MyPolice - new online service to encourage collaboration between people and the police

IN A CLIMATE OF SPENDING CUTS then one of the 'soft' options to face budget reductions are monies spent on 'community development' - i.e. funding allocated to support the involvement of people and communities in shaping services.

Nowhere is this more the case than in crime prevention and policing. Humberside Police face the prospect of losing front-line police officer posts - so funding and officer time previously allocated to police community forums and other attempts at involving people in policing matters will almost certainly be reduced if not cut entirely.

However, a new online service to be launched soon just might help improve matters a little bit. MyPolice describes itself as is "an online feedback tool that enables the public and the police to have a conversation."

MyPolice will seek input, comments and stories from the public about their local police services. These will help identify weaknesses and strengths within local forces which in turn can help with ideas for improving them. The founders behind MyPolice, Sarah Drummond and Lauren Currie, explain:

"In providing analysis and data for the Police to act on, MyPolice challenges policy decisions that are made and ensuring that service users have an active part in changing the Police for the better. You can give your opinion at a time when you feel strongly about an encounter with the Police and feel that the service offered by the Police could be improved. It’s the place where you can see how your thoughts translate directly into action."   

MyPolice has yet to officially launch and the service is currently being developed with police forces to ensure that the final product is effective. However, one of the advisers behind the project is Doctor James Munro who founded the popular Patient Opinion service (also see right-hand sidebar on this website) which engages with almost every NHS Trust across the country to allow patients to give their feedback on hospital services.

MyPolice is coming - and the HU12 website will be looking forward to promoting the service here! It might never be able to replace face-to-face meetings with the police - but it will certainly offer an independent forum to give our compliments and criticisms of our local police services.

See Police Community Forums did not deliver value for money and  Community activists urged to join fight against crime for background reading.

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Police Community Forums did not deliver value for money

POLICE AND PARTNERS COMMUNITY FORUMS were set up as the main public consultation forums dealing with crime and community safety in the East Riding. However, regular low attendance and lack of interest from local communities has prompted a review of the Forums by the Humberside Police Authority which has concluded that they do not deliver value for money and more effective use of resources have to be found.

Those attending the Forums in the South West Holderness area will have experienced the low turnout of the public at meetings where attendance from paid staff, police and other public services, would nearly always outnumber local people.

Victoria Wise from the Humberside Police Authority told the Hedon Blog that the Authority was not withdrawing from public meetings completely but just had to be smarter in the way in which they held meetings and build upon the existing work of Neighbourhood Policing Teams:

"Regular low attendance and lack of interest from the wider community, coupled with greater involvement of local police in the community, prompted a review of the process which showed that they did not deliver value for money and were, to some extent, duplicating the efforts of Neighbourhood Policing Teams who regularly hold police surgeries and attend public/community meetings to discuss policing issues with the wider community."

The purpose of the forums was to allow the police and its partners, including the

public, to concentrate their efforts on identifying the main crime, disorder or community safety concerns in each area and identify a way of solving the local problems. The Humberside Police Authority is now looking at ways to achieve the same objectives by other means and will announce these in the next Local Policing Summary to be circulated this month.

See also Community activists urged to join fight against crime on the Hedon Blog.

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Police - South West Holderness Ward Crime Figures

CRIME LEVELS and statistics for the HU12 post code area (South West Holderness ward) reveal that the average number of crimes in the area for May - July 2010 have decreased compared with the same period last year - from 64 recorded crimes to 51.

The figures released on the Humberside Police website show that the biggest fall in reported crime happened in June. There were 82 crimes in June 2009 compared with only 51 in 2010.

The 'crime rate' for the area is described as average.

Note: The 'crime rate' for a given area is the number of crimes per 1000 people in that area. For each area these are calculated by dividing the actual number of crimes by the population and then multiplying by 1,000.

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