Hampshire Constabulary's Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Paul Bartolomeo has outlined and reaffirmed what the police are doing to protect rural communities in Meon Valley. Please see what has been said below:
Crime reporting and the appointment of a rural analyst and researcher: Our Police & Crime Commissioner, Donna Jones, has funded a rural analyst and researcher. This is a vital step in helping us to better address rural crime.
We are the first police force in our region to have appointed a dedicated rural analyst and researcher, demonstrating our knowledge of the importance of crime in our countryside. I feel certain that this appointment will improve our response. Changes will not happen overnight, please bear with us.
Contacting and reporting crime and incidents: for our analyst and researcher to be effective we need current data, information and intelligence. The Hampshire Rural Crime Partnership reporting system (DISC) will help us with this, but I really need your support by sending us all the information you can including incidents/sightings of vehicles and individuals of concern.
The system was implemented in Hampshire following feedback that you did not feel engaged with regard to current crime patterns or what we were doing to tackle issues relevant to you, such as hare coursing, livestock worrying and fly-tipping.
This system allows you to report crime, incidents and share intelligence. It also provides us with a quick and easy way to contact members who have signed up with updates and alerts. At the moment this system is being under-used and we are unable to realise its full potential. If you are not currently registered to use it then please contact [email protected] with your email address, contact number, location and occupation.
If you are registered, but not signed up to use the system, again please do so. The information and intelligence that you supply through this system will be vital to our analyst and researcher and in turn drive our response. I am keen to hear feedback on this system, please do whether good or bad to the email address above.
When it comes to crime reporting I often receive feedback from people about our 101 service. We monitor this daily and whilst the average time to answer is below four minutes I understand that this wait can be frustrating. Using DISC, however, will help remove any waiting. We also have a great online reporting system on our website (https://www.hampshire.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/). Incidents are dealt with quickly and by the same people who answer 101 calls. Our 999 performance is prioritised as you would expect for emergency response.
The DISC system, or reporting via our online platform (https://www.hampshire.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/), is a clear way that you can help us to reduce demand for our 101 service whilst crucially still reporting incidents and sharing intelligence, swiftly and accurately.
Training our frontline responders: We are now training our frontline responders on rural policing and wildlife crime as part of their continued professional development. The intention is to raise their knowledge and awareness on these topics. Most of our contact centre and control room staff have already received this training to assist with improving our response to rural crime.
Rural engagement strategy: I have outlined my expectations in engaging with our rural communities to my district commanders. This includes commitments to regular engagement events and contact being made by your local neighbourhood team.
Improving our mapping systems: I received a challenge from our rural crime partnership to develop our mapping systems to be able to identify rural land owners using Land Registry information. We are in the process of revitalising the efforts around this request, which we hope will significantly improve our response capabilities in our rural areas.
Hampshire Rural Partnership Strategic Board: The Constabulary is well supported and connected with key organisations who come together quarterly under this board which I chair. We are able to review our strategic approach to rural policing and will monitor performance against these commitments going forward. Key indicators of success for me include our ability to prevent crime occurring, our disruption activity (enforcement) and the confidence of our rural communities.
In summary please:
- Continue to report matters of concern to us, either via DISC, 101 or online.
- Link with your local neighbourhood team – details can be found via this link: https://www.police.uk/
