Ward officers take to their new beat (From Free Press Series)

Ward officers take to their new beat

In the final part of his series on anti-social behaviour in Torfaen, Adrian Osmond met the new face of community policing in the borough.

WARD officers will soon be taking to the streets in a bid to bring policing closer to the community.

As we reported earlier this year, our local police tax bill rocketed by 16 per-cent. The extra money was needed to fund 66 new ward officers across Gwent.

Eleven of those will be based in Torfaen, and the first five are now being trained up and due to take to the streets next month.

Their job will be to patrol strictly-defined ward areas, getting to know local people, liaising with community groups, solving crime and stopping it happening.

Chief Inspector Bill Fitzpatrick, said: "Our aim is to provide a more community-based and focussed police service.

"We are looking to change the way we police. We got the funding for 66 extra officers. Now the community has a right to expect a return for their money."

The officers will be expected to remain in place for three years to give them time to get to know their beat.

The idea for ward officers came from public meetings held by police last year. The overwhelming finding was that people wanted more visible policing - and were willing to pay for it.

Bryan Davies, deputy chief constable of Gwent police, said: "We had to do something to satisfy some of the concerns raised at the public consultation meetings.

"The police authority agreed they would give us 50 percent of the resource needed to place one ward manager in each of the 131 wards (in Gwent).

"The communities have said this is what they want, so we are giving it to them," added Mr Davies.

Providing ward officers is part of a long-term plan to strengthen community policing. That plan is for each ward area to have its own dedicated officer and support officer, working alongside special constables, voluntary groups like Neighbourhood Watch and councillors.

CI Fitzpatrick said: "The new approach is partnership policing - forming links with community groups and dealing with problems in a common sense way."

The first five officers have been selected, with a further six due to be in place before the end of the financial year. If the scheme has been successful, additional funding will be sought to extend it.

The initial five officers are likely to be allocated throughout the borough, with three in Cwmbran, one in Pontypool and one in Blaenavon.

PC Annette Sanford is likely to be taking on the Croesyceiliog area. She said: "An area like Cwmbran is very large. As a traditional officer you tend to go from call to call without getting to know people.

"As ward officers, I think we will have the time to get to know them. That would also allow us to gather more local intelligence.

"If people know your face, they might be more willing to speak to you. They probably have a lot to tell us, but at the moment they might think there is no point telling us. If they see us walking past their front door regularly they may be more inclined to talk to us.

Her colleague PC Mark Gazzi is heading for Thornhill. He's already been working in Cwmbran for eight years, so has something of a head start.

"The police can't solve every crime on their own," he admitted. "It requires a partnership approach and this is the bedrock of that approach."