WILTSHIRE Police have launched a campaign to help reduce the demand on local policing teams as we enter the busy summer period.

The Summer Demand campaign, which will be run primarily on social media, aims to continue the conversation with our communities about how they can best help us over the summer months.

The campaign will run through July, August and September and will focus on a number of issues including domestic abuse, drink driving, theft, anti-social behaviour and crime prevention.

Community Policing Team Wiltshire Hub Superintendent Chris Chammings said: “The summer months, in particular, the school summer holidays, are always some of the busiest in our year.

“We want to ensure the public understand how they can help us reduce this demand and when they should call us on 101 or 999, and when they should be contacting our partner agencies.

“We will be using the campaign as an opportunity to signpost people to the relevant agencies and organisations, as well as highlighting some of the issues that take up most of our time.”

Community Policing Team Swindon Hub Superintendent Adrian Burt added: “As part of the campaign, we’ll be telling the public more about their community policing teams and the demands they are facing on a daily basis, as well as ways the public can help them.

“For example, during the school summer holidays, we often see an increase in anti-social behaviour amongst young people so we will be engaging with schools and parents to try and reduce calls of this nature into our control room.

“It is vital that we continue to provide an excellent service to the public but we need their help, as well as the help of partner agencies, to try and assist with the ever increasing demands placed on us.

“Public safety is our main priority and we hope that this campaign not only gives an insight into the demands on modern day policing, but also helps to better inform our communities about staying safe this summer, and effectively reporting issues in their communities.”

You can join in the conversation using #SummerDemand on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information on your local policing team, visit https://www.wiltshire.police.uk/YourArea

For further information about crime reporting, visit www.wiltshire.police.uk