New neighbourhood policing model rolled out across Nottinghamshire, to improve presence of officers on the beat in their communities

A new model of neighbourhood policing has been launched to offer a more consistent presence of bobbies on the beat.

Neighbourhood officers will no longer be taken off their patch to cover city centre shifts on Friday and Saturday nights, or weekend football matches — and new shift patterns will allow them to better serve their communities.

It is estimated that the removal of night-time economy duties will save neighbourhood policing teams nearly 22,000 hours a year, and reductions in event abstractions will also save at least 15,600 hours a year — time which they can instead spend on the front line in their communities.

The new model started being phased in from October across Nottinghamshire, in a bid to put more officers in the right place at the right time, and ensure they are visible and accessible for residents in their area.

Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: “Nottinghamshire Police is a busy force, with around 1,000 calls for service a day from the public — which is a substantial demand.

“Demand has changed over time and this new neighbourhood policing model is enabling Nottinghamshire Police to meet that by being data driven and putting resources where the demand is.

“The core pillars of neighbourhood police are problem solving, targeted activity, and community engagement. These elements are essential for reducing repeat demand and building trust and confidence within our local communities.”

Under the new model, teams will operate on two shift patterns throughout the day and evening, and one of the early signs of success of this pattern was a swift arrest following several reports of an unknown man looking into windows and watching students in the Lenton area.

City Central neighbourhood officers on day shifts secured evidence from victims, and colleagues on a later shift used the information to target the right time and location and arrest a 44-year-old man on suspicion of stalking and harassment with fear of violence, ready for the Criminal Investigation Department to pick up the following morning.

The model has also seen theintroduction of new Multi-Agency Problem Solving (MAPS) meetings, in which policing teams will meet monthly with councils’ community safety teams to consider collaborative appraoched to tacking crime and anti-social behaviour trends.

The roll-out of the new model follows a pledge by Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Gary Godden earlier this year to enhance the capacity and effectiveness of neighbourhood policing teams across the county.

Mr Godden said: “I firmly believe that enhancing the neighbourhood policing service is one of the keys to restoring public confidence in policing as a whole.

“Under this new model, there will be an uplift in officer numbers in the neighbourhood policing role and shift patterns have changed to ensure there are officers on duty in all 12 neighbourhood areas every day, throughout the day and into the evening.

“As well as that, neighbourhood officers will no longer be routinely taken out of their core role to support the night-time economy — leaving them to do what they do best, which is engaging with local people and working with them to problem-solve and carry out targeted activity on issues that matter to local people.

“It means people will see more bobbies on the beat in the areas where they live and work and can get to know their local officers and build that relationship of trust and confidence. This is a plan to make all of our communities safer, whether they are urban or rural communities.

“This model allows officers to identify community concerns and take prompt, effective, targeted action against those concerns by focussing on them as local priorities to ensure communities feel safe and listened to.”

The improvements also come after His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire Services raised concern about Nottinghamshire Police diverting officers and PCSOs from their main duties to deal with other areas of demand.

Night-time economy and events policing will now use other policing teams such as response and tactical support officers, and overtime where necessary.

Officers will also use the Notts Alerts community messaging tool to engage with the public, and use surveys to ask them what issues are causing concern in their neighbourhoods.

Residents can sign up to the free service to give their feedback to their team, and can also receive information to their email inbox, including crime prevention advice and alerts about crime and anti-social behaviour in their area.