Neighbourhood Policing

Policing in Your Area

Introduction

Neighbourhood Policing forms a key component of the Government’s Police Reform Programme and sets out a vision for policing that is accessible and responsive to the needs of all citizens.

Neighbourhood Policing is the police service’s commitment to improving your quality of life by working with partners to target the issues identified as mattering most to you.

Dyfed Powys Police is committed to put policing at the heart of our communities by rolling out Neighbourhood Policing Teams throughout all areas of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Powys by March 2008.

Neighbourhood policing is about confidence; confidence that the police are working closely with their partners and communities to understand the issues that matter to people, and are dealing with them. Confidence in policing is essential. It provides the legitimacy and community support needed to act in preventing crime and bringing offenders to justice.

Mission

Our mission is to achieve confident, safe and secure neighbourhoods through a service that is tailored to local needs and thereby:

Is accessible to all citizens,
Provides opportunities for all citizens to influence community safety priorities in their neighbourhood,
Intervenes with targeted and controlled responses to local priorities in collaborative partnerships, and is seen to do so and
Implements resolutions and provides answers to local concerns.

Principles

We are committed to underpin these principles by providing:

Dedicated and accountable resources with geographic ownership,
Intelligence led targeting of the issues that matter most to communities, and
Joint problem solving involving local officers, partner agencies and communities.

Dyfed Powys Police is committed to deploying, ‘The Right People, at the Right Places in the Right Numbers’.

Community Engagement

Consultation and engagement with representatives from all communities and other key stakeholders throughout the Dyfed Powys area has been central to the process of setting local policing priorities for the Force and Police Authority. The most recent research, surveys, consultation and community engagement has confirmed that residents wish to see the increased presence of Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) within their communities. Understanding the needs of communities is helping us to identify what you consider constitutes a ‘Neighbourhood’ and to prioritise the number, size, location and make up of individual teams within these areas.

Neighbourhood Identification

The results from our Surveys, Citizens Panels run in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire and separate consultation exercises indicate that the majority of residents perceive their neighbourhood to be the surrounding streets, estates or the town, village or area where they live. Dyfed Powys Police covers the largest geographical area in England and Wales and encompasses sparsely populated rural areas interspersed by a number of relatively small, but densely populated conurbations. Based on public perceptions and our own research, the existing ‘Electoral Ward’ structure has been identified as the most appropriate starting point in deciding upon our Neighbourhood and Community boundaries.

Dedicated and Flexible Teams

Each Neighbourhood Team will be dedicated to a locally agreed geographic area which can constitute one or more electoral wards. Team members will be visible, accessible, locally known and knowledgeable about their areas. In addition to using their full enforcement powers to deal with crime and disorder, they will also be working with partners to resolve the problems that matter most to local people.

Neighbourhood Teams will ideally be made up of police and partner resources, although not all teams will have the same numbers or make-up, as the police resources allocated will be dependent upon the needs of the community, as will the resources provided by partner agencies.

A typical Neighbourhood Policing Team may consist of an Inspector; Sergeant; Constables; Police Community Support Officers; Special Constables and Volunteers. Partners on the team can typically include Local Councillors, Wardens, Neighbourhood Managers, Housing Managers, Youth Workers, Private Security Companies, Neighbourhood Watch Groups and other community and voluntary organisations. They may also include those who are accredited under Community Safety Accreditation Schemes, which allow individuals involved in a community safety role to be given a limited number of enforcement powers.

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)

PCSOs play a vital role in supporting Neighbourhood Policing Teams and the force is in the process of applying to the Home Office Neighbourhood Policing Fund for an increase in their numbers from the present 30 to 62 by the end of March 2007. Subject to the success of this application, the roll out of these additional PCSOs will begin in the autumn of 2006.

The Police Reform Act 2002 allows the Chief Constable discretion to designate PCSOs with a limited number of enforcement powers. In Dyfed Powys Police we see their main role to support Neighbourhood Policing Teams through the principles of Community Engagement, High Visibility Patrol and Public Reassurance. As a result they have not been granted powers of detention but have limited powers to deal with minor anti-social behaviour and quality of life issues.

Their powers include the seizure of tobacco and cigarettes from young persons causing a nuisance and to demand the name and address of persons acting in an anti-social way. They can stop and direct traffic and pedal cycles should this be necessary during the course of their duties. They can seize drugs and require the name and address of persons possessing them and they have the power to issue fixed penalty tickets for a small number of minor offences such as Cycling on the Footway, Dog Fouling, Litter and Throwing Fireworks.

Roll out of Neighbourhood Policing Teams

Dyfed Powys Police is committed to roll out Neighbourhood Policing Teams to all areas of the force by March 2008. Neighbourhood teams including Sergeants, Constables, Specials Constables, Volunteers and other partnership resources will be deployed along with PCSOs as they become available between now and March 2008.

Details of your local neighbourhood officers and how to contact them will be circulated and publicised for each area as they are rolled out across the force. A Force Directory of Neighbourhood Teams and Staff will also be published and made available on this website in due course. In the meantime if you need to contact the local police teams presently covering your area please use our existing non emergency number as shown below.

You should use 101 when:

you need the police to attend to assist in a non-emergency situation
to report a crime or incident
for general enquiries

All calls will be recorded for training and evidential purposes. Outside Dyfed-Powys ring 01267 222020