Local policing teams need the time and resources to do real problem-solving in society, as \u201cthe public wants to see more neighbourhood cops\u201d, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
Chair Steve Kent (pictured) was speaking after the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council (NPCC) held a neighbourhood policing \u2018week of action\u2019 in January. During the week they celebrated the achievements of neighbourhood policing and provided opportunities and support for officers.<\/p>\n
Steve said that South Yorkshire now had strong neighbourhood policing teams, and that they had a positive impact on demand.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cOur force made the bad decision a while ago to remove neighbourhood officers and integrate them into response officers, but thankfully that\u2019s been reversed over the past couple of years.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeighbourhood teams are back, and we need to recognise that. If you can get your neighbourhood teams right and you can get them dealing with problem-solving in society, that cuts demand off at the source and it can have a really positive outlook for the force.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve said South Yorkshire Police wasn\u2019t struggling to attract officers to the role, but that neighbourhood policing teams would have more resources once the new intake of probationary officers was fully trained up.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI know our force is prioritising neighbourhood policing, but the problem we\u2019ve got at the moment is that we simply don\u2019t have enough resources to meet demand. So sometimes our neighbourhood officers get drawn into other areas, like response policing, and they\u2019re not necessarily able to always do the problem-solving work that they do.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the positive stance on this story is that the more cops come through, the more pressure will be released, so they can actually get on with dealing with those issues. Because there are no two ways about it, the public wants to see more neighbourhood cops.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cOur infrastructure in terms of neighbourhoods is good and it\u2019s ahead of the game. The posts are gradually getting filled and they\u2019ll be expanded, but ultimately the aim is that the people in those posts can be given a lot more time to be proactive rather than having to be reactive. That\u2019s a key thing.\u201d<\/p>\n