Hartlepool Police praised for 'kicking down doors' in drugs crackdown

It came as the latest Safer Hartlepool Partnership meeting was provided with an update on the work of the integrated community safety team.

Speaking at the meeting, Rossmere resident Peter Joyce praised the work of police in Hartlepool, adding improvements have been made in recent years.

He said: “I’d just like to commend the police for the actions they’ve been taking on drug taking and the drug paraphernalia.

“People have noticed the difference that police have been doing all this work, kicking down doors, etc, and people do appreciate it.

“Whereas before the circle was broken, there was no communication between residents and police, because there was no faith in police, now they can see that changing, you’ll get more response.”

Hartlepool Neighbourhoods Chief Inspector Mark Haworth said they have been carrying out “proactive patrols” and continuing intelligence building in the town to help tackle problem issues.

Chief Inspector Haworth said they have been taking key steps to work with residents and encourage intelligence building.

He said: “What’s very key is the proactive patrols which come from our community safety team as well.

“We’re using resources and placing them where we need to be and that gives us our intelligence back, and it’s going out there and using the resources, so with the house closures, I really appreciate that.”

He added they have been carrying out drop-in sessions with residents as part of a “joint spearhead approach” within the Hartlepool community safety team.

He continued: “That’s where we’re now starting to see the gap being filled with communication.”

Mr Joyce did raise concerns with the 101 incident reporting service, however, noting while it has improved, “people are still not sure if they’re going to get through.”

Chief Inspector Haworth responded stating they are working hard improving the service and urged residents to continue reporting incidents.

He said: “The service is improving, there’s a lot of work by the chief and the crime commissioners office going into the force and changes with the control room and some really good dedicated staff in there.

“So we should be hoping to see some changes with that.”