As some of you may remember, last month Police & Crime Commissioner for South Wales, Alun Michael (Lab) and the Deputy Chief Constable spoke to Bridgend county councillors about policing issues.
One matter of concern was the low number of full-time police officers stationed with neighbourhood policing teams – particularly in the north and west of the county.
As part of a new community safety strategy being developed by South Wales Police – discussed at the Police & Crime Panel meeting this week (pdf) – the police have agreed to limit the number of PCs and PCSOs withdrawn or moved from neighbourhood policing teams.
41 extra PCSOs are due to be deployed across the force area as part of a Welsh Government recruitment drive and the Commissioner has agreed to maintain community safety budgets.
The police do, however, expect councils and the wider public sector to do more to prevent crime.
SWP proposes joint teams in each council made up of the police, NHS, fire service, councils and voluntary sector to help deal with issues that cause problems for both the police and council.
That could include youth work/youth outreach, drugs & alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, general community safety issues and crime prevention.
One key aim of this new proposed “joint problem-solving teams” is that they would be better placed to collect detailed information on offender profiles, what specific problems are and where they’re happening. It’s hoped this would make it easier for the police and public services to prevent problems before they become more serious.
