For this edition, we hear from new Inspector for Kingston, Paul James, who is part of the brand new dedicated Town Centre Team for Kingston. He tells us about some of the details of the new team and how they plan to work, and support town centre businesses.
” I’m Inspector Paul James, I have been a police officer for 22 years, and have served on the South West BCU since 2007 in various roles. I’m excited to be the new Town Centre Team Inspector for Kingston.
This week we introduced my new team who have been out from last Monday, 29th November helping to bolster local policing in the borough. Kingston has been chosen as one of the first dedicated teams to be placed in an area of high demand to tackle issues that matter the most to our communities.
They will patrol busy places at times when they will have the greatest impact on crime and public safety. This is one of the ways we are investing the recent increase in police numbers to address the things that matter to our communities, such as violence, including the forms that affect women and girls disproportionately.
The team consists of 25 officers – one inspector, three sergeants and 21 PCs, and will work along with your existing local officers from our neighbourhood teams. We are increasing our police presence, putting officers where we know the public want to see them most where they can help stop crime and deal with anti-social behaviour.
I’m eager that Kingston regularly see and get to know their local officers, so that they have trust and confidence in them. We’ve worked closely with Kingston council to put this team in place, and our decision to implement this has been based on data and intelligence that highlights the areas where there is the most policing demand, areas with higher crime levels or where confidence in police is low.
We know that the local community is concerned about the issue of begging in the area, and we are actively dealing with this issue. We’ll be working with our partners to make sure these individuals are also supported and safeguarded.
We look forward to working with you all, stay safe and Merry Christmas ”
We love hearing from our members how things are going. If you would like to write a Member Spotlight, drop an email to joelle.fry@kingstonfirst.co.uk.
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