as a pioneer area for the "Justice Seen, Justice Done" campaign, part of which involves highly visible community payback activity.
Although sentencing is tougher now than in the past, research suggests that members of the public often do not believe that offenders face adequate consequences for the crimes they commit.
By working with our partners at Gwent Probation Service, we are ensuring that justice is being seen to be done – the fact that offenders now have to wear highly visible orange jackets when carrying out community payback is an important step in helping to make our local residents aware that offenders are facing tough consequences for their actions and that community payback isn't a soft option."
Superintendent Jon Burley, Head of the Caerphilly Local Policing Unit, said: "The introduction of the Community Payback Scheme will enable members of the public to see when offenders are paying back the community for their crimes. We are pleased to be working with Safer Caerphilly and partners as a pioneer area for the 'Justice Seen, Justice Done' initiative.
To vote for which of the five areas you would like to see tackled first as part of the Justice Seen, Justice Done campaign, you can:
Your vote really can make a difference – please work with the Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership to help make the Caerphilly county borough an even safer and more pleasant place to live, work and visit.
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