News : North Devon Insight
POLICE UPDATE.
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Hi Everyone PC Glyn Clark & PCSO Hannah Denton, the neighbourhood Police Team for Whiddon valley, Bishops Tawton, Swimbridge & Landkey would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. PACT Meeting Swimbridge & Landkey The Christmas period was a relatively quiet one for this area with no major incidents, no burglaries or robberies. The weather at the beginning of January effected a lot of people especially motorists. Emergency services made the best attempts possible to reach people over the hazardous ice & snow. The roads and pavements are particularly icy causing various incidents. If this weather is still about when this issue goes to press, please only travel if necessary, motorists are advised to slow down and leave a far greater braking distance than normal. Many side roads get very treacherous, as they are not always treated. For further advice visit our website. Crime Report - Bishops Tawton, Whiddon Valley, Landkey & Swimbridge The average number of anti-social behaviour incidents in this area has decreased from 28.7 to 15 (47.7%) (compared to the samethree month period last year)
The average number of burglaries in this area has decreased from 3 to 2.3 (22.2%) (compared to the same three month period last year)
The average number of vehicle crimes in this area has decreased from 3.7 to 2 (45.5%) (compared to the same three month period last year)
The above results show that incidents have decreased as a whole on the same period for 2008. 1,000 fewer victims of crime across Devon and Cornwall in the three months between April and June 2009. PACT Priorities (Partners & Communities Together) 1. Stolen & Damage vehicles-Landkey Our actions to tackle your local priorities: All police colleagues have been briefed ref the above, they will help with extra patrols when PC Clark & PCSO Denton are not on duty. Anybody behaving in an anti social manner will be dealt with robustly, starting them on the ASBO process where applicable. Police Dog handlers & the PACT Team have conducted extra foot patrol in the areas. PCSO Denton & PC Clark will be conducting speed checks in the New Year in Swimbridge and continue to work alongside other agencies. PACT TEAM (partners & communities together) The PACT Team is made up of five Police Officers & one Police Sergeant. The team assists various police departments with any key issues. The PACT Team assist the Neighbourhood Beat Team with mis-use of Drugs Acts Warrants & arrests They conducted foot patrols in problem areas such as Westacott play area in Whiddon Valley and Barton Road following a spate of vehicle crime. The team are a valuable asset that help with extra coverage on problem areas. Don't forget to visit your local Neighbourhood Teams website. For further information please use our contact details or visit www.devon-cornwall.police.uk email:
General Enquiries, to report a crime & for information & advice 08452 777444 Crime Stoppers 0800 555111
This month’s magazine article is centred on a letter written a short time ago by Superintendent Kevin Harris who is the Local Police Area Commander for Northern Devon. Northern Devon – Community Confidence and Local PolicingI am really proud to be the Local Police Area Commander for Northern Devon and have been privileged to live and work in North Devon since 1986. I believe it is extremely important for me to make sure you know North Devon is one of the safest places to live in the UK and the Force currently has the fourth lowest crime rate in England and Wales. Lots of readers will know the Home Office has set targets based on public confidence in the police and local authorities’ ability to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour priorities that matter locally. We know when local people have high confidence levels they are more likely to engage with and work with the police and local council partners. For me it is very important that the public in Northern Devon feel they can shape the police services in their local area. The way we communicate with our communities is key if this is to become a reality. The new single Home Office confidence target is based on the British Crime Survey question of whether residents feel the police and local council are dealing with the crime and anti-social behaviour issues (ASB) that matter most to the community. This is good news locally where strong neighbourhood policing, firmly based in the community, links to a growing affiliation with our local councils in committed partnerships aiming for fully integrated neighbourhood management. To help readers who wish to gain further information and regular updates on their neighbourhoods the Force has a neighbourhood policing website. Each team provides the public with information on local PACT meetings and priorities, and what is being done about them, local news and who is in the neighbourhood policing team Our introduction of neighbourhood policing teams considerably increased communication at a local level and was followed in 2008 by the introduction of the Policing Pledge. The Policing Pledge is our promise to the public to provide a quality of service that meets the needs of individual communities. We are committed to the Policing Pledge. It not only gives more information about the way a local neighbourhood policing team operates but also ensures that communities have a stronger voice in telling us what they think is most important and what they are worried about. The Policing Pledge sets out minimum standards in 10 areas of policing. By delivering these standards we ensure we respond to the concerns of our communities and provide them with a customised service. Each member of my staff makes an important contribution to deliver these standards to help build safer communities across Northern Devon and increase public confidence. The Policing Pledge also provides an opportunity for people to hold us to account. On occasions where we fail to deliver we will give an explanation as to why it has not been possible to provide the level of service to which we aspire and which the public deserves. Activities around the Policing Pledge and Neighbourhood Policing have been huge and a large amount of our resources are allocated to demonstrate our commitment to you, the public. The impact of Police Community Support Officers, Neighbourhood Beat Managers and our highly valued Special Constabulary has led to many extremely positive results. Every neighbourhood in Devon and Cornwall has a neighbourhood policing team, dedicated to listening to their communities, finding out what you want us to focus on and working with other agencies to make your lives better and safer. I am extremely proud that in recent times our Neighbourhood Teams, Neighbourhood Beat Managers and Police Community Support Officers have received local, regional and national recognition for the great work that they have done in resolving Community issues with partner agencies. Several Neighbourhood Watch and Community development schemes from Northern Devon recently received a whole host of awards from the Devon and Cornwall Community Watch Association. It was fabulous to see the pride on their faces as they were recognised for the huge crime reductions and community enhancements they had achieved, working closely with the police and partners on a variety of initiatives and watch schemes. I published last week some really great results showing how your local teams have achieved top performance in a number of categories of policing targets linked to satisfaction and victim care. We have this year so far had almost 1000 fewer victims of crime across Northern Devon than in 2008. The entire force is committed to tackling anti social behaviour, as we know this is one of the most important areas of policing for our communities. I believe we are making a difference as across the force, levels of anti social behaviour have fallen by 3,000 cases between April and September this year compared to 2008. All of your neighbourhood teams have anti social behaviour as a top priority. I have to be honest though and say how our general levels of ‘confidence’ established from community surveys have got me scratching my head! I say this as locally we have such high results for satisfaction from the small numbers of people who we actually deal with, including victims of burglary, vehicle crime, road collisions and violent crime, I find it difficult to understand why ‘general confidence’ in what we can deliver is not equally high. To improve this situation we have identified some key areas to raise public confidence that the police and local council are dealing with anti-social behaviour. For my managers, my staff and me it is important we set consistent standards so that each of us can contribute to improving public confidence and satisfaction. These standards communicate simply and clearly the basic expectations placed on us and our teams about how we can achieve public confidence and satisfaction. I believe all members of my team understand: People feel assured about the level of service when they know the person they are dealing with. Staff should introduce themselves and ensure the person has their contact details or those of the person who will be dealing with their issue. It is easy to forget contacting the police can be daunting for some people, and they may have contacted the police as a last resort. They should clearly explain what is likely to happen and the next steps. If it is not a police matter, the person involved should be redirected to the appropriate organisation. They should give practical help whenever possible and try to solve the problem on initial contact. Our Neighbourhood Policing Teams operate to national Partners And Communities Together (PACT) standards. PACT engagement is in line with our Policing Pledge requirements and need to operate with our council colleagues. This means ensuring that there is a minimum of two full PACT meetings per year, which are effectively promoted and priorities identified communicated. Our Neighbourhood Policing websites are updated monthly with events, PACT priorities and ‘You Said, We Did’ results. We will be using Community Messaging effectively to inform, update and reassure readers. Community Messaging is an effective tool, which allows the Force to send out local messages in real time by telephone or Email to those who want to hear from the Police on what is happening in their locality. Community Messaging is a key channel for sending out targeted communications within our communities. There has recently been increased activity in some areas across the Force to improve community sign up. A link has been included on the Force website to promote the system and allow online sign up. Community messages have huge potential to help us engage with our communities and is used to: Promote Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meetings; Communicate local priorities; Promote good news stories; Give updates on Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs), etc; Missing Persons (MISPERS) alerts; Environmental warnings; Crime prevention advice and warnings of increased activity of crime trends in an area; Appeals I would ask anyone who wishes to enrol on Community Messaging to visit the Force website or make contact with their Local Neighbourhood Team who can register their details. By now, having been in command since 20 June I hope the public have noticed more smart highly visible uniformed staff on patrol. A firm believer in the value of uniformed foot patrols not only have I been out and about regularly but have committed to making a noticeable difference in Northern Devon. I want to conclude by reminding you all what a safe and relatively low crime area we are living in. I wish to thank all the residents and visitors to Northern Devon for their positive relationship with their policing team and confirm our commitment to addressing the anti-social behaviour and community priorities identified by you, using all means at our disposal together with our partners in the local councils. Superintendent Kevin A Harris – Local Police Area Commander. And finally, did you know that: LOCAL POLICE SURGERIES:
PC 14294 PC Tim Quick 'If you have been a victim of crime and would like assistance, please contact Victim Support on General Enquiries, to report a crime & for information & advice 08452 777444 Crime Stoppers 0800 555111 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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