a) Parish Councils and community groups
b) Community policing – local issues and priorities
In attendance: Inspector Pete Sparrow and PC Matt Holland
Minutes:
a) Parish Councils and Community Groups
Downton Neighbourhood Plan (NHP)
In the recent referendum, there had been an 36% turnout of voters with 95% of those who voted, in support. The decision statement would be ready by 12 December; there would then be a period of time for any legal challenge, with a deadline of mid-January.
Question: West Dean & West Tytherley were producing a joint NHP. There had been news of other NHPs being overturned by developers in the High Court, did WC give any guidance on how we should proceed? Answer: Address your question to the Head of Spatial Planning, who would be able to provide an answer.
Community Policing
Inspector Pete Sparrow and PC Matt Holland were in attendance to give an update and answer any questions. The new Community Policing model started 8 weeks ago. The most important aspect was engagement, so theBoard had decided to trial a new delivery method for the update.
· Once the Bourne Hill Travel Plan was adopted, the additional Response Officers would move from Amesbury and be based from there.
· There was currently a shortage of Police Officers for this area. Recruitment was underway. Officers would be transferring and Special Constables would also be covering.
· There had been a new run of Cadets undergoing the FAKE training. They were currently in their fifth week of this course which covered firearms and knife Education.
· There had been several issues reported with the 101 service, any concerns should be emailed in to enable them to be logged.
· The Christmas anti drink drive campaign was about to start. The Police had a zero tolerance on this.
· A trial phase of the body worn cameras was taking place at present. It was hoped that in time all officers would have these.
· Following a series of recent arson attacks, Community Policing had worked well with people alerting the police of incidents as they were taking place, the Police were able to respond quickly in closing the net to catch the person involved.
· The Journal had reported on a misunderstanding over a man with a machete, which had received high Police attendance. This incident had been a case of misunderstanding, and the man had in fact been trimming a bush.
PC Matt Holland - Community Policing Coordinator gave an update on current work of the teams.
His role included focusing more on local priorities covered by our local area.
Alderbury rural beat – PCSO Tina Lawrence had been attending events within the community. The local priorities for the area included carrying out some patrols to monitor vehicles at beauty spots following theft from vehicles. He urged people not to leave any property in their vehicles when out in rural locations.
There had been a recent increase in non dwelling burglaries – sheds and out buildings, targeting the border areas. Some extra patrols would be put in place. This was a good time to review security of sheds and outbuildings.
A series of vulnerable person visits were taking place in all areas across Southern Wiltshire. This is when a person was identified by a Judge as vulnerable and requires some action from us to help keep them safe. We carry out an assessment, the PCSO’s will then keep in regular contact with those people to make sure they are safe.
PCSO Matt Smith – Downton Rural beat was also looking at beauty spots, to monitor theft from vehicles. As well as the PCSO’s, we also have a team of Officers from the rural team also patrolling our area.
They were still looking at the HGV weight limit in Downton and Redlynch. There had been a reduction in the reports, so if people see HGV’s which shouldn’t be there then they were urged to report it to the Police via Matt’s email. matt.holland@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk
PCSO Jenny Moss – Laverstock, Ford & Old Sarum was continuing her work with the Laverstock schools. Her priorities for the area included, targeted patrols, ASBRAC, community reassurance patrols.
Matt promoted the Community messaging service. To receive his Daily Crime summaries (and other policing news) he encouraged people to sign up at –
www.wiltsmessaging.co.uk – click on ‘join’ and make sure to add a contact email address.
For Facebook – search for Salisbury Police whilst logged on. To follow on Twitter, use @SouthWiltsCPT.
The Group CPT email was - cptsouthwiltshire@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk
There was also a regular consultation point in the community at the Salisbury Christmas markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Officers were available to discuss matters, so Matt urged people to come and have a chat with them.
Comments and questions:
· Are we still having the NTG meetings to set local priorities Answer: I haven’t set any future dates – it has to be community led so if you want one someone will have to organise, chair and take minutes, we cannot run the NTG.
Chairman – this is the key reason we had adopted this new approach at the Area Board.
We will be at AB in future from 6.30pm for anyone to speak to us.
· In Winterslow old couple had burglary from shed, 2am, no police patrols around at that time, then see in the Journal that you had 9 officers to a mistaken incident, why were all those officers working a day shift, could these officers be shared over the night patrols? Answer: The team is split into 5 shifts 9 Officers per team with a Sergeant. Shift pattern will put one of those teams working nights. That incident was reported as a man with a machete, so it would have been covered by all areas of officers from Salisbury and Amesbury. The demand profile had been created around the statistics of previous offences.