Welwyn Hatfield officers celebrate Neighbourhood Policing Week
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The Welwyn Hatfield Safer Neighbourhood Team showcased their important work as the part of the national Neighbourhood Policing Week.
From Monday 23 through to Sunday 29 January, the SNT took the opportunity to highlight on social media the various community engagements and operations they participate in on a typical week.
Neighbourhood Policing Week, which takes place annually, aims to highlight the vital role that neighbourhood officers play in communities. In Hertfordshire, the PCs and PCSOs who cover local policing sit on Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs). They are tasked with tackling short- and long-term neighbourhood issues including anti-social behaviour and they often work with schools, councils and other local partners to achieve this. Community engagement is a core part of their work.
The Welwyn Hatfield SNT is split into three areas; North, West and South. Each area is led by a sergeant, with Inspector Amy Sheldon overseeing the whole team.
Across last week, the officers took to the Welwyn Hatfield Police Facebook and Twitter accounts to give a snapshot of their work and to remind the public to keep submitting feedback on echo, the online platform used by the constabulary to capture residents’ views.
Their various engagement events across the week included:
- A coffee morning meeting the residents of Hollier Court retirement home in Hatfield. PCSO Shannon Payne chatted through safety advice and answered questions
- Community engagement stall in Welwyn Civic Centre and Welwyn Garden City’s Morrisons where free security devices were handed out
- A visit to the Welwyn Garden City & Hatfield Sea Cadets & Royal Marine Cadets
- Patrols outside Creswick Primary School and Green Lanes Primary school at pick-up/drop-off time following concerns about speeding and parking
- Mini Police sessions at Our Lady Catholic Primary School and Peartree Primary school. This fun and interactive programme helps children to establish an interest and understanding in policing and community safety.
- Patrols in Hatfield Garden Village following concerns about parking. PC Darren Turner and PC Andrew Dockerill issued 11 police notices.
- Speeding operations in New Road in Digswell and Herns Lane and Panshanger Drive in Welwyn Garden City. Two drivers were given traffic offence reports for speeding.
- Patrols in Woodall in response to concerns about anti-social behaviour
- A knife sweep in Aviation Avenue in Hatfield. Thankfully no weapons were found.
- Free bike marking events outside Welwyn Garden City police station and at Birchwood Leisure centre in Hatfield
- Patrols in Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City town centres
Inspector Amy Sheldon said: “It was another busy week for my officers and we enjoyed sharing our work with you. We received lots of supportive comments on social media and even some nice feedback into our control room. Policing isn’t always an easy job so comments like these are always appreciated and we’d like to say a big thank you to those who showed their support to us.
“Neighbourhood Policing Week might be over but we are still working hard to make sure Welwyn Hatfield is safe. Please do keep submitting your feedback on echo so we know what to prioritise. Our social media accounts are not monitored 24/7 so to ensure your voice is heard, make sure you use echo! The feedback is regularly monitored and many of the patrols we carried out last week were in direct response to those echo submissions.”
You can follow the Safer Neighbourhood Team on Facebook (Opens in a new window) or on Twitter @WelHatPolice (Opens in a new window).
To receive police messages about a range of topics including burglaries, scams and missing people in your local area, sign up to OWL (Opens in a new windw) or download the ‘OWL crime alerts’ app from your app store.
You can use our community voice platform ‘echo’ to let us know what you think we should be prioritising in your area. Your feedback will help towards shaping our local policing priorities, initiatives and campaigns. Visit the following and tell us your thoughts.
PC Darren Turner on speeding and parking patrols in Hatfield Garden Village
The community engagement stall at Welwyn Civic Centre
PCSOs meeting with the Welwyn Garden City & Hatfield Sea Cadets & Royal Marine Cadets
PCSO Jack Andrews at the stall in Morrisons 