Friday Good morning from Southport Police Station

Good morning from Southport Police Station. Firstly today, let’s address some of the comments that were made yesterday, in response to some of our posts.

This weeks National Neighbourhood Policing Week is not “one week of police presence”. This is a national campaign to highlight the work that Neighbourhood Policing Teams do 7 days a week, 365 days a year, but that we don’t post about every day on social media.

Neighbourhood Officers patrol the Southport and Formby area on foot, cycle and mobile patrol every day, as do Neighbourhood Police Officers and PCSO’s across the country. The work we get involved with varies daily but patrolling local areas and addressing local issues is at the heart of Neighbourhood Policing.

Yesterday began with one of our PCSO’s assisting with traffic management on Cambridge Road, due to a broken down vehicle blocking a busy junction. With assistance from other Neighbourhood Officers the vehicle was managed to get moved before a recovery vehicle arrived.

Neighbourhood Police Officers conducted a plain clothes operation in Southport, alongside Operation: Pelican officers. Whilst high visibility is a core function for Neighbourhood Teams, working in plain clothes for key operations does often produce good results. Yesterday was quiet, with just one stop and one male stopped for possession of cannabis, resulted by means of a Community Resolution. No need to arrest and clog up custody. Some intelligence reports were generated from the operation, which will guide future work.

PCSO’s began to trial an initiative that aims to reduce car crime in an area where 9 cars were stolen in the three months prior to the Christmas period. This a crime prevention plan that we will review at the end of March to see if it has reduced the figures. So if you were visited today or received a letter about car crime yesterday in Southport, we strongly recommend that you follow the advice to reduce the risk to your vehicle.

In response to recent incidents of anti-social behaviour and youth violence around the seafront and Ocean Plaza area, Neighbourhood Police Officers patrolled the area and conducted open land searches in the area. Town centre dedicated officers are in contact with partner agencies in the area to continue to address these issues of anti-social behaviour.

Whilst on patrol in Formby a member of the public has informed Neighbourhood PCSO’s that an elderly resident appeared lost in Formby on Wednesday night. The member of public took the elderly resident home. The PCSO’s have followed up and attended the address to check on concerns for safety and have found that the elderly resident is suffering from dementia and has started to get lost on outings. Family have been contacted and made aware of incident on Wednesday.

The Herbert Protocol is a system in place to help families with family members who may be affected by dementia. Carers, family or friends of a vulnerable person, or the person themselves, can fill in a Herbert Protocol form in advance, containing information to help the police if the person goes missing. You can find more information on the Herbert Protocol on the Merseyside Police web page.

Partner agency Light For Life contacted the North Sefton Neighbourhood Team to express concern for two members of the public that appear to be sleeping rough in wooded area of Hightown. While on foot patrol in the area neighbourhood PCSO’s have found the location and a tent was set up however no person in the location to speak to. At a second location a man was found and support has been offered.

Light For Life can be contacted Monday to Friday 10:00am – 4:00pm at: The Hub, 68 Eastbank Street. Tel 01704 501256 or by e mail at [email protected]

A further edit to this post may be added later, once more detail come through from the team on the late shift yesterday

This morning two of our PCSO’s have had to go straight out to take over managing a crime scene from Response and Resolution Officers who have held the scene overnight, while some of our Police Officers are working with neighbouring officers from Lancashire County again.
More tomorrow.