News Item

The chairman opened the meeting, welcoming those present and thanking Aberdeen City Council in the form of Councillor Marie Boulton for the use of the school premises.  He remarked on the way in which (perhaps due to the police initiative ?) community organisations are working in partnerships more than ever before – Community Councils, Residents’ Associations, and of course Neighbourhood Watch are coming together to discuss new initiatives in their areas and to resolve problems.

The principal topic was the redefining of the police areas in Grampian.  Aberdeen City’s areas are already in place.  This goes hand in hand with the focus on Communities and is part of the "Local Policing, Closer to You" approach..  Chief Inspector Adrian Berkeley presented the Platform for Success – Working with Communities.  Adrian is the most senior police officer for the district of Hazlehead, which comprises Culter (AS4A), Cults (Milltimber, Bieldside, Cults) AS4B, Hazlehead AS4C), Summerhill (AS4D), and Sheddocksley (AS4E).
Local policing teams work with partners to deal with local problems and respond to incidents.   Policing resources were formerly split between Response officers, dealing with urgent matters, and Neighbourhood officers attending to "quality of life" community matters.  In the new structure, each sector (in our case ‘Hazlehead’) is headed by a Chief Inspector (in our case Ch. Insp. Berkeley).  Local incidents will tend to be attended to by local officers.  The presence of more officers in communities will redress comments that ‘more police officers should be on the beat’.
The ‘national intelligence model’ is the system whereby information passed to the police is processed, collated, and used in a planned way to make policing as efficient as possible.
The geographical changes in community policing has meant that some police offices are redundant.  New ones are being established, either in refurbished existing premises or within the design of new schools.
A discussion of policing issues followed.  There is no further releasable information on the Cults woods incident, which is still being investigated.  The public are reassured that they are not at risk.  Police sergeant Darren Mills, based at the academy was also present and contributed to the discussion.

Grant McIntosh, principal Trading Standards officer in Aberdeen spoke on what we should know of the present legislation on scams and unfair trading.  “Generally we would advise that consumers do not enter into a contract or negotiation with a trader who simply appears at their door. If you need work done, we would recommend that you get at least three quotes from reputable local companies. Where a consumer does enter or negotiate a contract at home, the following may be worth noting:
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulation 2008 Contains general offences of misleading actions, omissions and aggressive practices. The regulations also contain a list of outright banned practices which include:

- Claiming that a trader has been approved, endorsed or authorised by a public or private body when they have not, e.g. Corgi registration

- Falsely stating that a product will only be available, or available on particular terms, for a very limited time in order to elicit an immediate decision, e.g "the price will double unless you buy it
tonight"

- Making an inaccurate claim concerning the nature and extent of risk to personal security if a consumer does not buy a product, e.g. "you should buy this alarm because your house is in a crime hot spot"

- Ignoring a consumer's request to leave their home or not return. "I'd like to think about it, please leave now"

Anybody who thinks that a trader may have breached these regulations should be encouraged to call Consumer Direct for advice who will in turn pass details to the local Trading Standards Team.

The Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer's Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008 requires traders to provide consumers with a 7 day cooling off period for any contract over £35 which is concluded in the consumer's home or place of work (regardless of whether you invited them to your home or not). Traders must provide details of how to cancel and a cancellation form in a specific format.

The Companies Act 2006  - 
Traders are required to disclose their name and address on all "business documents", which will include contracts, orders and receipts. If they do not, or you suspect that the details provided are false, you should report this matter to Trading Standards.”     [- by email after the meeting]

This was followed by a discussion in which a considerable variety of attempted scams were described by attendees.

Emma Bellu, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Safer Community Trust, spoke about the component of the trust which looks after Neighbourhood Watch in Aberdeen City.  All support functions are provided, including the distribution of the Weekly Bulletin.  Emma handed round one of the leaflets which she has designed, the ‘Incident Report Card’.  Anyone witnessing an incident is encouraged to write down the principal facts on the card as soon as practicable.  This means that reliable information can be passed to the police Service Centre (0845 600 5 700, email: serviceCentre@grampian.pnn.police.uk,  Text:  07739 934 444.  But in emergency dial 999  )
Volunteers from Watches help at the ‘Absafe’ office – if you would like to participate, call 01224 646 353.

At the close, the treasurer, Bob Murray, presented the financial report, with no subs from watches..

Lastly, co-ordinators in the Lower Deeside area are invited to join the committee.  Guus Glass kindly agreed to represent the association at the local community council, CBMCC.
Thanks were expressed to all for attending, particularly the guest speakers who made the AGM a successful and interesting meeting.
                                                                                         Dave MacFarlane, Chair.