Police given extra power in Lowestoft
OVERSEEING and involved in all aspects of the work of the Community Safety Partnership in Waveney, a district councillor helps play a vital role in progressing the group's aims.
OVERSEEING and involved in all aspects of the work of the Community Safety Partnership in Waveney, a district councillor helps play a vital role in progressing the group's aims.
As councillor for the Gunton and Corton wards, Mary Rudd has been portfolio holder for community safety at Waveney District Council since May 2008.
Councillor Rudd, who was elected in May 2002, is the chair of the Waveney Community Safety Partnership (CSP) and leads the Responsible Authorities Group (RAG), which is the strategic arm of the CSP.
As chairman she also represents the partnership on the Safer Suffolk Partnership Board, which is the overarching body that all Community Safety Partnerships in Suffolk feed into.
In her role as a Responsible Authorities Group member, Cllr Rudd oversees all aspects of the work of the Community Safety Partnership, setting priorities, monitoring progress and funding allocated to the Community Safety Partnership.
Most recently she has been involved in the implementation of the new Designated Public Place Order (DPPO), which came into force in the Lowestoft area on March 1, with signs being put up in the affected wards.
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The DPPO provides police officers in Lowestoft with additional powers to confiscate alcohol and take action against those involved in anti-social drinking.
'I am hoping that this will lead to a reduction of the anti-social behaviour which is often caused by excessive drinking,' she told The Journal. 'This will add to people feeling safer in their community, especially in the night time.'
In addition to her work with the DPPO, she has recently embarked on a night time patrol with police officers, in their work around licensed premises and the night-time economy and spent time with the anti-social behaviour officer and environmental health to see how their issues fit into her role on community safety.