In March 2010, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council joined forces with Hampshire County Council to launch the new style community safety patrol officers (CSPOs), working closely together with the police-led ‘safer neighbourhood teams’. The move was aimed at combating crime and anti-social behaviour and ending duplication and confusion for the public.
Since the launch of the community safety patrol officers rowdy and inconsiderate behaviour has fallen by 16% in the areas that they patrol and crime has fallen by 6%.
Some first year figures
A snapshot of some of the activities in the community safety patrol officers' first year, to March 2011, shows that team:
- dealt with over 4,000 incidents, sorting out neighbourhood nuisance and making people feel safer
- followed up on over 1,000 residents’ issues raised through the 101 police non-emergency number, issued over 200 yellow cards for anti-social behaviour, the majority of these cards issued to 15 to 17 year olds between 9pm and 11pm with a letter sent home to their parents
- confiscated seven gallons of alcohol in a crackdown on underage drinking.
Setting neighbourhood priorities
The community safety patrol officers are keen to hear from residents across the borough to help them build a picture of the key issues for neighbourhoods so that they can make an even bigger difference. The patrollers will soon start to hold regular drop-in sessions – details of these will appear on this website.
The team has been working closely with communities, police and other partners carrying out high visibility patrols, deterring and combating anti-social behaviour and dealing with environmental crime. And the CSPOs are now using 12 months of experience from their incident reports to focus on the highest priority issues for the neighbourhoods they serve. The priorities are reviewed every three months to make sure the team is working on the things that make most difference to residents’ lives.
Patrol areas
Patrol areas are covered by the following officers:
- Eastrop (Alan Wilkinson and Charlie Tall)
- Brookvale (Martin Lee)
- Buckskin (Ashley White and Scott Buchan)
- Brighton Hill (Sarah Ratcliff)
- Norden (Kerri Swinfield and Caroline Fortune)
- Popley East (Paula James-Bailey, Paul Bowman and Daniel White)
- Popley West (Daniel White)
- South Ham (David Mason and Natalie Hewitson)
- Tadley, including Bishops Green (Richard Tozer)
- Winklebury (Matthew Swales-Glasscoe)
- Rooksdown (Daniel White)
- Chineham (Alison Afzal - works part-time, mainly on weekends)
The team works shifts to ensure they are on patrol at the times anti-social behaviour is most likely to occur.
Contact Information
Telephone the Community Safety Patrol Team: 01256 845 700
Fax the Community Safety Patrol Team: 01256 869 534
Email the Community Safety Patrol Team: safetypatrolservice@basingstoke.gov.uk
Write to the Community Safety Patrol Team:
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
London Road
Basingstoke
Hampshire
RG21 4AH
