Rural
Neighbourhood Policing Team
A couple of years ago, early 2000's, there was a growing
concern, following the reduction and prioritisation of
the Royal Air Force Police at RAF Lyneham, that part
of their duties to patrol the streets around the village
and married quarter estate diminished. The lack of a
police presence or visibility, resulted in a trend of
anti-social behaviour, crime and more people in the village
were ringing bells that the village was not as safe to
live in and some minority young people were being offensive
and intimidating others in public areas especially outside
shops. Wiltshire Police identified there was a problem
and set up a new government initiated system in 2003,
where some officers were given additional duties and
set up Rural Neighbourhood Policing Teams to help combat
these problems.
The aim of Neighbourhood Policing is to
have a dedicated policing team in our local community, who
are here to work with you to tackle local concerns raised
by you. They work with residents and local agencies
to improve your quality of life.
Evidence so far from the Neighbourhood
Policing, shows that three key factors
improve community confidence and lead to
neighbourhoods both feeling safer and being safer:
• increasing police visibility,
• engaging with local communities to identify their
concerns and priorities, and
• working with local communities to solve the problems
that matter to them.
Royal Wootton Bassett Police station staff were given the inevitable
task to reduce the rural behavioural problems and some officers
commenced additional policing tasks of the outstretch villages.
This diversion of officers also helps improve response times
for police away from the urban and sub-urban areas.
Royal Wootton Bassett Rural Neighbourhood Team cover a large
area within our community, which includes; Lyneham, Bradenstoke,
Bushton, Broadtown, Hook, Greatfields, Tockenham, Clyffe Pypard
and Lydiard Millicent and everything in between. This area
takes quite a considerable police resource and it can be difficult
to set priorities that are relevant to all sections of the
community.
Neighbourhood teams use panels to identify priorities and
have set the following for Lyneham and Bradenstoke: Anti
social behaviour in the Aeropark Lyneham and Speeding vehicles
through The Folly in Lyneham.
If you feel you have a local
issue that the Neighbourhood Police Team should be targeting
as a priority, please let one of the team know either in
person, telephone, or email. Alternatively, they hold consultation
meetings at Royal Wootton Bassett Police Station regularly.
Lyneham is unique to Wiltshire, not only being quite a large
village population of over 5000, but it now has a Beat Manager,
Police Community Support Officer who share the responsibilities policing
our parish.
In September 2006, a new face started to patrol
the streets of Lyneham, the new RAF Lyneham Unit Beat Officer,
PC ‘Jarra’ Brown.
PC
‘Jarra’ Brown, started to be our new local ‘bobby’
and his continued role was a mix of patrolling the RAF
Lyneham and the families quarters within the local community
to deal with domestic issues and tackle some of the anti
social behaviour and criminal damage that occurs locally.
He liaised closely with the local community organisations
and Wiltshire Police.
Although not a new initiative within the Air Force, the
introduction of a Unit Beat Officer was a positive step for
Lyneham. It had been a long process to get PC Brown put into
place, through the hard work and determination of RAF executives.
He had full powers of a civilian
policeman and was able to deal with civilians visiting
the unit and over those within the Lyneham community. The
growing need for more interaction with the community and
a requirement for better police visibility, air force staff
liaised closer with Wiltshire Police and a better bond between
the new Rural Neighbourhood Team became more apparent. Lyneham
now has the benefit of having a Community Police House sited
in one of the surplus married quarters at Slessor Road making
better interaction between both teams, hopefully this will continue when the Lyneham airbase changes role in the near future, with the Defence Training Centre commences.
Although this new Police House is sited within the boundary
of the military estate, it is totally accessible to local
community and is open for local police matters. Residents
are invited to drop in and discuss local issues with our
dedicated team PC Porter and PCSO Singfield. Invariably
if the lights are on or a Police car is parked outside, please
pop in to meet the team. If you live outside of Lyneham parish
or do not wish to travel, there is a neighbourhood police
clinic held at Royal Wootton Bassett Police station every Thursday
between 1300 and 1500. The beat clinic or Community House
is not there for producing documents, previously requested
by Police staff.
The Neighbourhood Police Team regularly
attend Lyneham and Bradenstoke Parish Council meetings which
are held on the second Tuesday of the month starting at 7.15pm.
A separate agenda item has been set aside for public to raise
issues with the community policing representative and invariably
they provide an update of local reported concerns. Their
interaction at this meeting, means policing issues can be
discussed with Parish Councillors too and enforcement acts
can be brought into place that much quicker.
Community Beat Manager Profile
Name: PC
Steve Porter
Shoulder Number: 1902
Background: Steve Porter has worked for
Wiltshire Police for over three years after serving 23 years
in the Royal Air Force. During his time in the police he
have worked in Chippenham and most recently in Royal Wootton Bassett
where he served as a beat and response officer. Steve is
delighted to take on the new role as Community Beat Manager
for the Royal Wootton Bassett rural area, and he is affectionate
to improve the quality of life for residents at Lyneham and
Bradenstoke.
Police Community Support Officer Profile
Name: PCSO Andy Singfield
Shoulder Number: 6117
Background: tba |
