Local policing areas:
» Portsmouth Central
» Southsea
» Fratton
» Cosham
© Crown Copyright All Right Reserved 100022114. 2008
Chief Superintendent David Peacock (pictured, left) is the Commander in charge of policing in Portsmouth.
His deputy is Superintendent Neil Sherrington (right).
New!! Portsmouth pupils encouraged to ACT Now and learn more about the police
Police officers and police community support officers from Portsmouth have been taking part in a new terrorist exercise called 'All Communities Together Now' (or ACT Now for short). It was launched at the Charter Academy School in Southsea in June 2010 and aims to help school pupils learn more about the roles of the police in extremist activities.
Community Engagement Sergeant Simon Roberts led the first exercise on June 7 which involved 150 pupils and ran for four consecutive days. Students watched a series of short films that told the story of an unfolding terrorist plot, and were then asked what they would do in that situation if they were police officers.
Immersing themselves in their fictional roles, the students took the lead on the situation and learned about the dilemmas the police are presented with in potentially dangerous extremist situations.
Vice Principle of the Charter Academy School, Sandra Barker said: “This was clearly a stimulating subject for the pupils of the school, and they engaged very well with the police during the exercise. From speaking with the students we found that they often didn’t understand the reasons that the police behave the way that they do, with most of their knowledge being from fictional television programmes. This event helped dispel the myths surrounding police actions, and helped to build trust between the pupils and the police.
“I think that ACT now is very effective on younger members of the community. It definitely has a positive influence on a demographic that largely relies on others when forming an opinion about the police.”
Safer Neighbourhoods teams
In Portsmouth we are committed to making the city a brighter, cleaner and safer place to live. In 2006, Portsmouth was the first area in Hampshire to introduce a new style of policing, called Safer Neighbourhoods. The aim is to ensure that we are in touch with the issues that really matter to the community and help deliver a more local service.
Overall the introduction of Safer Neighbourhoods Teams has been a positive experience and we have had some good feedback on the work done so far. Overall crime in the city remains static, but importantly violent crime has dropped by more than eight per cent. People in Portsmouth are now less likely to become a victim of violent crime than they were before and that can only be good news.
We’ve still got a lot more work to do and over the next year we hope to build on those successes to further reduce crime and disorder, increase the numbers of crimes we detect and provide an even better service. We remain truly committed to making Portsmouth the safest city.
We are committed to:
- Reassuring the public and tackling the fear of crime through visible policing, anti-social behaviour orders, and crime reduction advice
- Taking a robust stance on illegal drugs, and reducing their supply and demand
- The energetic pursuit of prolific offenders, supporting victims of crime, ensuring crime management
- Providing the highest quality of service possible through our response to emerging operational demands, and by maximising our use of technology
Our ultimate aim is to ensure Portsmouth is a safe place in which to live, work, grow up and grow old.
For details of the officers on your local Safer Neighbourhoods Team, click the map above.
The OCU headquarters is based at:
Fratton Police Station
Kingston Crescent
Portsmouth
PO2 8BU
Enquiry office open: 7.30am - 10pm
Phone: 101
Fax: 023 9289 1579
Email: portsmouth.management@hampshire.pnn.police.uk
Along with Chief Superintendent Peacock, the Senior Management Team (SMT) is made up of:
- Superintendent Neil Sherrington - Specialist Operations
- District Chief Inspector South Alison Heydari
- District Chief Inspector North Richard Taylor
- Detective Chief Inspector Paul Barton (crime management)
- Helen Mears - Personnel Manager
- Katie Earnshaw - Corporate Communications Managers
- Hayley Parker - Finance and Business Manager
For minutes of the SMT meetings see the Portsmouth OCU Minutes page.
Property Office
The property office is based at Fratton police station and is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 3pm.
Podcasts
Portsmouth OCU has recently launched Hampshire Constabulary's first ever podcast or, as we like to call it, a Plodcast! It's just like a radio programme on your computer. There have been three so far with more to come. You can listen to either by clicking the links below, or you can download it to your MP3 player via itunes.
Find out more about the Plodcast.
Local Performance Information
You can also view details of how we are performing against certain key criteria in your local area. Click here to see the details for the Portsmouth OCU.
