West Mercia Police Authority

At a meeting that took place on Tuesday 15 May, the Board - which is made up of the three Herefordshire members of the West Mercia Police Authority, Paul Deneen (Chair), Councillor Sebastian Bowen and Paul Dunford - received the latest updates on policing locally from Superintendent Hill and then offered their own observations on the work of West Mercia Police in Herefordshire.

Speaking after the meeting, Chair Paul Deneen said: "This was the last meeting of the Herefordshire Policing Board and the report we received from Superintendent Hill was very positive. The updates he was able to give us reflect the hard work being undertaken by officers' right across Herefordshire. In the year ending 31 March 2012, it is pleasing to report that total recorded crime was down by 2% and that the overall detection rate was up by 14%. The detection rate in each of the three individual policing areas was up by 13% in Hereford City and Rural, 19% in North Herefordshire and 13% in South Herefordshire, while overall crime rates were down by 2.8%, 1.2% and 1.4% in each of these areas respectively. One of the most pleasing aspects of Superintendent Hill's report was the news that recorded violent crime was down 3.8% in 2011/12 and that the detection rate for these offences has risen to 56.6%. Equally, it is also worth noting there was less then one house burglary per day in Herefordshire during the year from 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 (290 in total) and that in 32% of these cases the offences were detected."

Mr Deneen added: "Local Policing Teams (LPTs) continue to do a first-class job for the communities they serve. Their focus remains on anti-social behaviour and unfortunately many of these issues are related to the misuse of alcohol. Community Support Officers (CSOs) remain a key part of the policing family and the relationships they build up in communities are a vital tool for the police in terms of informal intelligence gathering. Local Policing Teams are also playing a key role in Operation Ignite - the Herefordshire Territorial Policing Unit's (TPU) ongoing operation to tackle rural crime - and they continue to work alongside response and CID officers to address the problems caused by criminals intent on targeting metal theft, plant and farm equipment from isolated locations. In addition, the Herefordshire TPU continues to work closely with partner agencies such as Herefordshire Council and NHS Herefordshire on many projects and this partnership working remains very important. Overall the Herefordshire Policing Board is very encouraged with the work being undertaken by the Herefordshire TPU and I would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate Superintendent Hill and his team of Police Officers, Police Community Support Officers, Police Staff and Specials for their work in ensuring that Herefordshire continues to be a safe place to live, work, visit and to study. Finally, I would like to remind local people that if they have any concerns about criminality of any sort in their community, then they should contact West Mercia Police on the non-emergency number 101 as soon as they are able to. Alternatively, please remember when an urgent response is required, the emergency number 999 should be used immediately.