Humberside Police have launched their Neighbourhood Policing Campaign, in line with the national Safer Streets Summer campaign, which will run for three months from June 30 to August 30. The campaign is a part of the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee which aims to improve the relationship between the police and the communities they operate in.
The force has said that over the summer they will be showing the public what it means to be an officer sitting at the heart of the neighbourhoods across the region. The teams are made up of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), and Neighbourhood Beat Officers who also work closely with Special Constables, Community Cohesion officers, and other teams across the force conducting warrants, high visibility patrols, school visits, as well as a variety of community engagement activities such as HumberTalking, My Community Alert, surveys and much more to understand and listen to what’s important to our communities.
The LDRS spoke to Humberside Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Mike Walker, who is responsible for the force’s Neighbourhood Policing Teams. Mr Walker explained: “For Humberside it will mean an increased police presence and local authority activity in many of the town centres and retail areas across our area.
“We’ll be focusing on tackling retail crime and anti social behaviour which are absolutely prevalent in those locations and we want to make our town centre safe for the public and we’ll be focusing on criminals whose intention it is to commit theft.”
Officers will be seen working in 16 retail areas across the region that have been identified by both the Home Office and the force.
The success of the scheme will be seen and measured in a number of ways, ACC Walker said, including an increased police visibility and increased community confidence in the police, which would in turn lead to increased community intelligence being shared with the police.
He added: “We need the public to keep telling us about the crime and anti-social behaviour concerns that they have and I would urge members of the public to speak to our officers who will be out and about.”
The force’s neighbourhood policing team, which is currently made up of around 200 members, is set to be increased as it is looking to recruit 38 new officers who will be focused on crime prevention and early intervention, ACC Walker said. This will include four dedicated school officers, who will go into schools across the region and talk to students to prevent young people being drawn into criminality.
The 38 new officers are expected to be in place by the end of this financial year.
Nine of the new officers will work on the force’s Clear Hold Build programmes which seeks to prevent crime in three areas across the Humber Region. One of these areas is Orchard Park, where the LDRS recently visited alongside Humberside Police to see the work being done to prevent antisocial behaviour and crime.
ACC Walker added that much of the aim is to reach and help people who are on “the cusp of criminality.”
By: Andrew Spence, LDRS
