Officers in Watford step up community engagement ahead of awareness week

Police officers and PCSOs in Watford have stepped up their high visibility community engagement ahead of Anti-Social Behaviour Awareness Week.

The Safer Neighbourhood Team carried out foot patrols in the town centre to engage face-to-face with both businesses and the wider public on Monday 19 June.

The activity is a pre-cursor to the national Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Awareness Week, which begins next Monday (3 July) across the Safer Watford Partnership.

The patrols centred primarily around the High Street and Market Street before the officers joined the security team in the atria shopping centre for a walk-about.

Officers struck up conversations with shop staff, restaurant managers and shoppers, to gauge what was important to them when it comes to policing in their town. They also took the opportunity to promote the use of echo, the force’s community voice platform.

Echo means the public can anonymously share their opinions on local policing with their Safer Neighbourhood officers, who use that information to shape patrol plans and policing priorities. The public can visit the Watford echo page (opens in a new window)  and share their feedback which goes directly to their local policing teams.

Watford Safer Neighbourhood Inspector Dan Jones said: “It was fantastic to join my teams out on patrol, and we received some positive feedback on echo almost straight away which was really heartening to read.”

Examples of echo feedback

“What a fabulous sight today in Watford town centre: numerous police in full uniform patrolling. Keep it up guys!”

“It was great to see so many officers in Watford town centre today. They interacted with the shoppers and staff in retail stores and the security teams in the atria. It's always great to see the police out and about on the streets.”

“I live and work in Watford and on Monday 19th June I was really pleased to see such a large police presence in the town.”

“I would like to thank the officers for their presence today, it made the town feel a lot safer.”

Inspector Jones added: “We have lots of activities planned for ASB Awareness Week, including a Safer Streets event on Monday 3 July. We’ll be on Market Street from 10am, where we’ll be joined by colleagues from the fire service, borough council and parking enforcement.

“We’re looking forward to engaging with the public, answering any questions they may have and signposting them to external services where required.”

The aim of the Safer Streets events is to work with residents and business owners to increase positive community engagement, empowering them to help reduce crime on a long-term basis.

Elected Mayor of Watford Peter Taylor said: “We must make sure that everyone feels safe in Watford. National events such as “ASB Awareness Week” help to highlight the commitment of the police and the council to tackle anti-social behaviour. 

“I am pleased that the police have used the run up to ASB Week to have a large presence in the town centre and meet residents, shopkeepers, and business owners to better understand their concerns and offer safety advice. It is only by empowering residents and working together as a community that we can deal with anti-social behaviour effectively.”

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