SOCIAL APPROACH


one area, I spent an evening with a group of volunteers to go out and watch for poaching and rural crime at night. This was completely different to being in North Wales and talking to a group of youth workers and the police, trying to deal with kids in Rhyl who didn’t have support or things to do and so were being led into crime and ASB.


I spent time with police in Enfield, looking at street


the summertime, when there are lots of holidaymakers around and increased problems on the streets, there just aren’t enough resources to make an arrest when necessary is shocking.


are getting more funding for police officers, we are still 50 per cent down on PCSOs, and down on police staff so our police officers are taking on the extra pressure.


“I spent time with police in Enfield looking at problems with street prostitution and how the underlying factor was, in many cases, modern day slavery”


prostitution and how the underlying factor was, in many cases, modern-day slavery. It was interesting to learn about the complex policing that aims to address the problem of slavery, but also tackle street prostitution, which is upsetting for the local neighbourhood.


Was there anything you found during your time travelling across the police forces that really surprised or shocked you? I think the struggle with resources was what really hit home. In rural areas, you would almost expect some of these challenges. But to hear in Berwick, for example, that it’s an hour and a half to the nearest custody suite. And that in


Seeing the police everywhere having to


make choices about what they do helped me to understand why the public feel that they don’t see the police as much as they should. We do need reform in some of the ways that we look at policing. But mainly we need to look at having enough resources, and enough people to do the job.


Did you learn anything about policing and how it works that you may not have known much about before the tour? I learnt about the importance of all different types of police officers and staff. Whether it’s PCSOs, who are often eyes and ears on the ground, or police officers or police staff, they all rely on each other. Whilst yes, we


What are the next steps for your findings from the tour? I want to set my findings out in a report. We announced some policies last autumn around having a police hub in every area where


ASB is most acute; to have neighbourhood prevention teams where police and local enforcement work together to be accessible, to be visible, and to tackle some of the issues that the communities face. We have talked about having a next generation Neighbourhood Watch, where we use modern technologies to make the most of the interaction between the public and the police, to start preventing and tackling crime more efficiently. Also, we should explore increased powers for police to close those houses being used for drug dealing or persistent ASB, and whether those powers need to be extended beyond policing as well, to enable housing associations to do similar.


13 | POLICE | APRIL 2022


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