‘GETTING TO KNOW YOU’
April 13 2006
Closer working arrangements between City Council staff and Gloucestershire Police, have been hailed as an example of ‘best practice’ by the Government.
The moves will see Council Rangers and the Constabularies’ Safer Communities Teams’ Officers working more closely together. This will include sharing information and undertaking joint patrols.
Now a ‘Getting to Know You’ training session has been organised for police and council officers.
Along with the Rangers and the PCSO’s will be engineering officers, staff from the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, and Gloucester City Homes,
The sessions will cover the introduction of new hand-held computers for the Rangers and the Police Community Support Officers from the Safer Communities Teams to enable them all to report information directly back to the Council’s computer record system, reporting incidents and sharing community intelligence. The new system will also feed the information to the Police Crime Management Unit by email.
Paul Smith, City Council Managing Director, commented: “ These new working practices should result in greater public confidence and a reduction in the fear of crime. It’s an exciting opportunity to improve local neighbourhoods.”
Paul Rowlandson, Home Office Regional Director for Crime and Drugs, commented: "This is a really innovative way of ensuring all incidents are properly reported so giving all the agencies the best chance of responding quickly and helping deliver cleaner, safer neighbourhoods for communities in Gloucester."
Inspector Richard Burge from Gloucestershire Police said: “We hope the new closer working relationships will increase information sharing between police and the City Council, as well as bringing improvements in community safety and public reassurance and we are delighted to be involved in an initiative that aims to improve life for everyone in the city.”