A Day in the Life of a Street Warden

There are currently 64 wardens who patrol the whole of Middlesbrough. The Wardens commence their shift at 1.40 pm, which begins with a daily brief delivered by the Shift Manager.  The brief details deployment, distribution of radios, information on estates and any tasks for the wardens to carry out for that day.

• 2 pm - Wardens depart to their ward area and the patrolling begins!  This incorporates known hot spot areas, which are areas that are known for high levels of anti social behaviour, fly tipping, abandoned cars and environmental issues.
• 2.30 pm - Receive a tasking from the warden control room reporting a dumped sofa, we contact the environmental agency to come and collect it.  Whilst on patrol we notice large amounts of dog fouling and also report this to the Environmental Agency.
• 3 pm - Patrol local school to engage with the youths and to ensure no incidents occur.  It is good to communicate with the youths, to get to know them and more importantly for the youths to get to know us.  We see the youths playing on the streets and it is important they know we are approachable.
• 3.30 pm - Receive a call from control that youths are causing anti social behaviour (ASB), we attend the scene, no youths to be found. We carry out a search of the area and speak to residents to confirm.
• 4 pm - Visit a resident who has requested a home visit regarding anti social behaviour in the area.  Made arrangements to re-visit the resident with feedback of their complaint.  Advised we are here for their safety and are on hand to answer any queries and give advice.  Made a note of this visit and the residents concerns in the pocket book.   
• 6 pm – Return to base for our tea break.
• 6.35 pm – Back on patrol and we identify graffiti to be removed, made a note of this in our pocket note books and will report this to Area Care.
• 6 pm – Receive a tasking from control that youths are drinking alcohol, we attend the scene immediately, and contact police control for back up to remove the alcohol. We educate the youths on the dangers of drinking and advise them of activities going on in their area.  We also seek information from the youths as to what they would like to do. We note this for when we organise diversionary activities, to ensure the youths will participate.
• 6.45 pm - Made notes of ideas for diversionary activities.
• 7 pm – Identified car with an out of date tax disc, made a note in notebook to inform the Council’s Licensing department.
• 7.30 pm – Receive a call from control to visit an area where youths are playing football in a large gang.  Attend the scene immediately and ask the youths to move on as they are obstructing pathways and disturbing residents.
• 8.30 pm - Came across a large amount of litter and notified Area Care of the problem and organised a litter pick event with in the community, involving schools and partner agencies. 
• 9.00 pm – Receive a call from control informing us of a stolen vehicle - ‘taking without owners consent' (TWOC) in the area, we note the details so we can keep a look out and notify police.
• 9.45 pm – We are picked up and taken back to the warden base; we hand in our radios and complete any incident report forms.
• 10.00 pm – End of our shift.

The above is a typical day for the wardens, but we may also have community events, diversionary activities, school visits and joint patrols with police. We are here to help improve the well being of residents by helping them to feel safer and be proud of the community they live.   Further information on the Warden service can be found on the Council website www.middlesbrough.gov.uk

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