Focus on Tavistock Street in Bedford has lead to reduction in anti-social behaviour and crime say police

Bedfordshire Police community officers are holding meetings with residents to help set the priorities for their area - and the force has the flexibility to respond to any peak in demand.

At this month's delivery and beating crime meeting (February 21), Bedfordshire's police and crime commissioner (PCC), Festus Akinbusoye, asked the force to update him on community policing.

Philip Wells, chief finance officer, started with an update of work carried out in Bedford borough.

"The team continued with Operation Primrose, which is focused on the Tavistock Street area, where we have seen some really good interventions by the community team," he said.

"Both looking at short-term and longer-term problem-solving, and we are seeing some good reductions in terms of ASB [anti-social behaviour] and crime in those areas.

The PCC asked about the general tasking that community police officers have been given, and whether they have been used elsewhere.

The chief constable, Garry Forsyth said that the force makes sure that community officers are there to deal with issues of local concern, although there may be a operational need to abstracted.

"We're an emergency service, and we have to do that primarily," he said.

"When we speak with our officers they feel very able to be committed to dealing with the issues that are relevant to their local communities.

"The community setting meetings and the community priority meetings that we have with local residents.

"Residents can attend either in person or online and give a view around what the things are that matter to them in local communities.

"The other way that we generate the priorities is through the force tasking and coordination process and through problem solving activity that's directed through the force task tasking process as well.

"Those are the general routes for how we determine what the activity is that our local officers are engaged in their local communities but the idea is it's very much focused on local concerns and things that matter," he said.

Sharn Basra, the assistant chief constable, added that community officers are about solving local problems.

"It's what matters to the local communities, and not just addressing the here and now, but looking at long-term sustainable solutions," he said.

"It's about targeting activity and that's what comes out of the force Tactical, Task and Coordination Group in terms of hot places, or hot people.

"We really promote the fact that our local cops need to know their community.

"It's knowing those key engagement opportunities, but also asking them to stretch themselves in terms of understanding what a serious and organised [crime] picture looks like in their area.

"Our PCSOs take a great pride in knowing about their communities and all those potential threats, so if they see somebody who's got a new car, somebody who's hanging around with someone different, they can submit that intelligence, and they do so."

The PCC asked for more information on how longer term issues were dealt with.

"If you've got a long term issue of antisocial behaviour around a play area, for example, I'm assuming we don't want to arrest the kids who are playing there.

"Is there a focus around trying to find a longer term solution to that and working with partners with the community officers," he asked.

The ACC said if there's a problem that community officers don't think they can solve on their own, they can approach the Tactical, Task and Coordination Group, which he chairs.

"I've got the capacity, and the capability there, to provide funding and additional force assets.

"But then also the local communities and the local council will provide their resources as well.

"Operation Primrose is great example, which was not police alone, far from it, it involved all our partners and other agencies to come together to have a longer term solution.

"And they're simple things, one of the issues on Tavistock Street was to put up a wall and a gate, and that's been done just to block off some of the alleyways.

The PCC asked if there were any areas of concern in terms of the level of demand the community officers are facing.

"Not that stand out," the ACC replied.

"We are very flexible on a daily basis, so we have additional force assets at our disposal.

"If, on any one day, there's a peak in demand I'm able to mobilise resources from other areas to go and support our community officers, and we do that every single day," he said.