JOANNE BRETT

My role as an Environmental Enforcement officer has changed recently. Previously the role included a dual aspect and one for managing the cleansing contractors. Both roles included decision making which includes prioritising jobs depending on the need of the residents, council and including our legal responsibilities. This could be as simple as a blocked alleyway where a resident is unable to gain access to their mobility scooter or the issuing of a fixed penalty in relation to any Environmental Offences. Within 2 weeks of joining Wirral Council in 2020 we were in lockdown, a further 4 weeks later the experienced officer that was dedicated to my area (The North) left for a new job.

This meant with 6 weeks into my new role I was the sole officer dealing with all the contract and enforcement reports that came in from Seacombe, Poulton, Egremont, Liscard, New Brighton, Wallasey, Leasowe, Moreton and Hoylake. The North is an extremely busy area with on average 180 reports of fly tipping per month not including the reports for Street cleansing, missed bin collections, audits, crew checks and skip checks that need to be completed on a weekly basis.

Due to the high amount reports, I learned very quickly how to prioritise my jobs including Councillor requests and requests from other departments.

I often deal with vulnerable people who are upset and feel that they are being passed around.

There was one lady who was wheelchair bound, whose husband had dementia and he wanted to keep his independence by depositing his domestic waste into his bins, Due to his dementia he could not follow the rules of what waste goes in what bin and this meant when the collection day came around the grey bin was often contaminated and the crews would not empty the bin. This was such a simple thing to rectify. I arranged for the grey bin to be taken away and for an extra green bin to be delivered. I then updated all the systems including the contractor and after that there were no further issues with the bin collections. I continued to monitor the collections and kept in contact with the resident for some time.

Eventually a new starter began, and she was assigned to the north, although I was still relatively new myself it fell to me to train her in the role of a Contracts and Enforcement Officer. Over the past few years due to colleagues leaving the 12 officers became 6 and our roles split, 3 to contract and 3 to enforcement with the understanding that when one officer is off the other will pick up their workload. My colleague who covered the North with me took maternity leave and due to the small number of officers I again ran the North on my own.

As well as my normal duties I have applied for 2 grant's totalling £52250.00 from Keep Britain Tidy. This is money from the chewing gum companies and is for the sole purpose of the cleansing and clearing of chewing gum from our streets. The applications are very detailed, I had to identify areas that were suitable for the cleanse, document it and arrange for the cleansing to take place and then erect all of the signage. In the contract there are conditions that the locations need to be monitored and reports at 6 months and 12 months needed to be submitted. This was all on top of my regular duties.

After Kingdom pulled out of Flintshire I was asked to apply for the Environmental Services Officer Job at Flintshire County Council. This role involved enforcing the county's Littering, Fly Tipping policy as well as their PSPO legislation, including dogs on sports pitches and dog fouling offences. I patrolled the PSPO locations and if any offences were seen then I would deal with them. This did not always mean that fixed penalties were issued, if my assessment was that the person was underage, vulnerable or intoxicated then I would adhere to Flintshire's policy and I would not issue.

Part of my role also included issuing Parking Charge Notices (PCN's) which included patrolling hot spot areas where reports of obstruction to buggy's and wheelchair users were raised. If any FPN's or PCN's were contested then I would attend court as a professional witness to to the event. This role as many enforcement roles can be challenging.

Members of public are often unhappy with formal action being taken and this can lead to conflict verbal and physical. While issuing a fixed penalty for Littering I was assaulted by a male who spat on my arm, this male had also refused details and although he was extremely irate, I kept my composure and called for the police to attend. The male had started to walk away and I stayed on the phone with the police while following at a distance. The police could hear the verbal abuse he was continuing to shout while I was on the phone. Minutes later the police arrived and after explaining the incident the male was arrested and I produced my own statement for the police.

After working as an Enforcement officer for Kingdom for 4 months at Wirral Borough Council I was promoted to Team Leader and was deployed to Flintshire County Council to run the Enforcement team. This team was already established and consisted throughout the two years of 6 - 8 officers. Part of my role was to assess the officers and make sure that all officers were trained to a high standard and acted lawfully when issuing fixed penalties for Environmental offences. When officers fail in their duty it was my responsibility to investigate and adhere to the company’s discipline policy.

Two officers decided one day to follow a high-speed police training session recording the pursuit and posting it on snap chat. The officers were in a marked Flintshire County Council van and were pulled over by the police and questioned. This information was given to me by another officer who had seen the post on snap chat. I then called in the two officers separately and interviewed them in relation to the incident. Following disciplinary guidelines and discussing this with the area manager both officers were given a warning, and their probation was extended. I then informed the client, the manager at Flintshire about the incident and explained the action I had taken to make sure that this did not happen again.

Unfortunately, one of the officers involved was again reported to me but this time he had met up with some other officers for lunch and while stood in a car park he took his drinks bottle lid and threw it onto the floor. Officers challenged his behaviour and told him to pick it up, he refused then walked away from the bottle top leaving it on the ground. I spoke to the officers that witnessed this offence, and I called the officer who littered back to the depot and spoke to him, he confirmed that he littered and gave the reason as "I JUST CANT BE BOTHERED" I sent the officer home and carried out a full investigation taking statements from the officers who witnessed the offence.

A few days later the offending officer was called in for a disciplinary hearing with myself and the area manager. The officer was given time to explain his actions before we adjourned to discuss this matter. Due to the officers’ actions and the fact that he himself was an enforcement officer who had committed the offence of littering he was dismissed from his position immediately. I also issued him with a fixed penalty notice for the offence of littering which he later paid in full. I again updated the client in relation to this offence and our disciplinary outcome.

After leaving Merseyside Police I was employed as an Environmental services officer for Kingdom, working on the Wirral. I was deployed to hotspot areas to enforce several environmental offences including Littering, Dog Fouling and Smoking in restricted areas. I worked as a team with other officers and alone. As I do not have small children I worked most weekends and bank holidays so that other officers who did have young family could spend their time with them.

Due to my proactiveness, I quickly became the officer who was issuing the most fixed penalties, I was also the officer who was then asked to train up new recruits to my own standard. My work was monitored through our body worn cameras and after seeing how I conducted myself when issuing fixed penalties and dealing with aggressive members of public. I was offered the role of Team Leader for the Flintshire County Council Site.

During my time as a Police Officer I have been trained to the required and professional level that is expected of a Police officer within Merseyside Police. This includes dealing with Anti-social and criminal behaviour. I have received full Pace compliant training, structured interview techniques and case file building required for the prosecution of offences as well as considering and using restorative justice. I am trained to manage, and risk assess situations as they arise.

I can work under extreme pressure without the need of supervision to achieve my deadlines. This is shown in the diverse range of jobs I have investigated from Anti-social behaviour to assisting with a murder investigation.

While on duty I was called to a report of a stabbing at a residential property. Upon my arrival two males and two females were at the location and one male had been stabbed. I separated the females, and I relocated one female to a safe and secure place. During that time the male who was stabbed had passed away, the female I was with was his girlfriend and she was in a state of shock from the evening’s events. It was important that a record of what had happened was taken as soon as possible and that meant I had to delay informing her of her boyfriend’s passing.

While taking into consideration the trauma she was going through, I was able to retrieve vital information that led to the arrest of the perpetrator and two others who assisted in hiding him while also destroying evidence. This 8-hour night shift turned into a 16-hour shift as all evidence, reports and my own statements needed to be completed as soon as possible to make sure that there was a thorough and timely investigation.

During my time as a Police Community Support officer my main role was to deal with anti-social behaviour and provide a high visibility presence within Wirral. I was designated to Tranmere area however depending on the need I was deployable to the whole of Merseyside. Intelligence gathering and community engagement was a large part of the role, and this included working closely with partner agencies such as Wirral Borough Councils ASB team, Rehoming team, Social services, Merseyside Fire Brigade, NHS and many more departments within the police.

My first contact with a multi-agency approach was to do with a young male who was flagged as a concern for his school attendance, when he did attend school, his behaviour was disruptive and at times aggressive. We conducted a case conference in relation to the youth, and it was highlighted that his mother was struggling with two newborns, and this had a knock-on effect to her parenting of the youth. Working together with the NHS, Social services, the school and the ASB team we came up with a plan which meant that the mother was given more support and arrangements for the youth to be collected and dropped off at home daily so that he did not miss any school days. I arranged days out for him with other youths and worked on changing his behaviour.

I regularly visited him in and out of school and maintained a good repour with him. While his behaviour improved, unfortunately a few years later the youth and his siblings were removed from their home and were placed in separate foster care accommodation out of the Merseyside area.

A few more years passed and while on duty I heard my name shouted, I was surprised to see a young man stood waving at me, The youth I had first dealt with many years ago was now a young man, he explained he has maintained contact with his siblings and that leaving the area was the best thing for him and he was grateful for our interaction all those years ago.

In my role as assistant manager, it was my job to support and assist the manager of the store. This included supporting staff, training staff running staff meetings and attending area meetings when needed. It was my job to prioritise and delegate jobs to staff members and to adhere to the policy and procedures required by the business.

Dealing with members of public who are unhappy and aggressive was a daily occurrence while making sure that I maintained my professional and polite demeanour while providing excellent customer service. I originally joined Ethel Austin's as a sales assistant and due to my customer service within a few months I was made assistant manager.