Good afternoon from Southport Police Station

Good afternoon from Southport Police Station; Home of the North Sefton Neighbourhood Policing team. Here is an update on some of the work that Neighbourhood Police Officers and PCSO’s did in Southport and Formby yesterday, Friday 27th January.

Friday’s day shift began with two of our PCSO’s from Team 1 taking over management of a crime scene of a stabbing incident, that had been held overnight by Response and Resolution officers, who had attended the 999 call. The PCSO’s attended to retain the integrity of the crime scene and remained there managing the scene until Crime Scene Investigators (CSI) and CID had completed their investigation of the scene.

 Management of crime scenes can be resource intensive and therefore can impact on the availability of officers for other incidents, but it’s important work and by utilising PCSO’s to manage crime scenes, it frees Constables up to remain available to respond to other incidents.

While the crime scene was on, Neighbourhood Police Officers made arrest attempts for a man that was wanted and also seized some weapons, from a separate address.

Neighbourhood Police Officers from Team 2 were today joined by the Human Trafficking Department to act on information provided by a member of the public with concerns of immigration issues in the area. Thankfully the premises visited were checked correct with no issues at all. This is another example of our One Team approach within Merseyside and an issue that local residents may not expect their Neighbourhood Policing Team to get involved with. Obtaining information and developing this into intelligence to be acted upon is very much part of Neighbourhood Policing. We act as the eyes and ears of Merseyside Police in local communities, so if something doesn’t seem right to you, make sure you pass this on to your local officer when you see them, or come to one of our Police Surgeries to speak to us. By engaging with our Communities and gathering information, multiple departments and agencies come together to tackle the problem raised.

Two outstanding wanted people were arrested. A woman who was wanted for theft from a shop in Churchtown was arrested by Operation: Pelican Officers and a man who was wanted on a warrant was arrested by Neighbourhood Police Officers.

Officers from Teams 2 and 3 took our Police carrier vehicle to Linaker Street Primary School for a meet and greet with the children, were they had a chance to see inside the vehicle and got a demonstration of how handcuffs are applied, as well as an opportunity to try on some police uniform. Marshside Primary school was visited to finalise plans for Internet Safety Day, next Tuesday and an Officer attended a meeting with partner agencies over the current ant-social behaviour issues around the seafront area. In Ainsdale our dedicated Ainsdale Neighbourhood Police Officer met up with one of the Ainsdale local Councillors.

PCSO’s ran a bike registration events at Everlast gym on Tulketh Street. This was the first of a series of these events that will take place over the coming weeks. Other events will be at weekends. We need to ensure we have staffing to run them. So watch this space for details. Of note yesterday was that only one person had a decent quality lock to secure their bike. Others were advised that cheap cable locks just will not keep your bike safe.

Whist two PCSO’s were registering bikes, other Neighbourhood Officers were assisting Response and Resolution Officers in searching for a high-risk missing female around the seafront area. The lady was spotted a distance out to sea on the beach and was brought back off the beach by Southport Lifeboat volunteers, using their quad bikes. Southport Lifeboat operate a highly valuable and specialised service to cover the beach and marshes of Southport. Their detailed knowledge of the sands is invaluable in assisting the other emergency services in situations such as these.

Later on, we assisted with road closures for the Chinese New Year celebrations in the town centre.
This is a snapshot of some of the work that we got involved with yesterday. There was more, but for operational reasons there are something that we can’t disclose.

Just two more detailed updates for this Neighbourhood Policing Week campaign. We hoe this is giving you a greater insight into the sort of work your neighbourhood officers do on a daily basis from Southport Police Station.