Proper neighbourhood officers and pop-up police bases in empty properties on the way in Doncaster

A Doncaster councillor who said he had ‘not seen a police officer’ on patrol in his area for four years has been told changes are coming for neighbourhood policing.
By George Torr, Local Democracy Reporter
Published 11th Feb 2021, 07:00 BST
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Coun David Hughes, Labour member for Adwick and Carcroft, asked what was being done around the deployment of more officers in local communities.

Superintendent Neil Thomas said changes were coming and prior announcements around a shift towards a more neighbourhood policing model was ‘never going to be delivered in one big bang’.

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Supt Thomas also revealed that the model will incorporate pop-up police bases such as houses in certain areas so officers can carry out office functions and operate in the heart of the community.

More neighbourhood police officers are on the way in DoncasterMore neighbourhood police officers are on the way in Doncaster
More neighbourhood police officers are on the way in Doncaster

The police chief said the force was in discussions with St Leger Homes around sites and this would allow flexibility to move officers in crime hotspots quickly.

Councillors were told that Doncaster would receive nine sergeants and 52 police officers alongside a number of PCSOs to make up the neighbourhood teams.

“Neighbour policing was never going to be delivered in one big bang. It is part of the chief and the forces plan through expansion to put some of the uplifting officers into neighbourhood policing,” said Supt Thomas.

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“This is a gradual process, which is ongoing at the moment and we were only having discussions this week within our own command team in Doncaster as to the next stage of that rollout.

“What you will see is that the structures are in place for our neighbourhood teams across Doncaster, and now it’s a case of putting the stuff into them over the next few months, all of our neighbourhood teams in Doncaster will see an injection of staff.

“We’re planning to use houses to use as police drop-ins and the beauty of that is that we can put it in an area where we’ve got issues we can have a police presence in there.

“We will have the flexibility that we could close down that particular location and move it to another.

“We are going to mirror what’s happening in Sheffield, and we’re already discussing that with St Leger Homes about putting a police presence where we can into residential housing stock.”