War declared on late-night thugs
A CLAMPDOWN on drunken late night brawls and violent crime in Tonbridge town centre is being launched.
Scuffles and fights fuelled by weekend drinking sessions have been highlighted as a priority issue by the borough's Community Safety Partnership.
The group, made up of bodies, including the borough and county councils, police, fire brigade and probation service, has laid down an action plan.
But one of the town's police does not believe Tonbridge has a problem with night time violence and residents have shared his views that it is a safe place.
The partnership's plan sets out how it is going to tackle priority issues, such as anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse, in a bid to drive down crime figures.
Despite there being a 6.8 per cent drop in night time economy violence – defined as Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8pm – 4am – it says it is still a "concern" and states there has been a 7 per cent increase in reports of drunken behaviour.
It also says violent crime in public places, much of which is linked to alcohol consumption, accounts for 40 per cent of violent crime in the borough, and 26 per cent of residents thought drunk or rowdy people were a problem.
Among its plans to crack down on this behaviour is the expansion of the Pub Watch scheme, deploying CCTV and introduction of Street Pastors, where church volunteers patrol the streets on weekends.
Jon Turtle, Tonbridge neighbourhood sergeant, did not think occurrences of night time violence were a problem, however, and said police patrols were already in place at weekends to deal with violence.
He said: "It fluctuates but I don't think it's increasing. I'm regularly out and very rarely see any problems. Alcohol-fuelled people can cause problems but nothing of any significant note.
"There is a problem generated by night time economy, which is inevitable, and obviously we'd like it to be zero, but that's not going to be the case, but regarding it being perceived as a problem, I wouldn't suggest it was."
Revellers leaving the SOS nightclub in Avebury Avenue could sometimes cause a disturbance, but he said he thought the town's drinking holes were run well and the Pubwatch scheme was effective.
"I always tell people Tonbridge is a nice place to live," he added, "I think we have got quite low levels of crime in Tonbridge and the perception people have of police and the local council is quite a positive one."
Karen Broad, 41, from Rembrandt Close described Tonbridge as having a "village community."
The mum-of-two said: "I feel quite safe here. Where we are it's quite a community really with Neighbourhood Watch and everything else and we all look out for each other."
Do you think late-night violence is a problem in Tonbridge? Have you experienced it yourself? Tell us what you think at www.thisiskent.co.uk/westkent
10 Comments
by Jock, Paddock Wood
Wednesday, March 17 2010, 2:02PM
“Didnt you know that Tonbridge has several exclusive golf clubs, all in the town centre. My favourite is the one in Somerfield. Its small and quite exclusive. However I had a good round ruined when I went to the club house and saw several drunk policemen. They then went on to steal my golf bats before heading off to a football match across the road in Quality Seconds.”
by K, Tonbridge
Saturday, March 13 2010, 1:55AM
“Er - how many golf clubs are there in Tonbridge town centre?”
by Anon, Tonbridge
Thursday, March 11 2010, 10:51PM
“Teenage curfews have worked successfully in parts of Scotland.
Drunks have been are often in Golf Clubs, and some are actually policemen. Football hooligans are banned from tournaments. Same sort of breed. Waste of space. Chuck them in the new Tonbridge cells.”
by Charles Watkins, Tunbridge Wells
Tuesday, March 09 2010, 1:24PM
“They could go on the x factor”
by Jock, Paddock Wood
Tuesday, March 09 2010, 12:40PM
“I see this article has already attracted some uneducated and ignorant posts. Banning male teens, preventing them from watching football tournaments, policing golf clubs !?! ..etc... yeah right.
How about placing more responsibility on the bar owners ? They are quite happy to peddle the cheap booze in places like Witherspoons to make profits. This encourages binge drinking. Every Whitherspoons in the country has an underlying threat of a drunken fight or similar incident.
In Australia they are very strict on responsible drinking. You would not get served if you are perceived to be already intoxicated. You'd also be removed from the premesis a lot sooner than you would over in the UK.
I agree that the drinker has to share some of the responsibilty. But we are talking about teens, who lose all inhibitions after they've had a few. So they need (whether they like it or not) to have a barman/barmaid restrict their booze if they believe them to be too intoxicated or a potential problem. Pub management and security staff can enforce this if nessasary.
The answer is more security staff, and more police (on foot) patrolling, especially in known hotspots (like SOS on chuck out time).
I dont feel threatened at all in Tonbridge, and think its a great town for a night out. I think the town centre has a lot of potential, especially having good transport links to other towns.”
by Steve, Tonbridge
Monday, March 08 2010, 8:59PM
“What do you expect, when all the local supermarkets are selling cheap booze.”
by Anon, Tonbridge
Monday, March 08 2010, 6:19PM
“We want teenage male curfews on Fri and Sat nights.”
by Anon, Tonbridge
Monday, March 08 2010, 6:16PM
“They ought to have teenage male curfews. And they should be banned from any football tournaments.”
by Anon, Tonbridge
Monday, March 08 2010, 6:13PM
“An excellent idea. I think birthday parties (for 18 year olds) should be limited to 40 not 150. The police must visit lots of golf clubs too. Young people should clean up their own sick .They are a disgrace to their generation.”
by anon, Kent
Monday, March 08 2010, 4:36PM
“Tonbridge has always been a bit rough after dark .I remember fisticups outside Chads/Chicken George on the bridge after pub closing time.Where have the Police been for the last X number of years if they have only just noticed that drink +testosterone=trouble.
I remember the Police being very
pragmatic about the whole thing and only arrested people as an absolute last resort.Nowadays the Police think they are robocop and reach for their pepper spray or tazer at the first sign of trouble.”