Community Safety Partnership
Community Support Officers
Community Support Officers were introduced to South Ayrshire in 2004 through funding from the Scottish Executive. The network of Community Support Officers was created throughout Scotland to combat anti-social behaviour and clean-up Scotland's streets; however, local schemes were designed to meet the needs of their community.
Community Safety Partnerships were asked to identify priority areas for the schemes based on an analysis of local needs. There are now fourteen Community Support Officers working with communities in North Ayr, Wallacetoun, Maybole and Girvan
Community Support Officers (CSOs) provide a visible presence in their areas of operation, patrolling regularly on a daily basis. Working a shift system, areas are patrolled day and evening, on a rota basis.
Problems are referred on to the appropriate service/ agency for action. This might range from reporting fly-tipping and arranging special uplifts to antisocial behaviour. Providing a local presence, CSOs are building positive links with all sections of the communities they work in and getting involved in a wide variety of activities.
Community Support Officers have been involved in:
- Wide range of diversionary activities, such as youth clubs and drop-in sessions for young people, in Maybole, Wallacetoun and Girvan.
- Football coaching and local leagues
- Dance, art and craft projects
- Action around areas frequented by drug-users and under-age drinkers
- Organising local 'clean-ups'
- Sorting out shopping trolley problems
- Getting more dog bins and encouraging people to dispose of animal waste properly
- Trips to Ayr United, with tickets kindly donated by the club
- Working with local schools to encourage young people to take a pride in their community, and to build links with them
- Working with the Police to identify vulnerable people in the community as part of the Bogus Callers campaign see http://www.strathclyde.police.uk
- Shorewatch Initiative
- Horse Riding Initiative
An innovative new
CSO Junior Support scheme has been launched for the Wallacetown / Ayr North area
To contact the Community Support Officers for any of the four areas, please click on Ayr North/Wallacetoun, Maybole or Girvan. For more information about the Project Teams and Neighbourhood Agreements in each area, please contact the Community Safety Unit.
Crime is falling in Scotland, but there are still too many hard-pressed communities who feel as if they are under siege from mindless thuggery, youth disorder and intimidation, bad neighbours, vandalism and graffiti. Community Support Officers are not an alternative to regular policing. But they will make communities safer and feel safer and provide a link between local people, the police and the authorities so that problems are sorted out quickly.
