Support needed again at Council Meeting - 28/9/2016 7pm at the Grove !

For those of you who havent seen this Allan Fairhead has sent this letter to the council for discussion at the next meeting. Please see below. Also the council has not made an announcement that I have seen but following the last council meeting the Chair Cllr Harrison stepped down as Chair. http://www.hytheanddibden.gov.uk/maureenmclean/ Allan Fairhead Local Resident 12th September 2016 The Clerk to The Parish Council To be circulated to all Councilors and attached to September Agenda The large attendance at the August Council Meeting must have left the Council Members in no doubt of the feelings of the community by visual, vocal and petition support, and the condemnation of the Council for the fiasco regarding OUR respected ACSO Norman. It is wrong to tar all Members with the same brush, they give up their time to try their best for the community for which I applaud them. However, as I recognized only two Councilors and the Deputy Clerk at the court, the remainder may not have all the facts, certainly not if only reading the Echo. Norman, in the course of his duty was assisting the police. He saw a teenager who he suspected of being part of the crowd who caused damage, and went after him calling him to stop. The lad did not stop. Norm grabbed his arm and held his shoulders. That was technically an assault. It transpired the lad was completely blameless which Norm accepted. PC Smith’s evidence was used in court. He was in his car, off duty, he saw the incident in his mirror and went to the scene and made his presence known by showing his warrant card. Question:- Had he seen an assault? If yes, why did he not arrest Norm? Did he agree with the stop? If yes then that is tacit approval, and by doing nothing he is an accomplice. Why then was he not in the dock with Norm? Norm pleaded guilty in court to the assault. The Magistrates gave him a complete discharge. In statements from both sides, the teenager, who I have great sympathy for as well as his family, did not want to press charges or for anyone to loose their job. He only wanted an apology, which Norm was happy to give except he was in hospital. During Norm’s suspension a petition was started for support. Who colluded with the police to try to get it stopped? A letter was sent into The Clerk re support, but that won a police call, why? The Clerk informed the meeting that Norm’s accreditation had been removed by the police and he could not return to work until that had been re-done. To date I have not heard that the police have pulled their collected fingers out and carried out the re-accreditation. Yet our Clerk has jumped the gun to terminate Norm’s contract of employment. The accreditation enables the issue of Fixed Penalty Tickets, something our ACSOs do not and have not done, and are not wanted to do as there are already wardens employed to do that. It is up to the Parish to decide the level of work required, not the police. If Norm’s doctor has deemed him fit for work he should be back on duty immediately, and his title changed to CSO or HDCSO (Hythe and Dibden). If our Council want accreditation then I urge The Clerk to write to the police in the strongest terms to get Norm’s accreditation back, and publish the exchange of correspondence between them for the community to see. Our Clerk appears to have lost all trust and confidence of the community of which she is not a member. Our Councilors are elected to carry out the wishes of the community by democratic process, if they cannot, they could be voted out when standing for re-election. Our Officers do not have to stand, but the community must make their wishes known to their Councilors to ensure they keep the Officers in line. Councilors can and do have their private and personal thought on the subject, but collectively must carry out the will of the community. Allan Fairhead Cllr Malcolm Wade is visibly showing support and has proposed this for the next council meeting. It has come to my attention there is a move to dismiss Norman Bareham from his role as a Community Safety Officer due to the Police not confirming his accreditation. Therefore I have proposed the following motion for the September Council meeting : "This council recognises the huge public support for Norman Bareham in his role as a Community Safety Officer. It notes his personal contribution to improve community cohesion in Hythe and Dibden as demonstrated by positive endorsements from residents of all ages and social standing. This council therefore commits to retaining his services in a Community Safety role whether accredited or otherwise for the benefit of the local community."