A new initiative to put police officers at the heart of their communities has been launched.
It was officially launched at the Hillside estate in Maryport by David Allen, Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.
Social landlord Castles & Coasts Housing Association has made its Ellenfoot Drive building available to police officers to use as a base.
The partnership aims to tackle anti-social behaviour and strengthen community safety in the town.
It aims to achieve faster response times to concerns and a more visible policing footprint within Maryport.
Mr Allen said that the feedback has so far been positive and added: “I mean, what we wanted to do is put the word out, ‘look, we’ve got a model here that I think is going to be good and I think it will work’.
“If there are others, say other housing associations or other local businesses that have got a community element, who want to replicate this, and I am more than happy to have that conversation. It could be rolled out across the whole of Cumbria as far as I’m concerned.”
He said officers would be in the building regularly and added: “There’s a measure of security provided by the fact that the police are coming and going. Why would you not want that?”
He said it gave the police a presence in the community and added: “Effectively, it’s almost like having a police station in your local area. Police are going to be there.
There’ll be times when they will advertise that they’re going to be here.”
PC Sam Steele, the neighbourhood policing officer for Maryport, said that the nearest police station was 10 to 15 minutes away in Workington so it was an obvious advantage.
He said residents could pop into the office with information and added: “What we have now is that all police officers, instead of having to be dragged all the way back from Workington, will come and base themselves out of here.
“What we have here as well is the housing association staff are working out of here and they are always in exchanging information. We’re making sure we’re keeping on top of anti-social behaviour issues.”
He said another advantage was that the use of the building had been offered for free and added: “So, the police aren’t paying a penny. We come up here using an already existing resource, base ourselves here and if there’s a 999 call, instead of being 10 minutes away, we’re 30 seconds away.
“And every day that is having an impact.”
PC Steele said that last week there was an incident, where a man involved with an ongoing case was in the town centre, and when he arrived at the scene the suspect was still there.
He added: “I’m there, I’m getting the evidence, and I’m on the ground, and that’s a reassured victim.”
Two initiatives which allow sharing of information were the town’s Shopwatch and Pubwatch schemes.
PC Steele said: “All the shops have access to the local police officer and a messaging forum, a bit like Facebook for shops, they go on, they can share it with me.”
Pubwatch began about a year ago. He said: “If you think you’re going to be banned from every single pub in a town, you soon take heed when the landlord tells you to behave.”
Marie Hardeman, the executive director for customer and communities with Castles & Coasts, said: “I think the main thing for us is partnership working, whether it’s police or other professions, and co-location is really key to sharing information, tapping into everybody’s capability.”
She said the feedback had been positive and added: “Residents like to see the Castles & Coasts colleagues here working with the police. We know that residents come in to report issues and to give information, which is really positive.”
