Local Parish Council thank their Local Neighbourhood Police Team

Laverstock & Ford Parish Council has thanked the Neighbourhood Police team for their work in the parish over the last couple of years.

For the past two years, Laverstock & Ford Parish Council has been working with their Neighbourhood Police Team to address rising issues of vandalism and criminal damage and to explore ways of working together to improve safety and peace of mind for residents across the parish.

Communications and Community Engagement Officer Juliet Brain, observes “We work with Wiltshire Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) at a strategic level via their Independent Advisory Groups, but the important work is done via direct contact with our communities.

"We are so lucky that our neighbourhood police team are keen to join in with our community events; they also supported our first community speed watch last November and regularly pop into our schools, community centres and businesses, including giving talks at our residential Care Homes and attending events such as the Nativity on the Green held at Hampton Park just before Christmas.

"The willingness of our Neighbourhood Police Team, under the leadership of Inspector Tina Osborn, to engage with residents resulted in PC Rachel Gunn and PCSO Jenni Moss catching a thief red-handed after a visit to the Community Pantry in Old Sarum, which saw an end to a spate of doorstep parcel thefts that were causing misery to residents.” 

Local Councillor, Lainey Barker who attends parish council meetings with the Police team says “Much of the work undertaken by the Police is confidential but when people moan about not seeing ‘a bobby on the beat anymore’ it certainly isn’t true in our parish.

"It’s so important that we can talk to them directly and pass on residents' concerns. Incidents of vandalism last year at the Old Sarum & Longhedge Community Pantry, and to a Hangar at Old Sarum Airfield, turned out to be bored teenagers and saw the Neighbourhood Police Team having some difficult conversations with parents, who were shocked to discover what their children had been up to.  

"In an era of social media, it is too easy to misrepresent the truth and cause fear and mistrust. We have to work together, alongside neighbourhood watch schemes, which all residents can join, and the community messaging system which anyone can sign up to for alerts.

"To make the places where we live safe and happy places to be in, we have to accept that it is not solely the responsibility of the Police and that we all have a responsibility to deal with bad behaviour and to report crime in our neighbourhoods.”

This month, PSCO’s Jenny Moss and Geanina Tablet were joined by parish council staff and PC Rachel Gunn for a Bike Marking Event in Longhedge to raise awareness of bike theft and the importance of the National Bike Register scheme; ten bikes were marked with a security code and registered on the scheme and lots of local children got a peep inside the Police Van and a sticker!

PC Rachel Gunn asked that people report any crime they witness to either 999 if it is an emergency or to use the 101 service. Rachel stated, “You can report non-emergency crime online via the Wiltshire Police website. As a non-emergency service, you may not hear back from us straightaway, but these are all logged and passed on to the relevant Officers.

"The Neighbourhood Police Team aim to reduce crime rates, improve public trust in the police, and make people feel safe in their communities. We always welcome the opportunity to meet residents and chat about local crime issues, but if it isn’t reported using the 999 and 101 system, we can’t prioritise the time to investigate it.”

As Laverstock & Ford Parish Council reflect on the past year, we would like to take a moment to thank local Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator Ross Walker, the Community Speed Watch Team and Volunteers, and the Neighbourhood Police Team for all they do, to engage with the local community and help people, businesses and organisations to avoid being victims of crime and to deal with the aftermath of crime.