‘Officers still feel a sense of connection with communities’

7 February 2023

Neighbourhood policing still has a vital role to play in 2023 despite an ever-changing social and landscape and the challenges faced by officers, according to Hertfordshire Police Federation member Craig Butler.

Craig, the Watford central ward sergeant, runs a team of seven PCs and three PCSOs which covers the shopping centre, high street, the county’s largest night-time economy, a couple of outlying retail parks and around 1,000 residential homes.

He said: “Our main challenges are shoplifting, drugs, youth ASB and violence against women and girls.

“We are policing a busy town centre so it’s shoplifting and anti-social behaviour galore and in that respect there will never be enough of us when it comes to officer numbers.”

Craig said the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and long periods of lockdown on people’s behaviour and attitudes was still being felt today.

“It is amazing how locking teenagers in their houses for a couple of years has made them forget how to act around each other and how the dynamics of a community has changed as a result,” he said.

But he stressed that a neighbourhood policing model was still relevant despite the big societal changes of recent years.

Craig, who has been with the Force for 17 years, said: “Our officers definitely still feel that sense of connection with our communities.

“I am not only dealing with the people I used to deal with 10 years ago but also their kids and in some cases their grandkids.

“They still know me and I still know them and people are more happy to talk to you if there is that relationship so being out on the street and being out on the beat is only going to help.

“Members of the public love seeing us out and about but community policing for me is all about the relationships, not just with the public but with our partners and how we can work together to create safer neighbourhoods.”

Craig said a good example of this approach to policing was the successful collaboration with Watford’s Pryzm nightclub which attracts customers from all over Hertfordshire but also visitors from London.

The strong relationships Craig helped forge between the club and the police led to the creation of a jointly funded safe area for revellers to to take time out if they began to feel unwell or unsafe or became too intoxicated to make their way home.

The partnership between the club, the police and the local authority and Watford Business Improvement District (BID) secured financing for a paramedic and water within the safe area.

“On a busy Saturday night this takes the pressure off the police a little bit because we know these people who might otherwise be vulnerable are in a safe space.

“We helped implement it and have now been able to hand it over to the club but they know they always have that point of contact with the police.

“It’s a shining example of what we can achieve when we work closely with other partners.”

Hertfordshire Police Federation chair Luke Mitchell said the work of the Force’s 30 SNT sergeants often went under the radar.

He said: “Community policing is a key area of policing. Craig is one of our 30 SNT sergeants who go out and problem solve each day but the work they do often goes unnoticed.

“It gives me great pleasure to hear all the valued work they do. We’re lucky to have committed, hard working staff like Craig leading our teams.”

Craig was speaking after the College of Policing ran a series of events as part of  its Neighbourhood Policing Week of Action which was held to celebrate the achievements of neighbourhood policing and provide opportunities and support for officers and staff.

The vital work that neighbourhood officers, PCSOs and volunteers do to protect the public and keep people safe were highlighted throughout the week which focused on the four key themes of early intervention, problem-solving policing, improving trust and confidence through neighbourhood policing and officer wellbeing.