Week of action taking place to build on success of new operating model

All ten of our local policing teams (LPTs) are stepping up their efforts to tackle community priorities in a neighbourhood week of action this month.

From Monday (23 January), local officers will be completing a range of different activities across the breadth of Staffordshire, including:

• Catch up with your Commander events across all ten LPTs
• Actioning intelligence leads
• Crime prevention events in high-footfall areas
• School visits around youth knife crime
• Licensing checks at businesses
• Parking engagement
• Visits to members of the rural community alongside the National Farmers Union (NFU)

The period aims to build on the successes of our new local policing model which was introduced in June last year (2022).

Since it was launched, we’ve seen reductions in a variety of neighbourhood crime, better call-handling and more officers working on the beat to keep people safe, including:

• A 33% decrease in anti-social behaviour
• A 6% decrease in neighbourhood crime – which involves burglary, robbery, vehicle theft and personal theft
• An average of 82 more arrests each month in comparison to our previous model
• Average answer times for 999 and 101 calls decreasing week-on-week in the last two months

Our Chief Constable, Chris Noble, designed the new model to strengthen the force’s focus on local policing and partnerships by placing emergency response officers within 10 local policing areas, meaning they were able to work more effectively with neighbourhood officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs).

This change was spearheaded with a 12% uplift in the number of officers working for us – meaning we can better deliver upon the priorities of the people and provide the best possible service for victims.

Each of our local commanders will be actioning the concerns of communities during the intensification period in a bid to further the successes of the new model as we continue into 2023.

Dedicated operations aimed at tackling vehicle theft, personal robbery, anti-social behaviour and other community concerns will continue following the week of action as part of the force’s priorities commitment.

Chief Superintendent Elliot Sharrard-Williams said: “Implementing the new policing model is a long process and we’re continuing to work day-to-day to make sure we do this as effectively as possible.  

“That being said, we’re seeing a number of positive changes since we first launched the model in June and we’re determined to keep building on this into the future.

“As a force, we are always proactive in our pursuit of offenders and this week of action gives us a chance to further demonstrate this commitment and ensure we make communities as safe as we possibly can.”

The force will also be working closely with local partners to spearhead the week of action. 

If you want to speak to your LPT and raise any concerns, visit the Your Area section of our website or speak to your local PCSOs when they are out and about.

Chief Inspectors are regularly arranging community engagement sessions and will advertise these on our social media pages in advance. Make sure you’re following your LPT to keep updated.

More information around the ‘catch up with your Commander’ events can be found here: Local engagement events | Staffordshire Police

To report crime, contact us on 101, Facebook or Twitter.

Always call 999 if it’s an emergency.