The Board noted the following written updates
attached to the agenda and circulated at the meeting:
·
Neighbourhood Police Team
·
Fire Service
·
Wiltshire Council
In additional the following verbal partner
updates were received:
Police - Inspector Hutchings gave a verbal
update, noting that he represented the South Team, and would take
back any queries regarding the West to Inspector Fee’s team.
Some of the points from the update included:
- Work of our Special Constables
– Wiltshire Police had invested heavily in recruiting more
Specials and were now reaping the rewards of that investment. So
far, the Specials had provided 63,000 hours of voluntary service,
and were a fantastic asset. They are fully operational Police
Officers and could be used for all aspects of our work.
- Visibility commitment & Pulse
patrols – At this time of year there could often be an
increase in theft at this time of year. We run pulse patrols, where
we get the team together for 20 – 30 mins and put them all on
patrol in a specific area. It works to deter criminals from this
type of activity.
- I have made a commitment to all Area
Boards in the South, if you would like a Police Officer to attend
an event in the community, if you contact me, I will endeavour to
get someone there where possible.
Questions
- Tisbury would like to invite you to
send Police presence to the Tisbury Christmas Fair on
8th December – Answer: I will feed this back.
- On page 16 of the agenda, it details
a lot of PCSO’s are they now doing most of the Policing?
– Answer: No, these are the people that make up the Community
Policing Team, the eyes and the ears on the ground. Whilst every
Police Officer is allocated an area, the demand on an Officer means
they are sometimes not able to do a foot patrol in that area, so
the PCSO are there to support them.
- We would also like a Police presence
on 30th November at the Mere Christmas fair. –
Answer: I will feed that back.
- In Donhead St Andrew I have not seen
a Police Officer patrolling in many years. Answer: We have had many
Offices patrolling. We cannot commit to the types of patrols we had
many years ago. We have to move our resources where the crime
reports to be. We are a demand led service. We have to be
proportionate to requests.
- Years ago, we had Dickson of Dock
Green, were Officers went around alone, now we often see the Police
in pairs, and they tend to be talking together, and not looking
around as much. Answer: Most of our crew are single crew. It is not
a given that our Officers go out in pairs. What we do have is an
Officer and a PCSO, sometimes in training.
- There was a plan to introduce
Special Constables based in a set area. Can you introduce that back
into an area? Answer: We do have Special Constables and they do
take part in high visibility patrols in specific areas.
- Rural crime in sheds and out
buildings seems to be prolific. Answer: The nature of shed
burglaries is that they are random, and unless you can gather
evidence for specific leads, it is difficult to catch these
offenders.
- Is there an upper age limit to be a
voluntary Police Officer? Answer: No, they need to commit to a 12
week training course, every weekend for 12 weeks.
We have increased our volunteers in every
aspect of work we deal in, however we cannot employ a volunteer to
replace a paid post.