Meet your new Safer Neighbourhood Team Inspector

A new inspector has joined the Welwyn Hatfield Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) – and she’s bringing plenty of enthusiasm with her!

Inspector Amy Sheldon has taken over from Andrew Palfreyman following his promotion to Chief Inspector for the Three Rivers district.

Amy brings a wealth of experience to the role, having joined the constabulary in 2009. She began her police service in Watford and Three Rivers working as an Intervention officer (dealing with 999 calls). She was promoted to sergeant in Hemel Hempstead and got her first taste of working in an SNT when she moved to Three Rivers.

SNTs are typically viewed as the face of policing and they work closely with local partners such as schools and councils. Their focus is on community engagement and they are tasked with tackling short- and long-term neighbourhood issues including anti-social behaviour. The Welwyn Hatfield SNT is split into three areas; North, West and South. Each area is led by a sergeant and made up of PCs and PCSOs and Amy will be responsible for the oversight of the whole team.

Amy said: “My previous role as an inspector was based within the constabulary’s Strategic Organisational Team which looks at ways of improving how the force works and responds. It gave me a good grounding in problem solving techniques and I am very excited to now be using these skills back in an operational, public-facing role.

“I joined the police to help people and working in the SNT gives you so many opportunities to make a genuine difference to people’s lives. What might seem like a small problem to some people could feel a huge problem to somebody else – so even when you help someone in a seemingly small way, you could actually be making a huge difference and transforming that person’s life.”

Amy is keen to continue the great work set out by her predecessor (Chief) Inspector Andrew Palfreyman in tackling violence against women and girls.

She said: “This is an area of policing which I am really passionate about, and of course, that comes from a personal place, too, as a woman. There’s already lots of great work that’s been done with local partners, including the recent installation of extra CCTV in Hatfield underpasses after the Police and Crime Commissioner David Lloyd secured funding. I am determined to carry on with this work, ensuring that women and girls feel safe in our area.

“I am also keen to make sure that my team is tied in closely with the detectives in the Local Crime Unit. They’ve also got a new inspector in place, DI Bianca Broadbent, who I’ve worked closely with in the past.

Juggling life as a single mum has certainly not dampened Amy’s enthusiasm for the job either. She said: “I’d like to show other women out there that policing can be a career for them. I have a great team and although policing can be tough, involving long hours and dealing with traumatic matters, there is so much support from colleagues and senior officers to help you – including around your work-life balance. I still feel as enthusiastic as the day I joined!”

To those living or working in Welwyn Hatfield, Amy says: “I want you to speak to us about the issues you’d like us to focus on. It’s the easiest way to do this is to use echo which is our community voice platform. This is regularly monitored and the feedback you give us feeds into our patrol plans and other operational activity.

“Finally, I’d also like to remind the public that they can follow my team on social media. We’re on Facebook (opens in a new window) and Twitter @WelHatPolice. Give us a like or follow to keep up-to-date with our news!”

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 window) 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.

Welwyn Hatfield North echo (opens in a new window) – (Welwyn West, Welwyn East, Haldens, Sherrards, Handside, Peartree and Panshanger)

Welwyn Hatfield South echo (opens in a new window) – (Hollybush, Cuffley, Howlands, Northaw, Hatfield East, Hatfield South, Welham Green, Brookmans Park and Little Heath)

Welwyn Hatfield West echo (opens in a new window) – (Hatfield Villages, Hatfield Central, Hatfield South West and the University of Hertfordshire)