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Portsmouth Lord Mayor supports police 'Armed Forces and Emergency Services Day'

Press Releases

Published: 13/08/2010


The Charles Dickens East Safer Neighbourhoods team (SNT) held their second annual ‘Armed Forces and Emergency Services Day’ today (Thursday, August 12) for members of the local community.

The event at Arundel Court School, Landport, was completely free and boasted a great variety of services and agencies for the public to interact with.

Guests attending included the Royal Navy, Territorial Army, the police Dog and Firearms units, the Red Cross, and the Portsmouth City Council’s community wardens, along with many others, all of which had some great interaction with the public.

The Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Councillor Paula Riches, made a special visit and got involved in activities and demonstrations, getting into a police van and kindly volunteering to get handcuffed for children to see.

Cllr Riches said: “It’s been absolutely wonderful. Community engagement is so important, and today’s event has been a successful and fun method of doing this.

“It’s good too for young people as well to see what they could do with their futures, to see how they could improve the areas they live in and make the most of their lives.”

The Firearms and Knife Education (FAKE) stall was particularly popular with children and adults alike. A display of confiscated items was shown, and talks were given to eager listeners about the dangers of gun & knife crime and staying safe.

PC Mark Gray from the Charles Dickens East SNT said: “I think today has been fantastic, not just for the police but for all agencies and services who got involved. It’s been a great success for everyone, and those who attended gave us some great feedback.

“For us as an SNT, meeting the community and establishing ourselves as their local police officers is so valuable to what we do. We get great opportunities at events like this to engage with people, give advice and promote community safety. We want to show members of the public that we are approachable, and want to help them not just by fighting crime, but by being there to reassure them, interact with them and listen.

“Our Safer Neighbourhoods team hopes to run more events like this to continue developing our relationships with the areas we serve, and working together with residents to improve their quality of life.”

If you would like to learn more about who your local officers are, you can call 101 and ask for your Safer Neighbourhoods team, or log on to www.hampshire.police.uk and click on ‘your local policing team.’


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