New PSNI Local Policing Teams launched in Newry and Mourne | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

New PSNI Local Policing Teams launched in Newry and Mourne

The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s new-style Local Policing Teams (LPTs) went live in Newry, Mourne and Down District, on Monday, 28th September, as part of a phased plan.

psni50Superintendent Simon Walls, PSNI District Commander for Newry, Mourne and Down District explained, “Communities in Newry, Mourne and Down District will have LPTs, based in Newry, Newtownhamilton, Crossmaglen and Downpatrick police stations, providing 24 hour cover to continue keeping local people safe right across the District.

“These officers will be supported by three Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs), based in Newry, Kilkeel and Newcastle Police Stations. Their teams will be mobile and deployed to areas to deal with critical issues.

“Jointly their focus will remain on protecting people, preventing crime and detecting offenders through Policing with the Community.”

ACC Stephen Martin, who is responsible for District Policing, said, “April 1st marked the beginning of the biggest transformation that policing in Northern Ireland has faced in recent years as a result of aligning with new Council structures combined with significant budget pressures when we moved from 7 Policing Districts to 11.

“As part of this restructure, we looked at ways the PSNI could continue to deliver on its priority of keeping people safe in the face of ongoing budget cuts and decreasing resources.

“As a result we developed a new model of policing to use our resources in the most efficient and effective way possible and decided to move away from the current mix of Response and Neighbourhood policing,” he continued.

“Over recent months we have been working hard to establish Local Policing Teams (LPTs) and Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) in every District by October 1st. In order to meet this commitment we have begun a phased roll-out, which started in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon District on August 24th.

“By October 1st there will be 26 LPTs across Northern Ireland working alongside locally based detectives. These teams will respond to calls, conduct investigations, and deal with community problems.

ACC Stephen Martin added, “They will provide advice and reassurance and spend time learning about what most affects communities in order to work with them to improve safety and quality of life. Individual officers will have geographic ownership of a particular area and will be expected to develop an in-depth local knowledge of that area and engage with civic leaders, clergy and local community groups to understand the needs of that community and how best to keep people safe.”

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=52831

Posted by on Oct 2 2015. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Leave a Reply







Find us on Facebook

Log in | Designed by Gabfire themes