A COMMUNITY speedwatch scheme is set to return to Warwickshire as lockdown restrictions continue to ease.
The relaunch coincides with the appointment of Chief Inspector Faz Chishty and Sergeant Dave Valente who together oversee Community Speedwatch (CSW) at the Road Safety Unit in Rugby – which also manages the county’s speed cameras.
Community Speedwatch is a national scheme where community members join together to monitor speeds of vehicles in their area with support from the police.
Ch Ins Chishty said: “Speeding continues to be a concern for many communities in both rural and urban environments and we are very grateful to all the CSW volunteers who use their own time to help make Warwickshire’s roads safer for everyone. We are keen to grow the number of Community Speedwatch groups and to do everything we can to support them to check speeds in their local communities.
“Volunteers receive appropriate training and this has restarted with further training scheduled in July to give practical experience of using the speed detection devices. We have also launched a new CSW newsletter to keep our volunteers up to date on the latest news including when they can help support upcoming anti speeding campaigns.
“All of this together means it’s an exciting time to be part of a growing network of Community Speedwatch volunteers in Warwickshire.”
In Warwickshire, each CSW group uses the LTI Speed Lasers independently purchased by either the group itself or the parish council.
Any vehicles spotted speeding are referred to Warwickshire Police and the owners receive a letter. Follow up action will be taken in the case of repeat offences.
To ensure no CSW members or the public are put at risk, a full risk assessment is carried out for each group.
Those interested can contact their Safer Neighbourhood Team which can be found at www.warwickshire.police.uk.
Visit www.communityspeedwatch.org for more details on the scheme.
