Gwent Rozzers wasting money again

 Yes, once again over Christmas and the New Year, Gwent Police Farce produced their own range of beermats. Only saw these 2 doing the rounds so not sure if there were any more. Good to see with all the supposed cuts happening in the public service the local rozzers are able to supply pubs with these.
Their previous attempts are here, as are the ones from a neighbouring farce.
As befits everything produced by the public sector in Wales the beermats are bilingual.

Rozzers tell porkies to the press

Two great examples of churnalism from both the BBC and the South Wales Argus with virtually identical articles being published, although the Argus article is written in the present tense and the BBC is written in the future tense. Both articles come from the local beermat producer, Gwent Police and both the BBC and the South Wales Argus have failed to talk to any Newport publicans to actually discover if what the police are telling them is true or not.

From the Argus:
PUBS, bars and clubs in Newport are now glassfree zones on Friday and Saturday nights, Gwent Police said.

PC Rachael Honey has been working closely with local licensees over the past two years to roll out the use of polycarbonate glasses across the city.
Now all licensed premises across the city have made the switch – something the Argus has backed for five years.
In 2010, £5,000 worth of polycarbonate glasses were bought by the Safer Newport Partnership for licensed premises across the city centre and many licensees took up the offer.
All licensed premises, well that's apart from the Murenger, Pen & Wig. Infusion, and Carpenters to name but a few of the places I know still use them.

From the BBC:
Newport city centre will go glass-free on Friday and Saturday nights, Gwent Police has confirmed.
So its not glass free at the moment then? According to the Argus it is.

Now we all want to see a reduction in glass crime but what is the point of the local rozzers claiming that a complete ban will reduce crime? None. On the other hand there has been a reduction in the number of glass attacks in Newport:
27 in 2006/07,
32 in 2007/08,
31 in 2008/09,
16 in 2009/10,
11 in 2010/11
7 between April 2011 and December 2011

So what type of pubs are polycarbonates used in if the smaller pubs like the Murenger, Pen & Wig, Carpenters and Infusion do not use them? Well its the superpubs such as Chaverspoons, Greyhound and Revolution, so the use of polycarbonates has seen a reduction in glass attacks in those pubs that, shall we say are vertical drinking areas and the smaller pubs have carried on using glass and there has still been a reduction in attacks. This just goes to prove that blanket bans do not work and the rozzers should stick to policing, not giving out inaccurate information to the gullible press.


On another note, crime map of Newport is here, notice the correlation between superpubs and crime hotspots?

Chavwatch at the Greyhound

Chavwatch - an occasional series devoted to Newport and the surrounding areas.
I took the photo below a few years ago and posted it here, well 3 years later and has the Greyhound pub in High Street improved at all?

Not according to Gwent Police who are looking for a visitor to this establishment.

Gwent Police is appealing for information on an assault that took place in the Greyhound pub in Newport city centre in the early hours of New Year's Day.

It took place inside the pub at around 2am. Two women in their early 30s, from the Newport area, were assaulted by another woman. Both suffered facial injuries, with one requiring hospital treatment.

Officers are appealing for any members of the public who saw the incident to come forward. They are particularly keen to speak to a woman, pictured, who was in the pub at the time and could hold vital information which could help officers with their investigation.

If you witnessed the incident, or have any other information, please call 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Well, I'll forgive the local Rozzers their grammar error - surely Gwent Police is plural not singular? Gwent Police ARE appealing not IS! Still its taken them almost 2 months to publish this information so don't expect the doughnut-munching rozzers of Newport to catch the chavette who did this. In the meantime here are some fantastic CCTV shots of  "A woman who may have information".

Newport is the type of City that only the likes of Eric Joyce MP would fully appreciate.

Update:

I've been sent this photo of a notice inside the pub

Beermat distributor to cut 350 jobs

Beermat distributor Gwent Police have announced that they will be cutting 350 jobs in an effort to save £3 million off their budget.
Landlords throughout Newport, Monmouthshire, Torfaen and Caerfilthy Unitary Authorities are outraged that they will no longer be able to have bilingual beermats delivered to them by police officers.
One Newport publican, who wished to remain anonymous said, "This really is the thin end of the wedge. Breweries cannot afford to print beermats any longer so we rely on Gwent Police to spend public money producing their propaganda and for their officers to deliver it to my pubs. I mean why do we pay our taxes if the police will not be making deliveries of beermats to pubs".

A spokesperson for Gwent Police said that the beermats had been designed by the Beermat Working Committee and had been approved by both the Ethical and Diversity Committees of the Force, none of which will effected by the job losses in the police force, "That only applies to frontline staff and not to our backoffice team of diversity coordinators and five-a-day fruit advisors. Police officers will still be visiting pubs throughout the Gwent Constabulary area to drop off beermats and collect donations for the Police Widows and Orphans Fund which are always gratefully received, especially in unmarked envelopes containing non-consecutive notes".

Gwent Police have their own Facebook page where you can find out which PCSO has found out whose dog has been fouling the pavement.
They also have their own Twitter account where I aim to help them where possible:

Over 20,00 innocent people stopped by Gwent Police in one month

Only in the UK: today Gwent Constabulary have announced that they stopped 20,578 drivers in the Gwent Police Force area between December 1st and January 1st. 
Only 80 returned a positive breath test or refused/ failed to provide a breath test.
Now I'm not agreeing with drink driving here but to have over 20,000 innocent people stopped by the police is surly a waste of manpower and resources? With a 0.4% success rate surley there are better things for the Police to be doing with their time than harrassing the innocent.
Of course the Police, who today act no better than uniformed tax collectors hail this as "encouraging". Just what is encouraging about this - the fact that the vast majority of people stopped were innocent?

Still at least when Gwent Police are stopping innocent drivers they are not bothering to halt photographers under the so-called anti-terrorism laws - the Section 44 legislation. If anyone is in London on Saturday then can I suggest this little show to them. Old Holborn is meeting in the Chandos from 11.00 am. Looks like fun.

Think you're hard after a pint?

Gwent Police have decided to take out some advertising this year and on billboard close to Brew Wales Towers, the editor was greeted by this piece of propaganda. Quickly I took a photo before some PCSOs could stop me on a Section 44. The person who is on this advert appears to be drinking out of a can and there is a pub sign in the other half. Now am I not the only one who finds this condescending? Also the drinker concerned is white. Would Gwent Police consider doing a similar poster campaign on the streets of the ethnically diverse area of Newport called Pill on the dangers of illegal drugs? Of course they will not, a drawing of, for example, a Rasta with his herbal cigarette and warning of the dangers of smoking skunk would be construed as racist, yet the majority of the population can be demonised for enjoying a perfectly legal drink. If Gwent Police really want to do some policing this Christmas then they should get out of the queue of the kebab shop in Maindee and go into the pubs to prevent drunks being served. "Protecting and Reassuring" they say on the billboard. Nannying and condescending more like.