Swindon stabbings: New town wardens to be deployed

The wardens will act as a "middle man between police and the public"

Four new street wardens are being deployed in a town to help reduce anti-social behaviour following a number of stabbings.

Swindon Borough Council has been allocated £142,000 from the Home Office for wardens who will help police deter criminals and reassure the public.

The wardens do not have powers of arrest but will act as a "middle man between police and the public."

The wardens are designed to be a deterrent, council bosses added.

Swindon has suffered a number of recent stabbings with the most recent being earlier in June, where a 17-year-old boy was seriously injured in Upper Stratton.

Wiltshire Police put in place a number of section 60 orders in the following days allowing them to stop and search anybody.

Andy Small, the Community Warden Supervisor, said: "We're working closely with police when it comes to knife crime.

"As well as anti-social behaviour, we're also going to try and tackle the low level stuff like children causing nuisance in certain shops or within car parks or in the town centre."

The wardens have separate powers under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme, which means they can ask for a person's name, address and date of birth, and refusing these would be an offence.

"We are not police officers, we don't have the powers to arrest, that's not what we're here for," Andy said.

"We're there as a deterrent and to point people towards support."

The wardens will initially be deployed in the town centre

According to Swindon Borough Council, officers will initially spend a lot of their time in the town centre but will also be deployed to other areas when needed.

Councillor Jim Grant said: "The actual wardens are funded by the Home Office but they are employed by Swindon Borough Council.

"That means we can deploy them. So at the moment they're in the town centre but I am hopeful that they will eventually be sent out to council estates, parks, to patrol those areas for the same purpose.

"We are working with them to make Swindon as safe a place to live in as possible.

"People shouldn't be over fearful of going out in Swindon. Swindon's one of the safest places in the country," Mr Grant added.

"It's vital that people who have trepidation about going out feel reassured."

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