PCC joins community engagement event in Carpenders Park

Police and partners braved wet weather to knock on doors and speak to residents in Carpenders Park as part of a community engagement event last week.

More than 50 addresses were visited on Wednesday 26 February, as police officers, police staff, district councillors and Hertfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Jonathan Ash-Edwards, pounded the pavements together.

It gave residents the opportunity to chat face-to-face with their local policing team, as well as Mr Ash-Edwards, and discuss the work being done to intercept and identify offenders.

Mr Ash-Edwards said: “I had a lot of feedback from concerned residents in this area last autumn, and as a result the local Chief Inspector and I held a public residents meeting before Christmas.

“We listened to the views and concerns, and it gave us an opportunity to explain the work which is being done to address the issues and also share crime prevention advice.

“Getting out and meeting residents face to face and speaking to them on their doorsteps has been a continuation of the process which has been put in place to reduce crime and make people feel safer.”

Sergeant Andrew Blackwood, from the Three Rivers Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “We always receive positive feedback from these events, and it was great to have these important conversations to understand what matters most to our communities.

“We analyse crime data and target our resources where they’re needed most; we chose Carpenders Park after our figures showed the area had experienced an increase in burglaries over the past year.

“Our conversations with residents centred around crime prevention, and addressing any concerns raised. We also encouraged them to join Herts Connected, our free community messaging service where members can receive alerts about incidents in their area, as well as crime prevention advice and information about upcoming community events. We came away with a total of 10 new HC members to add to the list of more than 5,700 Three Rivers residents already signed up.”

If you missed the team’s visit and want to register your views or concerns about policing in your area, you can use our community voice platform ‘echo’ to let us know what you think we should be prioritising. Your feedback will help towards shaping our local policing priorities, initiatives and campaigns. Visit bit.ly/hertspolice-psf and tell us your thoughts.

Join our new community messaging platform Herts Connected at hertsconnected.co.uk and select ‘police’. You can also choose to receive messages from Neighbourhood Watch, Action Fraud and the Police and Crime Commissioner if that’s what you choose when you sign up.