“I’ve been a PCSO in this part of Leeds for 16 years West Yorkshire Police see it as really important we get involved in community events like the King’s Coronation Lunch today, because a lot of older people in the community don’t get the chance to speak to the police about their concerns or worries. The officers are happy to volunteer making tea and handing out sandwiches and older people can feel comfortable to talk to us, because they do have a lot of problems and as a generation, typically, they don’t want to bother us, or they feel they might be wasting police time. So doing this, it makes us more approachable.
The intelligence they can give us about drug use, antisocial behaviour, is crucial and we can increase our patrols in those areas. Most wouldn’t contact us from home, in fact they probably don’t know how to contact us or don’t want to be a burden.
When I patrol house to house in the area and go into older people’s homes, I know that coming to BCF once or twice a week is literally the only thing that older person does, and the only people that they see. As people get older they tend to lose friends, they might not be as active, so BCF do a fantastic job of keeping people and bringing people together to make new friends. This is so valuable for the community. Something like today, the Coronation Lunch, we can’t believe how lucky we are as police officers to come down and have a laugh with older people, do our job, and it’s one of the main ways that we get to know everyone in the area.
The trips BCF runs create these great memories, 5, 10 years later that older person will still remember it. We need more funding in the area to help the older community. It’s really good to see that the local force supports BCF 100%, what they do is incredible.”
PCSO Gareth Park