Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire, Paddy Tipping today (Friday, 7) met with residents and local business owners in Netherfield to find out more about how neighbourhood police teams were tackling crime in the town.
Mr Tipping was joined on the walkabout by councillors Nicki Brooks and David Ellis, along with members of the local neighbourhood police team.
The group’s first visit of the day was to St George’s Centre, on Victoria Road, where they heard from manager Tina Simpson about the positive relationship community centre users have with local officers.
She said: “It’s wonderful that the neighbourhood police officers pay regular visits to the community centre. They have such a great relationship with our users and help them where they can. The beat surgeries they hold here are also popular too with residents.
“People using St George’s praise the active role the local police play in our community and I know they are really comfortable talking to these officers if they need help or want to report a crime.”
Two of the beat officers best known to people at the centre in Netherfield are PC Shajiat and PCSO Parkinson, who both joined Mr Tipping today on his walkabout.
Both agreed that despite a drop in crime around the town, proactive policing must remain a priority.
PC Shajiat said: “Our role is to keep making sure these local residents see police on their streets and feel reassured.
“We will keep regularly going into the community centre and also talking to residents and local business owners in the town as this is key to building up confidence in us.
“The more confidence these people have in local police officers, the more likely they are to report a crime to us when it happens and we can then quickly deal with it.”
PCSO Parkinson was pleased that residents had the opportunity to talk to Mr Tipping face to face today.
He said: “Today’s event has given us a chance to hear views from the community and let them tell us and Mr Tipping about the concerns they have about low level crime and antisocial behaviour in the area, which they say continues to be a concern.
“We need to keep a close relationship with the people in this community as they are our eyes and ears and working closely with them means we can make real progress quickly when it comes to dealing with local crime.”
The police team and councillors’ final destination was the It’s Inn The Bank pub where they talked to customers and gathered their thoughts on local policing.
Mr Tipping also took the opportunity to quiz pub landlord David Murphy about his concerns for the town and his work with Pubwatch, a group which brings pub owners together to combat crime and anti-social behaviour in local licensed premises.
Mr Murphy expressed his concerns about the lack of police presence in the town to Mr Tipping.
Later, Mr Murphy shared more details about his conversation with the police and crime commissioner.
He said: “Mr Tipping told me at a Pubwatch meeting last year they would be recruiting more officers and he’s reiterated that promise to me here today, saying there will be another 100 by the end of the year.
“An increase is numbers is definitely needed: there simply aren’t enough police on the streets around Netherfield. There’s no point in police officers driving past trouble in police cars, they need to be on the streets so they can see what’s going on.”
He did praise neighbourhood police teams and Mr Tipping for being supportive of the Pubwatch scheme.
“We get a police report every month and an officer also attends every time we have a meeting,” he said.
“They are always asking what they can do to help and I can’t fault neighbourhood police on this; they are always supportive of the work we do in the Pubwatch group.”
Netherfield resident Garry Norman got the opportunity to talk to the neighbourhood police team during their pub visit and asked for more bobbies to be put on the beat.
He said: “There needs to be more police on our streets to reassure everyone that they are here for us and that they are protecting us. In the last ten years the community have been self policing around Netherfield.”
Mr Norman told us he wasn’t convinced that more officers would appear on local streets, despite assurances from the police team today.
“I’m not convinced, no, but let’s hope they do,” he said.
After completing his visit, Mr Tipping told Gedling Eye he believes Netherfield is now a town ‘on the up’.
He said: “I know Netherfield well as my daughter used to live here. The area did go through a bit of a down time but from what I’ve seen from our visit today that things are really picking up. There’s a great community spirit here.
“I think Netherfield is a good place to live, It’s getting a better place to live and it’s in all interests to make Netherfield an even safer place to live. We can do this with more police officers and there will soon be more on the streets. We’re recruiting hard with 107 extra police officers now joining us and numbers will continue to increase.”
Mr Tipping also addressed concerns raised about the sale of Carlton Police Station, which many believe had an impact on police numbers locally.
“The police are around. They are on these streets today. People want to see more bobbies, not buildings,” he said.
“By closing down buildings and reducing the size of the estate we’ve been able to invest more in policing. We have more police officers now than when I came into this post.
“More police on the streets is what the public told me they want. I listened to them and I am trying to deliver.”
