Coming to a village near you

Coming to a village near you - The North Warwickshire Community Policing Station.

A new mobile police station has taken to the roads of North Warwickshire, taking policing directly into the rural communities. The mobile unit, staffed by Community Beat Officers and Police Community Support Officers, is a specially adapted Mercedes Sprinter vehicle. It will provide direct contact between members of the rural community with police officers and representatives from other organisations.

The four wheeled police station will act as a mobile public enquiry desk, providing a similar service to a traditional police station. In addition, the mobile unit can also be used as a meeting room and has been fitted out with TV and video presentation equipment. It also has facilities to display information about on-going crime reduction and crime prevention initiatives and current information about Neighbourhood Watch and Community Safety initiatives will also be on show.

The police station, costing £56,300, has been funded by grants secured through the North Warwickshire Crime and Disorder Partnership, with funding coming from the Home Office backed Safer Communities Initiative and Communities Against Drugs.

The mobile unit will tour North Warwickshire on an advertised timetable, providing a regular contact point for community members to meet and talk with police and representatives from the other Crime and Disorder Partner agencies. The police station on wheels will provide extra police visibility for rural areas, adding to the provision of patrol vehicles, community beat officers and police community support officers who already visit rural areas.

Chief Inspector for North Warwickshire, Chris Lewis said: "One of the issues, which members of the public raise with us, is that there is no identified police meeting point in some of our rural areas, and that people in these village communities feel isolated. The mobile unit will address this by providing a regular point of contact in local communities, and enhancing the visibility of local Police staff. “

People will be able to visit the mobile police station to report details of non-urgent crimes and to pass on information. They will also be able to pop in to ask for crime prevention advice and pick-up information leaflets. As well as personal contact with police staff, and representatives from other agencies, one of the key aims of the mobile police station will be to help reduce fear of crime in rural areas by providing a personal public reassurance message.

Councillor Les Forsyth, Chair of the North Warwickshire Crime and Disorder Partnership added: "Research has shown that the fear of crime in North Warwickshire is far higher than the true level of crime. This will be excellent for North Warwickshire because the actual visibility of the vehicle should address this issue and provide greater reassurance to the public. "

The mobile unit will also be available to be used for specific education programmes. This will include drug awareness schemes, providing a distribution base for information and enabling groups to use the video and TV presentation facilities in meetings. This will enable specific messages to be targeted at specific sections of the rural community population.

One programme already being planned for the mobile policing office is to develop workshops for young people and drugs workers, using the mobile police station as a base for their meetings.

Councillor Barry Beeson, the Borough Council’s Portfolio Holder for Crime and Disorder has been heavily involved in work to bring the mobile policing office to North Warwickshire. He said: " A lack of visual police presence in the towns and local communities has been a major complaint from residents in North Warwickshire. Community Safety Officers have helped in some ways to reduce this. A mobile police station can only help in allaying residents’ fear of crime by giving access on a regular basis to talk directly to police officers, have queries answered and to report local problems face to face rather than on the telephone. The availability of information on crime prevention, drugs and anti-social behaviour will be of great benefit."

The Mobile Community Police Station took to the road on Monday 8th November. A monthly timetable of the mobile police station's route through North Warwickshire will be publicised in libraries and community centres as well as Council offices and police stations.