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Bromyard Local Policing Team Newsletter February 2010
An Improved Policing Response In Herefordshire
The 1st February marks not only the start of a new month but also the start of a more efficient policing structure in the county, which will provide a better service to the people of Herefordshire when they call for assistance.
Previously, uniformed response officers had operated from the seven police stations across the county and worked in three sections - North (Leominster, Bromyard and Kington), Central (Hereford) and South (Ross, Peterchurch and Ledbury) and supervised by three Inspectors.
Now, a single response team will cover the whole county at any one time, led by the Duty Inspector, with officers working from Leominster, Hereford and Ross police stations.
The Duty Inspector will have control of all county resources enabling a swift and more effective response, moving staff between stations on a daily basis if circumstances or demand dictate, thereby ensuring the most effective response to incidents. CID officers' duties have also been realigned to the shift changes to offer the optimum support for colleagues.
"This does not mean that there will be fewer officers on the streets or in your area - quite the reverse in fact," said Superintendent Kevin Purcell, the Division's most senior police officer. "By working in large teams we have the resilience to cover sickness and other shortfalls that we did not have previously. All areas previously patrolled will be covered exactly as before. Officers will just start their shifts with briefings at three stations instead of seven and will be allocated patrol areas to cover all parts of the county. They will remain on their allotted area for the day, unless the Duty Inspector needs to send them to another incident off their beat."
Local policing teams will remain unchanged and will continue to deliver the same excellent quality of service as before. Each day some local policing teams will be tasked to work an evening shift and deal with incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB) wherever it may occur across the county, thereby ensuring that neighbourhood problems do not escalate. Dealing with anti-social behaviour is high on the Division's agenda and local policing teams have been tasked with dealing with such activity robustly. The provision of an ASB team in the evenings will ensure that local policing is involved right from the outset and can resolve the problem more swiftly and effectively.
"The whole focus of these changes is to deliver a better policing product to the people of the county," said Supt Purcell. "As a Division, we want to deliver the best service we can and thereby ensure that confidence and satisfaction in the police remains high. We ourselves are confident that these changes will not only make a difference to our performance but, more importantly, will make a difference to the people we serve."
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Safe & Secure - Internet Safety Awareness
Monday 8th February marks the start of the Force's Internet Safety Awareness week. If you would like to know more about how to keep your children safe when they use the net, click on www.childnet-int.org/blogsafety or you can also look at www.thinkuknow.co.uk or www.westmercia.police.uk.
HAVE YOUR SAY!
PACT stands for Partners and Communities Together. It gives you the chance to tell your local policing team and partners about the issues that are causing concern within your neighbourhood and which ones you want us to deal with as a priority.
The current priorities for your area are:
Criminal damage, including vandalism and graffiti
Anti-social behaviour
Your next PACT events are:
Wednesday 10th February 7pm at The Falcon Mews
Volunteer Scheme Launched
Between 1st and 9th February, police in Herefordshire are launching their Volunteer Scheme, designed to encourage people with skills and talents to offer their services in a number of activities across the Division, in as many departments as possible. More than half a dozen people from all walks of life have already joined the scheme.
"We are actively encouraging people with disabilities, ethnic minorities and those who have retired to apply for the scheme," said Gabrielle Wright, Police Strategic Partnership Manager. "Initially volunteers will be employed assisting our local policing teams, with surveys, phone calls and admin functions in order to increase public satisfaction and confidence. We hope to roll out the program to cover departments such as CID and Custody."
If you would like more information on the Volunteer Scheme, please contact Rosie Nunnery at Hereford Police Station on 0300 333 3000.
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Local News
Another year has come and gone and already we are fast approaching Spring. The lighter evenings are most welcome and seem too put everyone in a better mood looking forward to the summer months. Our ‘Light Up’ campaign went very well and the purse bells modelled in the Journal newspaper by CSO Pete Knight were also a great success, so much so that we ran out of supplies of them. We have just this week (8th February) had another supply of them so if you called in previously and were disappointed, call in quick before they all go again.
We have found ourselves committed heavily with court cases and the results have been mixed. I am however pleased that one burglar was given 9 years in Hereford crown court for his part in a number of offences committed across our area. This kind of sentence must surely act as a deterrent to those set upon the criminal path.
John Meek
Bromyard Town Local Policing Officer
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