Information on Loughborough

Crime Out of Loughborough Awards

Posted on 24/09/2007
P. Klein

traffic queueRepresentatives from Crime out of Loughborough (CooL) presented awards to two members for their excellence which goes beyond the call of duty in order for the scheme to work.

Phil Roberts, from Tylers, and Rob Fullerton, from Boots, have showed unbelievable courage and resilience whilst dealing with prolific offenders in the town centre.

Phil and Rob were presented with their awards on Tuesday 18th September at Tylers by Mike Tyler Chairman of CooL.

The Award is part of a new initiative thought up by Cool Co-Ordinator Fiona Garrett. She said "Cool relies on information from its members and the way they respond to criminal activity in their shops. Trying to deter crime rather than letting it happen is a much better approach. It spells out Cools main aim which is to get across to criminals they are not welcome in Loughborough, and if they commit crime in a Cool members store they can expect an exclusion notice.

Fiona added: "CooL stands for Crime out of Loughborough and that is exactly what the aim is - to get rid of the persistent lifestyle criminals who make life miserable for people who live, visit and work in Loughborough town centre.

"Our objective is to provide a safe and non-threatening environment for staff and customers by reducing crime and disorder, and the fear of crime

The basis of the scheme will be information sharing. All members will be given a file of photographs and intelligence on known criminals. Members can then watch out for known thieves and individuals carrying out criminal activity in Loughborough.

An exclusion notice can be served on prolific criminals, who will then be banned from entering all of the members premises. Members will display a door sticker so that excluded persons will know which shops they are banned from.

Cool works very closely with its partner Leicestershire Constabulary, and the local town centre beat team, Sgt Ian Stone.

He said: "I am extremely proud of the work both Phil and Rob do to make Loughborough safer, and its nice to see their efforts recognised.

Hopefully this will be the first awards of many to come with exciting plans for the future, its never been so important to be COOL!!