Suffolk Police’s new community-focused model shows early signs of success

Nearly two months have passed since the police introduced a revamped model to help strengthen community links with the public.

Suffolk Police made the changes in response to to the rising and changing demands to the service with the focus on improving engagement with local communities while handling emergencies and investigations more effectively.

A total of 80 Community Policing Officers (CPOs) are now working in the new Community Policing Teams across the county with the creation of 50 new Community Policing Areas (CPA).

Chief Constable Rachel Kearton said: “The visibility of our Community Policing Teams across the county has been well received and our community officers, PCSOs and voluntary teams have enjoyed the opportunity to be more engaged, visible, proactive and intrusive where we need to be.

“It is early days for us to fully understand the positive impact that the investment in community policing is having, but there is an optimistic energy about the improvements that have already started to be made.

“We will continue to monitor the changes and act quickly to resolve any issues should they arise.”

Many inspectors have participated in the national Neighbourhood Policing Week, which started on Monday, providing filmed updates to the public via social media.

Suffolk Police are putting a lot of emphasis on its social media channels, such as Facebook and X (Twitter), to help keep residents up to date with what police teams are regularly involved with.

Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “In all my public engagement, a theme repeated across the county is the need for better accessibility to the Constabulary; this new neighbourhood policing model, introduced late last year has been designed to addresses this.

“The new local policing model embeds more community police officers in their local area to understand community concerns and target activity where it is most needed.

“It is early days, but communication and engagement with local residents and businesses is improving and, in turn, I am sure this will help increase public confidence and trust."