Policing priorities to change

A shake-up of police beats in the Bingham area has been introduced in a bid to give the public a better service.

At present, there are 18 beats in the Rushcliffe South division, which includes Bingham, and each has its own three policing priorities set by a Local Area Group after consultation with the public.

The beats have merged to form three neighbourhoods — reducing the number of priorities in Rushcliffe South from 54 to nine.

The changes were introduced after the launch of the Home Office’s Policing Pledge, part of a programme of radical reform to change the relationship between the public, police and Government.

It contains clear commitments for all forces and outlines the way any issues should be dealt with.

It also informs the public of the standard of service they should expect and gives communities a stronger voice in setting local police priorities.

The local area commander, Inspector Jeff Haywood, said: “It has encouraged us to re-evaluate the size of those beats.

“They were too small and there were too many. We were spreading ourselves too thinly.”

He said the changes only related to the setting of priorities for the local safer neighbourhood teams.

“Your day-to-day policing will not change one iota,” he said.

Under the new plans Local Area Groups will meet to decide the three priorities for each neighbourhood.

Mr Haywood said: “We will talk to our communities and listen to what their concerns are and then deal with their concerns.

“The idea behind it is, let’s reduce the number of priorities and give a five star service on those priorities.”

As part of the Policing Pledge, safer neighbourhood teams must answer all non-emergency calls promptly and attend to priorities or those who are vulnerable or upset within one hour.

Mr Haywood said he wanted to assure residents that if they did have a specific issue that was not a priority it would still be dealt with.

Mr Haywood said: “All the other issues they tell us about won’t be forgotten. They will still have their own local issues and they will be dealt with by local officers.”

Bingham now comes under the Bingham/Trent neighbourhood that also includes Radcliffe, Newton, Shelford, East Bridgford, Flintham, Orston, Aslockton, Whatton and other outlying villages.

Anti-social behaviour and speeding motorists were the main priorities in Bingham after they were highlighted as the main issues by residents in questionnaires last year but these priorities could now change.