Hampshire Constabulary: Police and Co Op launch Your Voice Counts boxes in stores across Portsmouth

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Police and Co Op launch Your Voice Counts boxes in stores across Portsmouth

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Published: 20/03/2009

Police in Portsmouth have teamed up with Southern Co Op stores across the city in order to give local communities a new way of raising concerns in order to improve neighbourhoods across the city.

At 10am on Monday, March 23, the first new ‘Your Voice Counts’ post box will be unveiled at the Co Op in Elm Grove, Southsea, so that people can take the opportunity to bring their views directly to their local police officers.

Your Voice Counts is an engagement initiative which is used across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and provides various ways for residents to inform the police of what concerns them about their local area, so that community officers can use this information to focus their work effectively.

Safer Neighbourhoods teams currently use the forms at meetings and community events for people to fill in, listing three priorities they would like to see addressed by the police, which could be anything from rowdy behaviour from youths congregating at night time to vandalism or burglary. These forms have been adapted into an A5 card specifically for use in Co Op stores across Portsmouth.

There are 22 Co Op stores in the city which will each have a stock of cards and a post box in place from Monday. These stores provide an essential service to the thousands of customers who visit the shops every week. By placing a post box in every store it means that each person who shops there is given the chance to take just a few minutes and fill out a card, whereas they may not have had the time or opportunity to do this before.

Police in Portsmouth already work closely with the Co Op ensuring training and crime prevention measures are in place so that together they can help reduce a variety of crimes from underage drinking and anti social behaviour to theft and criminal damage. This new venture is another step towards creating and maintaining neighbourhoods that everyone can appreciate and enjoy.

PC Steve Hawkins, who has led the project for the police, said, “These new boxes are a great way to expand the Your Voice Counts project to many more residents in Portsmouth. We want to be able to target the most prevalent community issues, so by telling us what they are we can do just that, and these cards are an essential part of that process.

“We are really pleased to be able to continue our work with the Co Op stores in this way, as their shops provide a key function for so many people, and so they are an ideal place for us to reach out further into the communities of Portsmouth.”

Gareth Lewis of Southern Co-operatives said, “There was no hesitation on our part in becoming involved in this project with Portsmouth police. We are a community retailer and believe that this method of communication will provide an important link between our customers and the police. Co-operation and communication will be key elements of this project’s success.”

Notes to Editors: Members of the media are welcome to the Co Op store in Elm Grove, Southsea, from 10am on Monday for the launch of the new Your Voice Counts post boxes, where PC Steve Hawkins and Gareth Lewis will be available for photographs and interviews.

Please contact Liz Harding on 02392 891540 to arrange.

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