Crime-fighting contingent combats careless conduct

THEY MAY not wear capes, but members of the Kintyre Crime Prevention Panel (KCPP) are the region’s superheroes in the fight against crime.

The group’s annual report reveals the many ways they are combating crime.

99 anti-dog-fouling stickers, purchased from Keep Britain Tidy for £165, have been placed on public waste bins.

A further 200 torches were given to vulnerable Kintyre adults, purchased with funding from Campbeltown Community Council. As they had concerns about potential litter, fly tipping, smells, vermin and infection caused by the introduction of three weekly bin collections in Kintyre, representatives from the KCPP met with the manager of Kintyre Recycling Limited, and invited her to talk about recycling and future developments.

The KCPP’s festive beer mat campaign ran over Christmas and New Year, sponsored by Fona Taxis, distributing 2,500 beer mats to licensed premises in Kintyre, 1,000 more than last year.

As no drunk drivers were charged in the area, the campaign was deemed a success.

Members of the KCPP attended the Police Scotland ‘Choose Wisely’ event at Campbeltown Grammar School, which was well received by the pupils.

Guest speakers from Addaction Scotland and traffic police were invited by KCPP to talk about their work in Kintyre and the islands.

Despite asking Argyll and Bute council’s Community Planning Group (CPG) for more than a year, the KCPP was refused permission to erect police schoolboy safety signs.

The KCPP withdrew from the CPG but regularly sends a representative to the Third Sector Interface.

Looking forwards, the panel is looking at a project to help the police and teachers to inform local junior school children of the unseen dangers lurking on the internet.