Police and the over 50s

Swiss_Toni

Afternoon

I have an interest in the Policing service provided to the over 50's and am looking for schemes that have been recieved positively around the country.

In particular, I am looking at where Crime Prevention and Money Saving have been linked - you can imagine that some prevention measures cost money (though most don't!!) eg installing better locks, security lights etc

If any forum members have experience of really positive initiatives (either involving the Police or that are Police-lead) then I would be really interested to hear!

Thank you

Biggles

I think cost-saving (or, to put it another way, 'MoneySaving' from the Police's point of view) have hit this kind of stuff on the head.

When we moved to this house 25 years ago, we requested a visit from the Crime Prevention Officer, who spent some time with us and gave us some very useful advice.

Recently, I rang to ask for another such visit, with the aim of updating our 'defences', so to speak.

There is no longer a Crime Prevention Officer. There is only a Crime Reduction Officer (what a sad lowering of aspirations that small change in the title represents!) and he doesn't do visits.

Swiss_Toni

I think it depends where you live, but in some places PCSOs have been trained to provide the advice that the old CPOs used to - but in fairness the training to be a qualified CPO was pretty significant and included the ability to do evidenced surveys with recommendations which were challengable in court.

Places that have trained PCSOs to provide the basic advice in a domestic environment have seen benefits - and "hit" far more homes than a single CPO ever would (but if you read the Daily Mail you wouldn't believe that!).

I'm looking for good ideas (there must be some I can [STRIKE]copy[/STRIKE] adopt )

Savvy_Sue

I know some areas have Bobby Vans, which will go around after a break-in and offer advice and also do some improvements themselves - fit better locks etc. They are often at local fairs and events too, not sure if ours does a home visit before a break-in! Their service is not limited to the over 50s but is often recommended to them.

Savvy_Sue

I just googled Bobby Van and thought a link to my local might be useful! Don't know how widespread this is, or if Avon and Somerset leads the way ... there's quite a few entries for Bobby Van which are NOT the Bobby Van I am thinking of! :rotfl:

datostar

Swiss_Toni wrote: »

I think it depends where you live, but in some places PCSOs have been trained to provide the advice that the old CPOs used to - but in fairness the training to be a qualified CPO was pretty significant and included the ability to do evidenced surveys with recommendations which were challengable in court.

Places that have trained PCSOs to provide the basic advice in a domestic environment have seen benefits - and "hit" far more homes than a single CPO ever would (but if you read the Daily Mail you wouldn't believe that!).
/QUOTE]

Old style CPO's used to be trained at a Home Office establishment in Stafford and were very much orientated towards physical security and industrial/commercial premises (this often enabled them to build good relationships with alarm and security companies and land lucrative jobs when they retired from the police). They rarely did domestic surveys/advice. My old force was training neighbourhood constables to do straightforward domestic surveys and advice 40 years ago. CPO's really became a free resource for businesses. Using PCSO's for this nowadays is a good idea. It's not rocket science.

Primrose

We have a fairly active Neighbourhood Watch scheme in our area and Street Coordinators are able to sign up to a scheme which enables them to have private access to the Neighbourhood Policing Team's Shift duty roster and their mobile phone numbers. So if there's the likelihood of any trouble brewing or something suspicious arises they can phone their numbers direct, rather than having to go through a police call centre which is located miles away where the operators know nothing about the local area.

Swiss_Toni

Primrose wrote: »

We have a fairly active Neighbourhood Watch scheme in our area and Street Coordinators are able to sign up to a scheme which enables them to have private access to the Neighbourhood Policing Team's Shift duty roster and their mobile phone numbers. So if there's the likelihood of any trouble brewing or something suspicious arises they can phone their numbers direct, rather than having to go through a police call centre which is located miles away where the operators know nothing about the local area.

Thanks for the suggestion, but it looks like you are being told that you get special treatment when in fact your only getting what other forces publish for everyone...?

Biggles

Swiss_Toni wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion, but it looks like you are being told that you get special treatment when in fact your only getting what other forces publish for everyone...?

I've never seen a roster or their numbers published openly. Do you mean 'what other forces publish for the Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators'?

Swiss_Toni

Biggles wrote: »

I've never seen a roster or their numbers published openly. Do you mean 'what other forces publish for the Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators'?

I am aware of a number of forces that publish the mobile numbers of their neighbourhood PCs and PCSOs - working rostas may not be so common, but with the Policing Pledge, you only really have to email them and check whether their "Out of Office" (Out of Officers?!) message is on, many will give details of their working arrangements, so as to conform with the Pledge requirement for a response within 24 hours.:rolleyes: