Bill Hirst's Prince's Trust Diary 09/06/2009  
Bill Hirst, a BTP detective constable based in the Area Intelligence section in Leeds, volunteered to attend a Prince's Trust course in April/May 2009.
As part of a national scheme, Bill joined a group of disaffected young people undertaking a variety of community activities and team building tasks.

Bill was already used to working with young people in the Scouts and on Outward Bound courses but this group were altogether different.

His time with the Prince's Trust group enabled him to get an insight into the mindset (and problems) faced by a group of young people without many of life's advantages. He learned a lot about youngsters with a variety of disadvantages and any preconceptions he had of what the team members would be like went out of the window as he worked and socialised with them.

To read Bill's diary of his time on the Prince's Trust course click here.



York Neighbourhood Policing Launch 11/02/2009  

The official launch of the York Neighbourhood Policing team is on the 11/02/2009. In the morning they are going to hold an ‘on board surgery’ which is the team on the train between Doncaster and York completing questionnaires with passengers and speaking to staff about any concerns or problems.

Already having success in January after holding a cycle tagging initiative where we asked people to bring their bikes to York Station where we fitted them with a security tag. The following night our officers at York stopped someone on a stolen bike which was fitted with a tag and that person was arrested.

The team has been split into three groups which is based at York, each group have been given the task of setting up a community group within their area. See below for more details.

Click images for a larger version.


   
York Neighbourhood Policing Team setup

The team will consist of two Police Constables, six Police Community Support Officers and a Police Sergeant. 

We will be based in the BTP office at York Railway station which we share with York patrol officers and our office has just been refurbished to include a new office for the NPT.   

Our ‘community’ will cover the East Coast Mainline from Berwick to Newark, including the main stations along the route such as Newcastle and Doncaster. 

We will be working closely with the community by making contact with people who use the rail network in our area and with staff who work on our patch along with the train operating companies with whom we already have a good working relationship. 

We will be like any other local NPTs in that we will tackle problems raised by you – issues such as anti-social behaviour. 

We will do everything we can to reassure our community by being out there where you can see and talk to us and we will be tackling problems as a team.





ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR DRIVEN DOWN IN WEST YORKSHIRE (April 2008)

Anti Social behaviour on key rail networks across West Yorkshire has been driven down thanks to British Transport Police's Neigbourhood Policing Teams.

Figures released in April 2008 revealed an 18% reduction in anti-social behaviour across key rail routes in the Leeds and Bradford areas.

Incidents of anti-social behaviour in the Bradford neigbourhood policing area, which covers the Airedale/ Wharfdale line (including Shipley and Bradford Forster Square stations), reduced by 42%. From April to Jan 2006, 101 incidents were recorded and in the same time frame in 2007, 59 were recorded, a reduction of 42 offences.Officers have been working closely with Northern Rail security staff and local West Yorkshire NHP teams to achieve these reductions.

Incidents of anti-social behaviour in the Leeds neigbourhood policing area, which covers Leeds City Centre Station and the Crossgates to Micklefield route (including Garforth and East Garforth stations reduced by 10%. From April to Jan 2006 269 incidents were recorded and in the same time frame in 2007, 243 were recorded, a reduction of 26 offences.Inspector Brian Buddo of the NPT said; 'The key to NPT is listening to members of the local community and working with them to develop tailor-made solutions for their local policing needs. Anti social behaviour has been raised as an issue so high on our agenda is reassuring passengers and rail staff by reducing ASB and other low level disorder that contribute to the fear of crime and we hope to drive down the crime figures further.'