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Results from our poll with Inspector French

Results from our poll with Inspector French

We asked you:

If you were a Neighbourhood Police Officer, what would you do?

Over recent weeks, a growing number of houses across your local community have been targeted by burglars. The offenders appear to be committing these crimes late at night and have been able to gain access to the properties through insecure patio doors.

Would you:

Deploy a small number of officers into your community late at night to conduct patrols in plain clothes.

  • Work with local residents to raise their awareness of these offences and to encourage them to keep their properties secure.
  • Work with local partner agencies to divert known offenders away from committing crime.

Our Facebook followers unanimously voted for option 2.

We asked Inspector French about what he would do in his role as a Neighbourhood Police Officer if he was faced with our poll question scenario from Monday:

“When a property is subject to a burglary, the impact can often be significant; affecting victims, their families and the wider community. These could include  financial loss to a victim and people feeling less safe in their homes, while also leaving some victims with a number of unanswered questions as to why they were targeted. 

Deploying officers to conduct patrols in plain clothes may result in an offender being caught ‘red-handed’, however, the effectiveness of this option varies widely dependant on factors which could include; the size of the community being targeted, the method of transport available to the officers, and the routes which may be used by the officer and offenders.

Therefore, my most pressing action would be to increase visibility in the local community and to raise awareness of the offending, while also making residents aware that insecure properties are being targeted. I would look to liaise with my local Community Safety Partnership to see how we could support local residents to increase their crime prevention measures within their homes, while also encouraging them to report suspicious behaviour to the police.

I would also look to ensure that local partners are adopting the main features of the national Integrated Offender Management (IOM) programme. Common elements of IOM include: ensuring partners manage offenders together and encouraging offenders to face up to their responsibility, while also achieving long-term desistance from offending”. 

If you would like to learn more about the role of a Neighbourhood Police Officer, click here to complete the IMPACT challenge.

Devon & Cornwall Police

Police Now | Devon & Cornwall Constabulary
cc-shaun-sawyer

Shaun Sawyer

Chief Constable

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