Operation Revive needs you – empowering communities in Wellingborough

An operation which will take a well-rounded approach to tackling some of the issues in Wellingborough has been launched and officers want to hear from the local community on what they think police should be focusing on. 

Operation Revive is a multi-partnership project involving Wellingborough Council, Greatwell Homes, Social Care, Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s Youth Team, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, health and mental health services, which looks to address the issue of rising violence and anti-social behaviour in the town. 

Over the past couple of years, a number of violent incidents have taken place across the town, with gangs at the heart of them. Enforcement action has seen some of the key players arrested and brought to justice but police officers are aware that to solve the problem completely, other ways of thinking need to be considered.  

“We cannot arrest ourselves out of this problem,” says Neighbourhood Policing Inspector Nathan Murray. “We need to find other, more preventative ways, of solving the issues at hand.”

“That’s why we’ve launched Operation Revive and set up a dedicated email address so that we can have a direct link to the community and listen to what their concerns and ideas are. We are also working closely with our partners to set up community groups, as well as work with as many people as possible, to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to be part of what we’re trying to do.”

Operation Revive will focus primarily on working with the community and changing environmental factors in order to tackle the town’s issues. It will look at supporting children and adults who may be exploited and used by criminals and find them more long-term options which will move them away from crime.

Inspector Murray said: “What this project really wants to achieve is to find better and more long-term choices for the people in Wellingborough susceptible to exploitation by crime gangs, to guide them away from a life of crime.

“We want to do this by fostering closer working relationships with schools and introducing new youth provisions which could involve opportunities for more people to get involved in sports or the arts.”

Finally, the project will look to break down area design barriers to make committing crime in Wellingborough harder and improve the look and feel of the local area.

An example of this, has seen the Crime Prevention Team and The Local Neighbourhood Team work closely with Wellingborough Borough Council to secure funding from the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner to tackle motorcycle nuisance in local parks.

The Force is using crime prevention techniques that help target offenders, whilst also addressing root social causes for offending. This work also focuses on protecting vulnerable people by providing education around good security practice and changing features of the location such as environmental design.

Inspector Murray continued: “We believe by targeting offenders, protecting victims and making areas less desirable to crime, this in turn will promote the area as a more attractive place to live.

“What we really want to achieve through this project is for you, the community, to feel empowered to tell us what you think the issues are in your local area.  We will also be organising community engagement events through various channels, so please keep an eye out for these events moving forward. 

“Please contact us on [email protected] and let us know what your concerns are and whether you have any ideas on what more could be done to tackle the issues in your local area.” 

Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold said: “This is yet another great project that aims to make Wellingborough a safer place to be, and I am pleased to be involved.

“Over the past few months, my team has been working in communities in the centre of Wellingborough as part of the Safer Streets project and Op Revive is one of the ways that we ensure that we don’t just displace crime and anti-social behaviour, but that we tackle it across the wider area.”

Cllr Martin Griffiths, Leader of the Council and Member of the Police, Fire and Crime Panel, said: ‘’Operation Revive is a positive step for all agencies to work in conjunction with the local community to improve the local area and tackle issues and behaviours that impact the lives of so many of our residents.

“It is an ideal opportunity for residents to have their say and put ideas forward, and we encourage people to do so.

“The council has recently invested in projects that will not only improve areas but also ‘design out’ crime hotspots, and will continue to work closely with all partners throughout this operation.”