Working together for Safer Communities

The Suffolk Neighbourhood Watch Association hosted an unique partnership event with a focus on building safer communities across West Suffolk.

The meeting in Chedbugh on 23rd October brought together Locality Police Inspectors, as well as West Suffolk Council’s Team Leader for Families & Communities to join representatives from Neighbourhood Watch.

The new Suffolk Policing model, launched in December last year, encourages a more visible and stronger ownership of local community engagement, with closer links with Neighbourhood Watch. In attendance were Locality Inspectors Andy Beeby (Bury St. Edmunds), John Murray (Stowmarket), Ben Hollands (Sudbury & Haverhill) and Tim Scott (Forest Heath) outlining the direction and merits of the new model.

Insp. Andy Beeby adds: “it was a pleasure to be invited to take part in the Western Area Command meeting. Working closely with our partners from Neighbourhood Watch is one of the key areas of work for the Community Policing Teams (CPT’s) under the new model. This helps bring intelligence into policing which would otherwise be lost and helps our officers establish enduring contacts within their local communities. I am grateful to the scheme coordinators in my area for all they do in this valuable area of community safety.”

The event attracted attendees from local Town/Parish Councils as well as Neighbourhood Watch representatives, forging a closer link to work with the Police on building safer communities across our regions.

Lesley-Ann Keogh, Team Leader for Families & Communities, of West Suffolk Council, updated us on the work of her department which was set up 10 years ago and includes specialist officers and support on community safety. They focus on a number of campaigns and awareness sessions each year (for example, winter support, fuel poverty and ASB) as well as guidance to set up new community projects; build on multi-agency working; funding opportunities, and support the 21 District Councillors and 30-40 Town/Parish Councils in the area. The model is replicated in the East and South areas.

“This is the first time Neighbourhood Watch has hosted such an important forum for us, the Police and Town/Parish Councils”, says Nick King, on behalf of the Association. “It was encouraging how the quality of presentations and discussions underlined how valuable a partnership between Police, Town/Parish Councils and Neighbourhood Watch could be. We can now build a strategy and hopefully set up similar meetings across the other two Police Command Areas: East and South.”