You said, we did – a round-up of recent activity to tackle local policing priorities in South Northamptonshire

Author: Northants PolicePublished: 1st January 2024 09:06

Neighbourhood policing teams across Northamptonshire work with their communities and local partners to identify and agree the policing priorities for the local area, so they can focus on the crime and anti-social behaviour issues that matter most to local people. These priorities are set up to three times a year and are based on local crime statistics, information from partner agencies and feedback from the community.

This information from local people is gathered through a regular local priorities survey where they have the opportunity to tell us about the issues that concern them most in their neighbourhood. Between August and November this year 2023, the three local priorities set for the areas covered by the South Northants Neighbourhood Policing Team were road safety, burglary and vehicle crime. These priorities have been the focus of much of the neighbourhood team's work over the last four months and Neighbourhood Inspector Dave Wakeman has provided an update about some of the work the team has been doing to tackle them.

He said: "To improve the awareness of road safety among the younger members of our community, officers have visited a number of schools and spoken to children about this subject. This is particularly relevant during the darker nights and reduced visibility, and we will continue to deliver these inputs to maximise the safety of our next generation.

"Some of our communities have experienced a particularly challenging time due to simultaneous major road and infrastructure works. The accompanying closures and diversions has meant traffic from the major arterial routes has been diverted through villages and significantly increasing traffic levels. Several communities requested support, including Blisworth, Brackley and Kings Sutton, and officers carried out monitoring and enforcement of both speed and vehicle weight limits.

"Burglary continues to be relatively low in South Northants, but we are under no illusion about the impact this crime can have on victims, and any burglary is one too many. The number of burglaries has fallen across the area in the last 12 months and we strive to keep reducing these numbers further. "Vehicle Crime has been a persistent problem, with the most common offence being theft of tools from vans.

We have seen a total of 236 offences in the period December 2022 to November 2023, which is a reduction of 3.1 per cent on the previous 12 months. "We encourage people not to leave tools in their vehicles overnight, and are hopeful that some recent enforcement successes will significantly reduce further offending, although we accept this is small consolation to those whose livelihoods have been affected by loss of tools, time, income and increased insurance premiums. "We set our local priorities three times a year.

During each period we encourage the community to complete a brief survey to indicate what issues concern or matter most, and we would like to thank everyone who took the time to have their say and help direct local policing resources." Over the next four months, from December 2023 to 31 March 2024, the South Northants Neighbourhood Policing Team will continue to focus on similar areas. Their new priorities will be:

• Road safety and road traffic offences
• Vehicle crime
• Rural crime

Regular feedback from local residents and businesses is really important and those who complete the local priorities survey help our neighbourhood teams better understand what the issues are for local people.

Please do share your feedback every few months so they can be sure they have your current views. You can complete the survey here[1]. For information about all your local neighbourhood policing team and the priorities they are currently working on, please visit www.northants.police.uk/yourarea[2]. You can also get regular updates from local officers by signing up to our Northamptonshire Talking email messaging service[3].

For more information about local priorities and how and why we set them, please read our Priorities Q&A here[4].

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References

1. ^ You can complete the survey here (survey.northamptonshiretalking.co.uk)
2. ^ www.northants.police.uk/yourarea (www.northants.police.uk)
3. ^ Northamptonshire Talking email messaging service (www.northamptonshiretalking.co.uk)
4. ^ Priorities Q&A here (gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com)
5. ^ Report this article as inappropriate (www.aboutmyarea.co.uk)
6. ^ log in (www.aboutmyarea.co.uk)
7. ^ quick registration (www.aboutmyarea.co.uk)