Dear Resident, 

This is the monthly newsletter for March 2025.

The Hereford Northside patch is covered by the three members of the Safer Neighbourhood Team, and is a large area including Victoria Park, College, Aylestone Hill, Eign Hill, Tupsley, Greyfriars, Whitecross. Kings Acre, Bobblestock and part of Widemarsh ward.

Since our last newsletter we have very busy working out in the community and have responded to many calls of anti-social behaviour, shoplifters, neighbour disputes, safeguarding concerns and broken down vehicles, to name but a few.

We have clocked up more steps this month, posting Neighbourhood flyers through hundreds of doors in Bobblestock, Eign Hill and Holmer. It has been great engaging with the community having a chat with people who have been out and about. 

There have been quite a few requests for PCSO’s to carry out house to house and CCTV enquiries on behalf of our Telephone Investigators this month. This has taken us both into the City Centre and out onto Northsides' patch. We continue to assist our Response Officer colleagues, picking up low-level crime enquiries and providing reassurance to their victims of crime. We have also helped out the City Centre Team following reports of youth anti-social behaviour at Old Market, liaising with the Security staff and providing some hi-visibility patrols.

With regard to the seized dangerous dog  from last months newsletter, the dog, a Pitbull, has been surrendered to police by the owner and the breeder of the dog has been prosecuted.

Engaging with the community, we have visited all seven allotment sites on our patch and have spoken to the site managers and allotment holders about crime prevention. We have provided signage and information leaflets and were greeted with a warm welcome at all of the sites. It was clear these allotments have a great community feel and are a lifeline for some, providing support and encouraging good mental wellbeing. 

During the month we have conducted plain clothes operations with the City Centre Team, targeting shoplifters and tackling anti-social behaviour. Our colleagues have a great crime detection rate in Hereford City Centre, and continue to work alongside businesses, shop staff and Council CCTV to tackle this ongoing issue. 

Our Response Officer colleagues have carried out traffic monitoring with a speed gun on Hampton Park Road this month, and officers continue to use the speed guns around the county.

Earlier in the month, we had anti-social behaviour reported around the Courtyard Theatre. We have carried out patrols in this area and engaged with local youths.

We continue to work with our partners and have attended the Hospital foyer with British Transport Police to engage with the community and staff, handing out leaflets and providing advice. Churchill Gardens have also been visited where we joined a meeting with the Local Councillor and our Design Out Crime Officer in order to discuss and tackle ongoing anti-social behaviour.

On Wed 12th March the Safer Neighbourhood Teams joined their colleagues from Local Policing and the Neighbourhood Crime Fighting Team to carry out a ‘Strike’ day of action in Herefordshire. This was a success with 13 out of 17 people targeted being arrested for a range of offences including theft, criminal damage, breaching bail, domestic abuse, and failing to appear in court.

We, and a student police officer, have visited the new Youth Employment Hub (YEH) on Blueschool Street for an interactive session with some Public Services Students who had lots of questions for us. They had to complete an enquiry where a crime had been committed and think about the questions to be asked and any actions that need to be taken. Great interaction, and some budding detectives right there!

Hereford’s Housing Providers continue to work closely with us, and we regularly contact them about neighbour disputes and anti-social behaviour. Joint working this month has seen us raise safeguarding and mental health concerns with the appropriate agencies.

Talk Community Hubs are a big part of the community, and when able we try and drop in to the weekly coffee events to engage with residents. Quite often we come away with lots of information and concerns about their local area, and this in turn is fed into our intelligence gathering system. No piece of information is irrelevant, however small you may think it is, just let us know!

From both the local and national news it is evident scams and rogue traders are in full operation, so we have been visiting some care homes and supported living facilities to talk to residents and staff. Quite often the elderly are targeted and we have provided advice on how to stay safe, handed out literature, and making sure everyone knows about Action Fraud https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

This month has also seen the Safer Neighbourhood Team attend a careers evening at a local school, speaking to pupils about their aspirations and what it is like to work in the police.

We have connected with Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service this month, completing their Safeguarding training, helping us to identify vulnerable persons and property fire risks whilst out in the community, and how to refer these individuals for a Home Fire Safety Visit. https://www.hwfire.org.uk/advice/home-fire-safety-check/

Last week we attended Beech House Nursery School where the children met the police as part of their emergency services week. It is great to engage with the very young in order to build a good rapport and to let them know we are here to help if they are ever in danger. I am sure the teachers had their work cut out after we left as they were very excited!

Kind Regards,

Your Safer Neighbourhood Team - Hereford Northside

PC Reynolds, PCSO Slatter & PCSO Macleod