PC Adam Lang with Landlord of Porters Blackwood, Daniel Rees
A new Night Time Economy Officer has begun working to help make Caerphilly an even safer place after dark. The role, which offers a co-ordinated approach to policing in busy town centres during the weekend period will see police and partners work together to help reduce alcoholic related violence and improve working relationships with pubs, clubs and licensees in the area.
PC Adam Lang, who has 13 years of experience in policing has spent part of his career in Response Policing and Neighbourhood Policing will now be based in Ystrad Mynach Police Station in the Caerphilly Partnership Team.
PC Lang’s primary role will cover the Caerphilly county borough, targeting Blackwood and Caerphilly town centres in particular. Another part of the role will be working on ‘Safer Caerphilly After Dark’ which brings together a number of different organisations including local taxi companies, takeaways, late night restaurants, pubs, door supervisors and street pastors, as well as Gwent Police and Caerphilly County Borough Council.
The overall aim of ‘After Dark’ is to make sure that by offering a coordinated approach, visitors to these town centres are able to have a safe and enjoyable night out as well as further reduce instances of violent and anti-social behaviour in the town centres and encourage responsible drinking and improve safety awareness.
Since starting the role, Adam has been visiting local pubs and off licenses talking about any on-going issues, he’s also been signing pubs up to Pubwatch, a scheme designed to promote better relations between pubs and the police.
Looking forward, PC Lang explains: “The summer is almost here and traditionally we see an increase in alcohol related incidents. The weather plays a significant role in people’s drinking habits – all-day outdoor drinking, BBQs, bank holidays and this year we also have the World Cup. We’re not out to spoil people’s fun but we do want to remind those who do go out to drink responsibly.
“Far too often we see men and women who have never been in trouble with the police, drink to excess and then end up fighting. I’m sure a lot of people regret their actions the next morning but incidents like these can ruin people’s lives, at the least – a criminal record can have detrimental consequences on people’s future.
“My advice to those who plan to drink this summer is to try and drink responsibly – pre drinking at home is usually cheaper but people become complacent about measures. When you do go out, think about what you’ve already drunk and try not to mix your drinks and if you do see trouble starting, walk away from it – it really is no fun spending the night in one of our cells.”
Cllr David Poole, Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Community & Leisure Services, said: “This new role has an important part to play in the ‘Safer Caerphilly After Dark’ campaign, and I’m sure I speak on behalf of all partners when I wish PC Lang a warm welcome. We look forward to working with him in future as part of this collaborative approach to making the county borough’s streets safe after dark.”
Daniel Rees, Landlord at Porters in Blackwood said: “I’ve been the licensee at Porters Blackwood since September 2012 and since the beginning I’ve had a great deal of support from the Gwent police. They helped us set up the Nightnet radio system which is linked to most of the shops and participating pubs and clubs in the Blackwood area. This system is linked to the town centre CCTV and the emergency services and is a useful tool for dealing with any problems that arise. We have also received support to set up the Pubwatch scheme which has been created to ensure a safer and hassle free night in the Blackwood area.”
