By David Sandall, Temporary Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police
Often the Police are called at a crisis point and therefore at Leicestershire Police we recognise the importance of working together to prevent crime through effective partnerships.
We work with local communities, businesses, faith and resident groups and other partners and agencies to help prevent crime and address poor behaviours before the police are ever involved. At this time of year, it is always an important time to remind everyone to take care of their personal safety and business security, as basic crime prevention can make a difference.
Picture credit: Leicestershire Police
Leicestershire Police has over many years seen the benefit of good neighbourhood policing and I am sure many have seen our recent ‘Safer Streets Summer’ campaign, where we have increased our visible police patrolling by over 2000 hours over the summer. We will be continuing the Safer Streets initiative as we move into the winter months, and the nights are darker.
There is no doubt that the last six months has been challenging for police services nationally.
We have continued to see the calls for service and demand for the police remaining very high, whether we are policing events or planning for the ever-increasing number of protests. It is a reality that we are seeing more demand on our resources than ever before.
To give you some idea what Leicestershire police has been managing, we have been recording an average of 1700—1800 calls for service a day, which equates to 5,243 additional 999 calls and 17,902 more non-emergency calls than last year.
Each year, Leicestershire Police makes over 15,000 arrests, searches for more than 4,000 missing people, investigates around 94,000 crimes and handles over 24,000 safeguarding reports involving vulnerable children and adults.
This growing demand is a significant challenge, especially as our workforce — officers, PCSOs, and staff — is smaller than it was in 2010. We’ve also overcome £18 million in budget cuts over the past two years. Despite this, we remain committed to delivering the best possible service to the public.
We’re fortunate to have a team of dedicated and passionate officers, staff, and volunteers who work tirelessly to keep people safe. I’m incredibly proud of their efforts. Through our Pledge, we’re continuing to meet our commitments — even in the face of increasing demand and ongoing financial pressures.
To manage this, we’ve focused on streamlining how we work and investing in: digital technology to better support victims, training and development for our officers, and innovative partnerships in hotspot areas to target anti-social behaviour and retail crime
These efforts are making a real difference in local communities — and we’re committed to building on this progress.
How can you help us?
We have been asking people to consider making non- urgent crime reports online where possible to help us keep our phone lines available for those who truly are in an emergency.
If you are looking for advice on staying safe, whether as a parent, carer, young person or a professional you can lots of helpful information at www.livesafe.org.uk.
You can also make a difference in your local community by supporting the wide range of activities or groups that help develop safe local areas or you could join us as a police Special Constable or in a police volunteer role.
To find out more about the many exciting opportunities there are, go to www.careers.leics.police.uk.
