Working together to keep town centres safe this summer

Organisations across Northamptonshire are coming together to make towns across the county safer this summer.

Northamptonshire Police,  Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone and Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet are working  with partners including Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, West Northamptonshire Council and North Northamptonshire Council, in support of the Home Office campaign, Safer Streets Summer.

From now until  the end of September, there will be a programme of activity to tackle the issues that matter to  people, with all partners working together to make communities safer for everyone.

There will be targeted police patrols and enforcement in town centres and at identified hot spots.

Patrols and enforcement activity will be backed up by a programme of work from all the agencies involved, including: sessions in schools to help young people identify anti-social behaviour; activity at train stations to help prevent violence against women on the railway network; problem solving work in areas with the highest levels of crime; new tactics to deter shoplifting; operations in the night time economy; clean up days where offenders repair the harm they have caused to communities

Danielle said:  “Safer Streets Summer is about capturing all the work that is going on across Northamptonshire and showing how in partnership, we can solve problems, prevent crime, and keep people safe.

“We’ll be listening to local concerns and focussing on effective prevention and policing where we know it matters most. Then we will be  feeding back the results of the work that is taking place so that communities know they have been heard and that their concerns have been acted on.

As part of the Safer Streets Summer initiative, neighbourhood policing teams across the county will continue to work with partner agencies to identify local issues, tackle crime and improve local conditions.

With a particular focus on hotspot town centre locations identified through crime data and feedback from partners and the community, teams will carry out high visibility patrols and enforcement activity to target local crime and anti-social behaviour concerns on their patch

Ivan said: “Identifying and responding to local issues, whether in a town centre, suburb or village, is central to the day to day role of a neighbourhood police officer and PCSO.

“Neighbourhood policing is all about community and working with and for local people to make their neighbourhoods safer. It’s really important that our officers are visible and accessible, and become a known and trusted presence within the communities they serve.

“The government’s neighbourhood policing guarantee re-emphasises the vital role of local policing in helping to create safer, thriving communities.

“While this national summer focus seeks to improve town centres across the country, our neighbourhood policing teams will continue to deal with the issues that cause most concern within all their communities, as we focus on delivering a visible, community-led local policing service.”

People can find out who their local neighbourhood officers are by visiting www.northants.police.uk/yourarea, where they can also get details of upcoming surgeries and neighbourhood beat bus visits, and updates about local policing priorities. They can also use the Contact Us tab to contact their local officer or policing team.

The Northamptonshire Talking community messaging service is another way for people to keep in touch with their neighbourhood team. They can find out what’s happening in their area by signing up to receive regular email updates from their local officers.

The service also provides a feedback function, where members can reply to messages to give feedback, ask a question, respond to a witness appeal or share information about local crime. Subscribers can also choose to receive messages in a language other than English. Visit www.northamptonshiretalking.co.uk to find out more.