Police Chief Simon Cole to open police neighbourhood office Earl Shilton and Barwell
Leicestershire Constabulary’s Chief Constable, Simon Cole, is formally opening the neighbourhood police office in Barwell.The neighbourhood team for Earl Shilton and Barwell is using an office in the George Ward Centre on Church Lane where they can base themselves without having to travel to and from Hinckley. The office is equipped with a mobile data terminal (MDT) which gives them access to police systems and they can start and end their shifts at the centre enabling them to spend nearly all of their time out on their beat.
The Chief Constable, Simon Cole, will be at the George Ward Centre in Barwell at 2pm on Thursday February 23rd 2012 to officially open it. A Community Wellbeing Roadshow is being held in the centre on the same afternoon and officers will be available to talk to any visitors and hopefully sign them up to the police’s community messaging system - Neighbourhood Link.
The neighbourhood beat sergeant, Chris Huss said; “The office enables all of us to maintain a highly visible policing presence in the area. We are able to act promptly and effectively, when we’re needed, because we can spend much more time in the heart of the community we police which is reassuring for local residents and reduces the fear of crime.
“We’ve had some very positive comments from people using the centre about our visibility and accessibility and it shows how we can work in partnership with other organisations for the good of the community. We thought it would be nice to celebrate the facility so we invited the Chief Constable to come and officially open it for us which he kindly agreed to do.”
Leicestershire Constabulary has worked in partnership with The George Ward Centre, which is a limited company, to provide dedicated accommodation in the village centre for the police beat team. The Manager, Lesley Pratt, said; “The police being in our building means they are on the door step in the heart of the community for Barwell and Earl Shilton. They are now easily accessible to local people.”
