Today (22nd April) Edenbridge employed its first community warden. Alex Stephens is a face that you will be seeing a lot of in the next few months and longer. Mr Stephens appears more than qualified for the job with over thirty years experience policing the streets of London. For over twenty years he has been a police sergeant and a custody officer in charge of ten men. Before becoming a police sergeant he was a police constable patrolling the streets of Lewisham and Catford. His previous job consisted of working in school programs and safety in the community which will greatly help in patrolling and looking after Edenbridge.

Amongst other duties he will be primarily involved in helping the community, both young and old. "I'm concerned with each and every person." Richard Wilson, the Head of Direct Services believes one of the main priorities of the new warden is to "Get to know the community, the people, residents and businesses." Mr Stephens understands the needs of the community and will work the hours that the community needs him to work. That will mean that if the community need him to patrol the streets at night then he will work at night to help curb and deter anti-social behaviour and make the streets a safer place for residents to walk at night. Mr Stephens noted three main functions of his job. He will not just working with crime but with the community, the residents association, housing association and the town council to improve the atmosphere of the town. He will work with the police, acting as the 'eyes and ears' of the residents and to reduce the fear of crime around Edenbridge. Finally he wants to improve the local environment, help to speed up the process of removing dumped cars by quickly bringing in the correct agencies and working closely with the police. Mr Stephens was optimistic looking for a next day resolution to most vehicle dumping.

This scheme was initiated by the Government and made available for the community, with funding being available from last year. Richard Wilson said that the application had to be put forward to the national scheme and the Edenbridge application was successful. He said 'We are one of the lucky ones.' The process then only took two months from the first advert going out to Mr Stephens being appointed.

Mr Stephens will be patrolling Edenbridge as of today and would welcome residents to introduce themselves to him or just to say hello. Edenbridge already has a low criminal record with a 24% reduction in crime over the rest of Kent. In March 2002 just 36 crimes were reported, just over one a day and with the population rising above eight thousand people Edenbridge is the success story in West Kent.