Neighbourhood Policing

Gwent Police have introduced Neighbourhood Teams in every station, each team have dedicated Neighbourhood Constables and Police Community Support Officers, who have responsibility for specific Neighbourhoods and Wards within their area. These teams are in addition to the “Police Response Teams”, who provide 24 hour policing to every area within Gwent.

The main aim of Neighbourhood Policing is to deal with issues that mater most to communities and dedicated officers are now responsible for specific areas, so that members of the community have direct access to “their” officer. Every Neighbourhood Team member has an e mail address and additional telephone numbers, so that residents are able to contact their local officer.

Neighbourhood Officers have also introduced different methods of engagement for their areas, so that communities have the opportunity to influence the priorities that the Police and Partner agencies should be working towards. These could include regular public meetings (PACT meetings), during which members of the community vote on priorities for the Police and Partner agencies to deal with. In addition to PACT meetings, other methods of consultation and engagement include PACT Panels, surgeries, surveys and street briefings.

By providing communities with direct access to the Neighbourhood Team, the aim is for the community to identify the main issues that are impacting upon their lives. The Neighbourhood Officers will always listen to individual concerns, however, PACT is about targeting resources in the areas of greatest need, which have been identified by a large number of residents with an area.

Having identified the priorities, usually three, the Neighbourhood Team will work with partners and members of the community, in an attempt to improve upon, or if possible, resolve the problems that have been raised. Residents may be asked to become involved in “problem solving groups” so that the Neighbourhood Officers have a greater understanding of the problem and the local officers will look towards the local community to provide possible solutions to the issues that have been raised.

Some of the issues, such as anti social behaviour may take weeks, or months to be resolved and in some case, the Team may only be able to improve the situation. The aim is to work together in an attempt to seek a long term, sustainable solution, to issues that are having an adverse effect on the quality of life.

During the next meeting, the previous issues will be discussed and the community will be asked for feedback on whether or not the situation has improved. The residents will then be asked to “vote” again, either for the same issue, or new priorities will be identified and the process begins again.

The method of engagement in every community, will depend upon the area that the Officers have to cover, but there will be a method of engagement and consultation for every area. If additional information is required, regarding meetings, or any other issue, additional telephone numbers have been provided, along with e mail addresses for every Neighbourhood Officer, to assist with contact to every team.