Hampshire Constabulary

*Page updated 03.08.10* 

Sergeant Stewart Chandler leads the Safer Neighbourhoods team for Highfield and is supported by the following officers:                            

• PC Andrew Alderson
• PCSO Matt Manning
• PC Paul Warren
  
  
  
  
  PC Steve Ashe has recently left the team to join the Burglary Unit at Hulse Road. PCSO Sonja Payne has left Hampshire Constabulary and is now working for Sure Start, Swaythling. 

Your local priorities

Locally, we work with your community to find out what matters most where you live. We will work with you and our partner agencies to agree the main priorities for the area and how we will work together to tackle them.

The Safer Neighbourhoods priorities set for at the recent PACT (Police And Community Together) meeting on July 29 are: 

• Tackle street drinking on Northcote Road and Portswood Recreation area and engage with the community.
  
• To stop cycling on the Broadway and advise cyclists of the legislation
  
• Crime prevention in relation to dwelling burglaries and student premises.
  
  The next PACT meeting is on the 28th October 2010 at 7 p.m at Swaythling Neighbhourhood Centre.
  
  These are the priorities that people in your local area have agreed with the Safer Neighbourhoods team. You can influence these priorities by contacting your team, attending a meeting or speaking to members of the team when you see them out and about. 

Action taken in relation to our previous priorities:

You said: Street drinking and intimidating behaviour in and around Northcote Road

We did: Additional patrols were made in the Northcote Road area to deal with street drinkers. If people were encountered they would be stopped, details would be taken and if necessary alcohol would be seized. These patrols were enough to deter the problem and the calls to the police have now reduced and we no longer envisage this to be a problem. 

You said: Cycle Thefts – reduce the number of cycle thefts in the area of Highfield

We did: Between January 2010 – July 2010 there has been three reported incidents of cycles being stolen in the Highfield and Hampton Park neighbourhood area. The safer neighbourhood officers have been working closely with Southampton University to prevent cycle thefts and have been advising students to lock their bikes if leaving them in the bike racks. Local officers have been stopping cyclists and checking bikes and taking the serial number of the bike down and checking whether this is a reported stolen bike. If there is any suspicion the bike is stolen and the rider cannot prove the bike is their own, then the bike will seized, so the police can investigate this further. There have been a number of arrests made locally with people being charged or who are currently on bail for this offence. 
 

You said: Operation Batcombe – educating and dealing with those students who engage in alcohol fueled rowdy and inconsiderate behaviour as they return to their accommodation from late night licensed premises.

We did: Portswood Safer Neighbourhood Team have continued to work with Southampton City Council and Southampton University with Operation Batcombe patrols focusing on students leaving and returning to their home addresses under the influence of alcohol in the Bassett area. These patrols are a great success with students being advised about their behaviour, alcohol being confiscated, fixed penalty notices being allocated and if necessary, arrests being made. 

Students that are causing anti-social behaviour in the area, will have their details taken and be reported to student services at Southampton University, so the University can take their own action with the student, warning them, suspended them or by asking them to leave their course. Portswood SNT will not be conducting any Op Batcombe patrols over the summer period whilst the students are on their summer holiday, but they will continue again in fresher’s week in the new academic year. 

CREW Crime Reduction and Environment Week, Hampton Park  - April  2010
Hampton Park was chosen as the CREW area after recommendations were made by police and Southampton City Council who were becoming increasingly aware about the escalating problem with fly tipping in the local area. 

A meeting was held by PCSO Matt Manning and approximately 25 residents attended the meeting and their views and opinions were heard. The police, neighbourhood wardens, council workers started with clearing access roads of bulk waste which had been previously tipped. Eighteen full loads of rubbish from a flatbed truck were collected from this area. 

Drop down posts were installed to ensure fly tipping couldn't continue as the flat bed trucks can no longer travel down the access roads and tip bulk refuse. 

A road cleansing crew also conducted a deep clean of the streets. Due to the success of the CREW week, residents have now decided to form a community group for the area. The idea of the group is to bring the community back together and improve the area in which they live. The group have called themselves, Hampton Park Community Group (HPCG). The group are trying to generate interest with other residents and are actively seeking members for the group and volunteers to help where ever possible. If you are interested in being part of the group or wish to help in any way, please contact Arif Faizi on his email – faizi.arif@gmail.com

Some recent sucesses
A 26-year-old man has been summonsed to attend court for driving offences following reports from members of the public he was riding his motorbike in an anti social manner. The police caught the man whilst riding his motorbike and reporting him for riding the bike with no insurance, no MOT and no driving licence. The bike was seized under Section 165 of the Road Traffic Act. A 15-year-old boy has been charged with an offence of theft of a cycle and is due at Southampton Youth Court for this offence.

Here are some cycle crime figures for you: 01/04/09 – 15/07/09 = 5 01/04/10 – 15/07/10 = 3

Student homes over the summer
We would ask that local people are aware that many student houses will be empty over the summer months, please can any residents seeing any suspicious activity report this to the police to prevent the increase in burglaries over this time.

Vehicle crime

Vehicle crime remains a problem within Highfield and the neighbourhood team is working with residents to help them avoid becoming victims of crime and to give them crime prevention advice. High visibility patrols are also being put in place, and a number of targeted operations are in place to catch criminals. 
 

Operation Batcombe

Operation Batcombe is a police-led multi agency initiative aimed at educating students regarding anti-social behaviour, noise nuisance and criminal damage, as well as providing personal safety information. Regular patrols have taken place with particular emphasis on the Glen Eyre Road area. This has led to environmental changes, the repositioning of taxi ranks and better working relationships with university security staff and the student's union. These operations are ongoing throughout the academic year.  

Neighbourhood Watch

Neighbourhood Watch groups are currently being set up across Highfield. Local police officers work with the community to set these groups up and advise them on security issues. If you would like to start up a neighbourhood watch group in your neighbourhood contact Portswood Police Station.


   

Noise

Residents in Highfield often complain about the amount of noise created by students as they return home late at night. Highfield Safer Neighbourhood team works closely with Southampton University to try and prevent this problem from recurring. Extra patrols have been put in place in the area to enforce designated non-drinking areas and targeted operations are regularly carried out to try and make students more aware of the impact they have on local residents when returning from a night out. Noise incidents should be reported to Southampton City Council to report the incident. Use the following email or phone number to report the incident: public.health@southampton.gov.uk. Phone: 023 8083 2531 or contacting Environmental Health to report the incident

How you can take action

Forthcoming beat surgeries

No current beat surgeries, however it is expected for the beat surgeries to commence again at Waitrose in Portswood at the end of the summer.

Police And Community Together meetings have been introduced throughout Southampton and are currently held quarterly in each of the Portswood police neighbourhoods.

The Highfield and Hampton Park Neighbourhood PACT meeting was last held in April with the next meeting is on 29th July 2010 at Swaythling Neighbourhood Centre starting at 7.30pm.

Meetings are organised and chaired by officers from your Safer Neighbourhood Team and involve people who form part of a Key Individual Network (KIN). A KIN is a key person from the community with good contacts within that community.

People currently involved include your local Councillors, representatives from local resident associations , neighbourhood groups, local housing associations, care homes, housing societies, school head teachers, Police, Southampton City Council and Southampton University amongst others.

PACT meetings are a formal way to identify areas of concerns of the local community, local issues are discussed and from here we set your community priorities for the next 3 months.

Your Safer Neighbourhood Team will then set action plans to tackle the issues and use multi agency strategies to collectively address the priority with an aim to achieve the objective and resolve the problem. If you feel you would like to get involved in this process and assist with your local community issues, then please contact us and we can will advise you on how to become involved in the meetings.

This is your opportunity to have a say on the priorities for your neighbourhood. If you are interested in this please send us your e-mail to: portswood.snt@hampshire.pnn.police.uk

Come and tell us what is important to you in your neighbourhood, and play your part in setting local priorities.  

You could also volunteer to help the teams working in your local area and make a real difference to your neighbourhood.  Click here for more information about police support volunteers.

  How to contact us

Highfield Safer Neighbourhood team would like to hear about any concerns or issues affecting their community. If you would like to speak to someone about policing in your local area, please call 101 or email portswood.snt@hampshire.pnn.police.uk

Your local officers: (Hover your mouse over each picture to see who's who.)