{"id":24144,"date":"2018-01-30T18:23:21","date_gmt":"2018-01-30T18:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=24144"},"modified":"2018-01-30T18:23:21","modified_gmt":"2018-01-30T18:23:21","slug":"police-chief-defends-cardiff-homeless-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2018\/01\/30\/police-chief-defends-cardiff-homeless-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Police chief defends homeless strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

IN an exclusive interview with The Cardiffian<\/em>, the chief constable of South Wales Matt Jukes has defended the controversial policy of removing homeless people from the city centre over Christmas. <\/span>
\nOperation Purple Ash, in which the police work alongside Cardiff council and the local health board, aims to tackle drinking, begging, and antisocial behaviour in the city centre. <\/span>
\nBut the operation was criticised by volunteer groups helping the homeless, especially after the death in November of Lindy Louise Pring in Alexandra Park. <\/span>
\nMr Jukes defended the police\u2019s strategy.\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u201cMost of what we are doing is not dispersal orders, most of what we are doing is trying to engage the people who are on the street with a whole range of other services. I was out on the street recently with an officer who had got pockets full of referral guides to churches that were providing overnight accommodation and to places where people could get food or medical attention. <\/span>
\n\u201cThe dispersal orders are part of our response and they are important. Antisocial or aggressive begging is only a part of that street scene and we recognise that, but it\u2019s obviously where attention has been focused But really it\u2019s something we are not using as a first resort \u2014 we are trying get people into services and get support.<\/span>
\n\u201cThere are some people who are actually not homeless who are on those big event days coming in to the city to exploit the wider public, and actually that\u2019s not fair on the people who are genuinely in need So we do need to deal with those individuals but our principal focus is always going to be to get people the support they need.\u201d<\/span>
\nSpeaking to The Cardiffian,<\/em> Bleddyn Lewis, a homeless man who sits outside Tesco on City Road, Roath, said:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI think it\u2019s wrong that [the police] should put us in prison, or fine us because we haven\u2019t got no money anyway. I don\u2019t think we are doing any wrong. There\u2019s a lot of people who look forward to seeing me. We have a chit chat and that, they help me, I help them if I can.<\/span>
\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who complain, there\u2019s aggressiveness, I don\u2019t aggress, I just sit and hope that people would take pity and help me. But the police, what they do, I think it\u2019s wrong. <\/span>
\n\u201cAs it is, it\u2019s chaos. That\u2019s why there a lot of people like myself, homeless, they\u2019ve started to die, of hypothermia and things. There\u2019s not enough that they do for the homeless.\u201d<\/span>
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