Alan Hardwick, the first elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire, has outlined his police and crime plan proposals.
The plan committs to maintaining officer levels in the county at 1,100 with the recruitment of 23 new officers, as well as bringing in up to 1,000 volunteers in the force.
PCC Hardwick said: “During my election campaign I spoke to many hundreds of Lincolnshire residents about my vision for policing the county in which we are privileged to live.
“There was a great deal of positivity, and I was heartened by the number of people who spoke publicly and privately to me about their problems and ideas, about the value of volunteers, about victims and witnesses of crime, and about the vulnerable in society.
“I am confident that my proposed Police and Crime Plan reflects their priorities. The people of Lincolnshire have put their faith and trust in me, and I have no intention of letting them down.”
PCC’s police and crime proposals
There are a number of ideas outlined within the plan from Alan Hardwick, and below are the key points he plans to tackle:
There is a downward trend in crime in Lincolnshire and the force is committed to maintaining 1,100 police officers and recruit 23 new police officers.
With the help of the Chief Constable, Hardwick will introduce the role of Volunteer Police Community Support Officers (VPCSOs). Together with an expansion of the special constabulary and non-uniform volunteer roles, it is his ambition to have 1,000 Lincolnshire volunteers working alongside employed officers and staff.
Unless there is an operational reason not to, in future all police officers will wear their uniform when on duty and all police vehicles involved in front line policing will be clearly marked.
Police stations will not be closed where there is a demonstrable operational/community need. The PCC is investigating the possibility of sharing the use of some of police stations with the local community.
Alcohol is the cause of much anti-social behaviour and the PCC says he is committed to zero tolerance of unlawful and nuisance street drinking.
See the main police and crime plan below:
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite