Thame Councillor Praises Brave PCSO

A THAME Town Councillor has praised the actions of a Police Community Support Officer who kept two rival gangs apart singled handed, until police reinforcements could arrive.
Cllr Nigel Champken-Woods praised the actions of PCSO Diane Jackson, who was on duty with her colleague, PCSO Dan Tucker, on Friday, September 14th, at Thame Fair when, what a police spokesperson described as: “A very nasty situation” kicked off between two gangs of youths.

PSCO Jackson, who is only around 5’3″ tall, managed to keep the two groups apart until extra police resources, including a helicopter, arrived on the scene.
Speaking today, she said: “Although the situation did become somewhat tense, both Dan and I were able to use our local knowledge of some of these young people, to diffuse the situation until further resources arrived and, apart from a bit of pushing and showing, there was no physical violence at that time. However, the atmosphere did remain tense for some time.”

Cllr Champken-Woods was speaking at a meeting of the town council’s Culture, Leisure and Recreation Committee on Tuesday, October 23, during an agenda item Report on the two annual Thame fairs, in September and October.
He said that, although PCSO Jackson had done a fantastic job, it appeared that policing on the Friday night in September, was “inadequate” and that in his opinion, “the police had failed in their duty,” to provide an adequate police presence on a night well-known for fights.

Although the report was generally favourable, and included a statement from a former objector to the fair, that there had been: “A vast improvement in regard to the effect of fumes and noise this year,” Councillors expressed concerns about a complaint from a mother of young children that there had been “inappropriate language at the wrong time of the day” on the part of the showmen, and that some rides had been resting on kerbs which it feared could cause structural damage to the stones.

Cllr Nicola Dixon, a mother of a young child, said that as far as she was concerned, she had not seen any trouble at the fair and that other families she knew had all had a great time with their children at the fair.

The Town Clerk reported that there was to be a de-briefing about the fair between the police and the town council, sometime in November, and that all the issues would be discussed.
A public consultation is to be carried out in early 2008 to gauge public opinion about the Thame fairs, and a full resource appraisal will be included during a rent review to be carried out by the town council, in February 2008.

Photo: PCSO Diane Jackson, based at Thame Police station.