Newport residents to have police meetings
Residents in a town where more than 1,100 people signed a petition to "improve policing" will now be able to speak to a police officer face-to-face.
The trials are set to run in the Guildhall, Newport twice a week until Christmas, and it is hoped that it will help gauge the interest in having direct access to an officer.
It follows much debate in the town about the availability of police since the closure of the police station on Wellington Road in 2013.
The scheme will be assessed after the trial sessions are complete.
The sessions begin just weeks after a petition signed by 1,100 residents calling for "better policing" in the town was handed to Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion.
The Guildhall sessions were suggested by Councillor Tony Forrester at the Town Council meeting on Wednesday November 8 and was met with full agreement.
The move has been welcomed by councillors working together on the issue.
Councillor Peter Scott, who started the petition, said: "It’s a good opportunity to test the suggestion that people want and need to be able to talk to the police privately.
"It’s now been four years since the police station closed and face-to-face contact privately is sorely missed by our community.
"It’s a step forward but needs to be made permanent somehow. The petition does seem to have had an effect and stung a lot of people into action."
Councillor Tim Nelson said that although the sessions were a step in the right direction, more needed to be done.
"We are seeing an alarming increase in recorded anti-social behaviour, violent and sexual crime, and burglary.
"In total there were 1375 recorded crimes in the last year, a 14 % increase. If that trend continued, recorded crime would double in five years!
"People say that the towns getting bigger, but that presupposes that proportionally the new residents are taking part in crimes. I don’t believe that. Others say, well, it’s to do with recorded crime, the figures have gone up everywhere.
"Newport isn’t everywhere. Newport is a quiet market town, civil and law abiding. The national figures take in the cities, which are anything but.
"For Newport, common sense says one factor must be the reduction in police resource in Newport, fewer officers, closed Police stations.
"So maybe pop in sessions in the Guildhall are to be welcomed, but there is a much bigger picture of making sure Newport gets its fair share of Police resources, truly visible policing on the beat, and people feeling safer."
The first session was held at the Guildhall with PCSO Ann Moore on Tuesday. Further dates will be announced soon.
