Extra Bobbies On The Beat In Cumbria

24 September 2018, 06:00

Cumbria Constabulary

Cumbria Police is committing more officers to the street.

More police officers will be on the streets of Cumbria.

An extra 25 officers are hitting the beat tasked with looking at community issues.

It goes hand in hand with the launch of Local Focus Hubs across the county that tackle antisocial behaviour, road safety, and a visible policing deterrent on the streets.

The move comes after people said they wanted to see more officers out and about.

Superintendent Rob O’Connor said: “Having extra resources available to support neighbourhood policing is good news for everyone in the county. These officers will be out on the street and will have a tangible, practical impact on tackling local problems.

“Working alongside the new hubs will mean our effectiveness to tackle some of the most impactful problems, such as antisocial behaviour, will greatly increase.

“The introduction of Hubs will mean our officers can work closer than ever before with partners and the local community. Tackling an issue such as antisocial behaviour can involve many agencies, not just ourselves. Where, in the past, these different agencies may have confronted the problem alone, now we can bring representatives from each agency together, under one roof, to get to the root of the problem.”

South Lakeland Local Focus Hub and Neighbourhood Inspector, Paul Latham said: “Our Local Focus Hub, which covers the South Lakes area, is a huge asset for us and has seen some real results since its launch in January 2018. The hub, allows us and our partners the opportunity to work in the same space, to pooling resources, and direct access to key partner agencies.

“Together with Adult Social Care, Housing Options, the NHS, Cumbria County Council, Children’s Services and NWAS, we are working to address issues that are important to the local community such as Antisocial Behaviour and Antisocial Parking.

“Recently, working with partners, we were able to resolve an antisocial parking issue by the train station in hours, which would have previously taken longer due to the different processes and authorisation needed. This may sound small, but it made a big difference to lots of people in the community, and is only one to the incidents that we have been able to solve to make the South lakes a safer, more positive place to live and work in.

“We are always looking at news ways to communicate with the public in order to get their accounts and feedback; I am really pleased to say that we have just launched our South Lakes Local Focus Facebook Group, a place where residents can talk to local officers directly on topics that are important to them.

“We are all here to serve our community and I am looking forward to this coming week of local focus, dedicated to giving the public an insight into what we are doing on a daily basis to tackle issues that are important to them.

"We would encourage anyone with an antisocial behaviour or neighbourhood concern in the community to contact the local focus hub via emailing 101@cumbria.police.uk.”

Barrow Local Focus Hub and Neighbourhood Inspector, Jim Bailey said: “The Local Focus Hub, which covers the whole of Barrow and Furness area, brings together key partner agencies and other third sector groups that provide services to support our local community. Located in the Barrow Police Station, the Hub provide us with the opportunity to pool expertise and further work together to find joint solutions to what can be some extremely complex issues.

“Together with Adult Social Care, Housing Options, the NHS, Cumbria County Council, Children’s Services, NWAS, Cumbria Fire Service and a number of third party voluntary or charitable organisations, we are working hard to tackle issues that are important to the community, to make Barrow a safer and more positive place to live and work. One of the key objectives of The Local Focus Hub is that the partnership deal with community issues more quickly and look to address the underlying causes. The use of a closure order under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 at a property on Sutherland Street is an example of the groups work. This order closed the house for three months and immediately stopped any ASB linked to this address. At the same the relevant partners of the Local Focus Hub looked at ways to divert young people away from ASB. The recent “Parklives” programme on Hindpool being a good example.

"The new national Neighbourhood Policing Guidelines highlight seven strands to the model. The key ones for the Local Focus Hub being, engaging communities, solving problems and targeted activity. For these guidelines to work it requires closer and more embedded partnership work with a more positive approach to sharing information to make the communities we live in a better and safer place to live and work.

“On the subject of community engagement, we are always looking at news ways to communicate with the public in order to get their accounts and feedback; I am really pleased to say that we are launching Barrow Local Focus Facebook Group, a place where residents can talk to local officers directly on topics that are important to them. We also have a very active Twitter account @Barrowpolice where we post information about ongoing policing activity and respond to members of the community.

“The upcoming week of local focus, which is part of our neighbourhood policing and the Local Focus Hub initiative, provides us with the opportunity to give the community in which we serve a real insight into the work that is ongoing on a daily basis.”