NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH JUNE/JULY 2015 Wolverhampton Watchword June/July 2015 IN THIS ISSUE Welcome to the latest edition of Wolverhampton Watchword. Number of Schemes in Number of New Schemes in Wolverhampton Wolverhampton since April 2014 315 83 For your next PACT Meeting dates please visit our website: www.west -midlands.police.uk Follow us on Twitter @wvpartnerships NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH | JUNE/JULY 2015 2 I’d like to take this opportunity to inform you of some local changes that we are making to policing in Wolverhampton and how these are likely to affect you, and also to reaffirm our commitment to continue to deliver and improve the service we provide in the future. Despite the financial challenges faced by all public sector services over the last few years, I am pleased to be able to highlight some of the improvements in service delivery by your Local Policing Unit (LPU) here in Wolverhampton. ‘Feeling the Difference’ is West Midlands Police's public perception survey which is conducted by an external and independent research company. The survey is conducted in 2 waves per year, encompassing 16,800 interviewees broken down to LPU local constituency. The most recent survey has reported some significant improvements in local policing felt by residents, namely: - Confidence in policing has increased from 79.7% to 87.9% - Satisfaction with our service around crime has increased to 86.7% - Satisfaction with our service around Anti-Social Behaviour has increased to 82.5% - We respond to 92% of calls for service that require an immediate response within 15 minutes - We respond to 91% of calls for service that require an early response within 1 hour - Crime has fallen and between April 2014 to March 2015 there were 24 fewer victims of burglary; 57 fewer victims of robbery; 174 fewer victims of vehicle crime and we also experienced a 12% reduction in criminal damage offences. I see this as particularly encouraging and it reflects the continuing work that takes place with our partners to develop stronger local engagement and effectiveness across our communities. However, against the backdrop of this encouraging performance, we continue to face the challenges from shrinking resources and have had to make some changes to our local policing teams. These changes will enable us to better align our resources to meet our demands for service and will involve some minor adjustments across all our local policing teams. These local changes will ensure that we can continue to respond quickly to people in an emergency whilst focussing our neighbourhood policing teams in the areas that generate the greatest demand for our service. This will enable us to continue to work with partners and respond appropriately to community concerns around crime and anti-social behaviour, whilst protecting those individuals who are the most vulnerable in our communities. There are currently 23 neighbourhoods identified within Wolverhampton Local Policing area. There are no changes to the number of identified neighbourhoods however these have been grouped into seven clusters, each with a named sergeant and a team of police officers and police community support officers. There are some changes to the local neighbourhood Sergeant’s covering some of the areas which are set out below. NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH | JUNE/JULY 2015 3 We are not closing any of our existing police buildings as part of this change, although officers will be more flexible and will not operate from them at all times. There has been some change to our front office opening hours which has been communicated separately. The changes to neighbourhoods are as follows: Outer Sector- all neighbourhoods outside the ring road Inspector Tracy Meir will lead the outer sector supported by neighbourhood Sgt leads: • Sgt Kevin Whitehouse will lead in St Peters, Park and Graisley with 10 Police Constables and 7 Police Community Support Officers. • Sgt Gavin Plumridge will lead Oxley, Bushbury North, Bushbury South and Lowhill and Fallings Park with 9 Police Constables and 10 Police Community Support Officers. • Sgt Ronald Price will lead Tettenhall Regis, Tettenhall Whightwick, Merry hill and Penn with 4 Police Constables and 8 Police Community Support Officers. • Sgt Martin Hewitt will lead Heathtown and East Park with 8 Police Constables and 8 Police Community Support Officers. • Sgt Jon Yeomans will lead Ettingshall, Springvale and Blakenhall with 8 Police Constables and 7 Police Community Support Officers. • Sgt Glen Moseley will lead Bilston North and Bilston East with 6 Police Constables and 7 Police Community Support Officers. • Sgt David Stanley will lead Wednesfield North and Wednesfield South with 5 Police Constables and 7 Police Community Support Officers. Inner Sector – as defined by the ring road. • Inspector Sarah Thomas-West will lead the inner sector supported by 4 Sergeants, 24 police constables and 26 police community support officers. I am confident that the changes we have made will ensure that Wolverhampton Local Policing Unit continues to deliver the highest levels of service to its communities. A range of methods for contacting the police exist; 101, West Midlands Police website (www.west-midlands.police.uk), dedicated email addresses Twitter/Facebook for the force and details of your local Neighbourhood teams, community meetings and drop in surgeries. Yours sincerely Simon Hyde, Chief Superintendent NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH | JUNE/JULY 2015 4 NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH | JUNE/JULY 2015 5 is a home security product and the ULTIMATE VISUAL DETERRENT for would be intruders, while providing home owner s with instant peace of mind. 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We take various measures to deal with anti-social behaviour, from imposing fines and making arrests to confiscating vehicles and working with the council to tackle so- called 'problem families'.Anti- How do I report ASB? If you are experiencing anti-social behaviour in your area you can contact your local police station to discuss your concerns and work towards a lasting solution to your problem you can report anti-social behaviour to us by telephone - call 101 and ask to be put through to your local police station. Your neighbourhood officers genuinely appreciate how anti-social behaviour can seriously impact upon your quality of life. By working together we can find sustainable solutions to problems and help create neighbourhoods that are safe for everyone. .