cambridgeshire
www.melbourncambridge.co.uk/safermelbourn/
Report it to the Police… Why bother? I often hear people tell me about problems in their village and ask what the police are doing about it. When I ask if they have reported it to us, the reply is often along the lines of “Why bother?” Well, here’s why….. Many people don’t report things like a rowdy group of teenagers, or somebody revving their car or moped up and down their street, because they think these are minor things that the police won’t be interested in anyway. By no means would I want people to be calling the police every time a group of young people walk past their house shouting and laughing. However, when something which is a nuisance is happening repeatedly and you feel that a police presence would help to solve the problem, I would really encourage you to call us. When you call the police about something like this, your call is logged on our computer system, and that will include any details you give. If the local officer or PCSOs are available, they may be just around the corner and come to attend. If you don’t report it, how will they know to come round the corner and deal with it? I have spoken to people who find that this isn’t their experience; they don’t get anyone come to see them at all and then feel let down by the police. As I’m sure you are all aware we are not able to be everywhere at once, and we have to prioritise the calls that come in to us. Our resources are limited and will always be allocated to the more serious calls first. This may mean that if an assault or a burglary has happened somewhere else an officer won’t get out to you for quite a while, and by the time they do, the problem may have gone. However, that isn’t the end of the information you give to us. The Neighbourhood team look at the reports to see what is happening on their beat. A report like this helps them to identify where the problems are and where they need to be patrolling. When you call us, you can ask for a visit from your
local PCSO when they are next available if you want to discuss a problem with them, even if we don’t have the resources to deal with it there and then. You can also sign up to E-Cops through the Cambridgeshire Constabulary website. This is a free facility which gives you information, and allows you to contact us via email with information which you don’t feel you need to tell us immediately but which you would like to make us aware of. By you telling us what is going on, we can be far more effective at dealing with it. The more information we have about what is going on in the area, the better picture we can build up, and as a result the better service we can give to your village. Sergeant Rebecca Williams
Melbourn Police Station With the closure of Melbourn’s police station Cambridgeshire Constabulary, wishing to maintain a presence in the village have applied for, and received, planning consent to build a police base at the Melbourn Village College site. You can see the full planning application on line at: http://scambs.jdiconsult.net/devcon/pa.php?paid=143791 The old police station was the base for our Neighbourhood policing team but with its closure last February the team is now based at Sawston. I have been told by our community police inspector that this will probably continue to be the case even when the new police “base” comes into service. The good news is that the police station volunteers, who ensured that the old station was open to the public, will re-establish this service at the new base. Keeping this service going obviously relies on having enough volunteers, so if you are interested in becoming a police station volunteer and would like to know more please contact the volunteer coordinator, Val Barrett, on 261227.
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