Community Wardens in the Kensington Area.Community 7 is a subsidiary of the Massive Riverside Group. (Riverside Housing has 22,000 properties on Merseyside).For some time now there have been Community Wardens patrolling the Kensington area. Their job is in the words of C7 is
# Provide a visible street presence, which will deter anti-social behaviour.
# Reduce fly tipping, graffiti, vandalism and litter.
# Report and seek to improve blighted and eyesore areas of open space.
# Visit vulnerable residents and victims of crime to offer support.
# Work with the community and agencies to address local issues.
# Work with children and young people to develop safe activities and reduce incidences of youth disorder.
We acknowledge that the wardens themselves are genuine people and nothing said
here is intended as a criticism of them as people, or their motivation for taking on
what must be a difficult and demanding job.What we do find difficult to understand is why an admittedly commercial organization like C7 and it's partner in this, Kensington Regeneration, requires a semi-policing function of the community it claims to serve. The principle question is how these commercial organizations can separate their own commercial interests from the way in which they police the area. It has been seen already by the way in which C7, Kensington Regeneration and their other partners are trying to divide and conquer the community of Kensington that the best interests of the community is not their primary interest. They seem to want to destroy and disperse the community, are they the ones that are truly guilty of anti-social behavior. If the community of Kensington needs a second tier of policing then that policing should be directly supervised and financed by the one organisation that is trusted to police the whole nation itself. The Police has as far as we are aware has no direct commercial agenda and are as a rule trusted by the vast majority of the community (even if they are not universally liked). If the Community Wardens were under the direct supervision of the Police then the suspicion that they are acting in the commercial interests of their employers would not be an issue but while their duties include reporting to C7 and Kensington Regeneration then their role will have to remain under scrutiny. (It should be noted that these organisation seen to portray themselves as both commercial and non-commercial organisations depending on whom they are talking to and the current flow of conversation) This brings us onto the issue of Anti Social Behaviour Order's (hereafter ASBO's). At first glance these seem to be a good idea but let's have a look at the effect they are having. I would argue that they have an effect on two groups of people. The first is a group of people that should be covered by the full weight of the law for constant nuisance to their neighbours, it seems that the police are too busy to handle these issues and only act when they themselves see direct violence or other significant evidence. Surely crime is crime and should be treated as such by both the police and the courts. The second group of people affected by ASBO's is the innocent. Those that have not committed a crime and have no intention of committing one, I mean the kids that no longer play football in the street because a neighbour has threatened to report them, the parks are too far away or too dangerous to get to. The culture created by ASBO's is one of intimidation and fear and has the potential to divide the community and create an atmosphere of intolerance (surely the opposite of a community building exercise). I find it worrying that the Community Wardens are being used by commercial organisations to divide the community (commercial organisations only act in their own financial interest, nothing else motivates them). Community 7 claims that they are a charitable organization, but in reality they are out to make a profit. The people who benefit most within these RSL's (Registered Social Landlords) are the senior housing officers, who earn salaries within the region of £70,000 to £ 125,000 per year. Also RSL's always avoid the issue of selling their houses to tenants because they know that if tenants buy their houses the RSL administrators would be out of a job. Very few RSL houses are sold to tenants. Lets take for instance the issue of Cumberland Gate. Cumberland Gate is a small Riverside Housing estate in Knowsley, which consists of 185 houses. In its twenty year or so existence only three tenants were allowed to buy their houses. Many other tenants who applied on the same estate were refused because the RSL has the final say. There are genuine problems in Kensington as there are in many parts of Liverpool as well as the rest of the country. The response should be to find genuine community led solutions that involve the whole of the community. We cannot and must not allow those that have a commercial interest in the buildings in which we live (whether we are a tenant or a home owner) to police us. What we need is a police force that we trust, acting in harmony with a judicial system that is fair and punishment system that is reasonable acting in our own (and not commercial) interests. Misuse of ASBO'sASBO's are currently being used as a means of silencing people who are going about their business totally within the law. How long will it be before they find an unreasonable excuse to silence you.
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