THE NEW Sergeant for the Malmesbury, Cricklade and Royal Wootton Bassett is Donna West, 42, who has transferred from a beat in Swindon.

Sgt West said that she was excited to be covering a new area and although it is larger than her previous patch of Highworth and Stratton the kind of rural policing she will deal with with should be relatively similar.

A Royal Wootton Bassett resident, Sgt West has two children and a sister who works as a paramedic in Malmesbury.

“From what I can tell it’s a great place and I’m really excited about working here,” she said “The team here are really enthusiastic and very nice, so they are going to help me get to know the area.

“It’s not going to be an overnight thing but I’m planning to meet everybody.”

Sgt West added that she was planning to hold surgeries throughout the area to get to know the community and let people get in touch face to face with their concerns and issues.

Although she is aware that comparisons to former Malmesbury Sergeant Martin Alvis will be in some people’s minds already Sgt West said that she hoped that her style of policing will prove just as popular.

Outside her day job Sgt West is a frequent participant in mud runs and obstacle courses and has events planned throughout the year to raise funds for a children’s cancer charity founded in memory of a member of Wiltshire Police who died in 1999.

Her biggest upcoming challenge is a gruelling 20 mile race with more than 200 obstacles which takes contestants an average of eight hours to complete.

Sgt West said: “It’s just really, really fun and me and a friend are doing this charity fundraising at these events.”

A series of surgeries will be arranged by Sgt West and the neighbourhood policing team in the coming months but in the mean time they can all be contacted directly via malmesburynpt@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk or 101 for non urgent matters and 999 for crimes in progress and serious incidents.

For more on Sgt West’s latest fundraising efforts visit http://on.fb.me/1GyL3IH