Neighbourhood bobbies at forefront of Gloucestershire's four-year police strategy launch

Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl alongside assistant chief constable Gary Thompson and deputy PCC Chris Brierley launched the Police and Crime Plan at the University of Gloucestershire’s Park campus.

Mr Surl’s plan for the next year leads on six priorities, accessibility and accountability, older but not overlooked, young people becoming adults, safer days and nights, safe and social driving and finally, safe cyber.

After hearing members of the public raise concerns about the lack of bobbies on the beat in their communities, PCC Surl alongside CC Thompson aim to resolve this issue, despite having over a quarter of their £107million budget slashed by central government.

Mr Surl said: “There are actually very few changes to my plan from 2012, we’re not going to flip it on public feeling at the time.

“But now I’m in my second term I’m able to pull a few more levers.

“It is important that police are there when you need them, are held accountable for their actions and have a key role in helping young people make the right choices.

“While I am a realist every crime reported represents a failure to prevent it.”

He called neighbourhood policing the golden thread that runs through all the force do, freeing up one per cent of its budget for community projects.

The aims include £2million to develop the Bamfurlong Operations Centre near Junction 11 of the M5, electrification of the police fleet where viable, a possible addition of four more mounted units, alongside a continued collaboration to combat coercive control.

Mr Thompson said: “This provides an invaluable framework for the police and a blueprint for all those in the force.

“As police we must be approachable whenever people come into contact with us, whether that is calling 999 or even on other means we are considering such as Skype.

“People do have a disproportionate fear of crime and we must approach that with dignity and respect.

“It’s important for us to make sure our officers have cutting edge technology and that they are all computer literate – making our officers and buildings fit for purpose to tackle today’s issues.

“We have made strides to ensure they can operate as much as possible out of the office in their neighbourhoods, but still conducting all the necessary work – that and our mobile units NEV and KEV which provide us with a valuable outreach in the community.

“There’s of course a huge draw on our resources to Gloucester and Cheltenham but we are making sure that we have the capability to respond to incidents promptly from our bases in places such as Stroud and Dursley.

“In light of events such as at the Warehouse nightclub we can assure people that we have the ability to deal with extraordinary circumstances throughout the county.”

Both rural policing and knife crime continue to be key priorities that PCC Surl is continuing this term, as well as improvements to CCTV systems which act as both a deterrent and aid for investigations.

He also aims to combat safer driving after reports that while numbers are reducing, 26 people were killed in 2015 in Gloucestershire, 227 were seriously injured and 889 slightly injured.

The plan sets aside £250,000 for parishes, towns, schools and communities for road safety initiatives.

PCC Surl agrees that there is a lot of pressure on police not to be reactionary, but to prevent crimes from occurring.

This issue alongside the need to expand their reach into rural Gloucestershire amid a dwindling budget is a struggle which he accepts will have to lead to cuts, but his primary focus will be to make every section of the force as efficient as it can be to avoid that.

He wishes to make sure that the plan makes working in the force better for officers themselves, he agrees it is important that they are highly motivated but not to the extent that they are burnt out at the end of each day – individual care for officers is a priority.