Hartlepool will get share of 170 new police officers being appointed by Cleveland Police

Hartlepool police station. Some of the new Cleveland Police officers will be heading to the town.

Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Barry Coppinger told the Safer Hartlepool Partnership as part of his plan for 2019/20 he wanted to see a return to more community policing.

He added in total Cleveland Police are expected to recruit 170 new officers this year, many of who will focus on neighbourhood policing split across the force area, including in Hartlepool.

Hartlepool Borough Council leader Coun Shane Moore stressed the importance of neighbourhood policing in the town in providing community intelligence.

He said: “I think for me it was sad when we moved away from the neighbourhood policing model because you inevitably lose the community intelligence, which is key.

“As soon as you lose that it takes an awful lot of time to build that trust and that relationship back up.

“The quicker we can get PCSOs or police officers back out on the streets engaging with those neighbourhoods the quicker they’ll be able to build up those relationships.”

Mr Coppinger said he is very supportive of more resources being put into neighbourhood policing and a consultation is to be launched to learn more about what the public wants to look like.

He said: “The chief constable is currently reviewing the structures within the force and there is a commitment, which I am very supportive of, to put more effort and more resources into neighbourhood policing.

“There’s going to be a consultation process with regards to what do you want neighbourhood policing to look like.

“There’ll certainly be more resources going into neighbourhood policing, there’s a plan to recruit 100 officers during this year, and there’s been a recent announcement we’re now going to get an extra 70 odd officers.

“We’ll grab that with both hands because we’re 500 police officers down and 50 PCSOs down as a result of the cuts we’ve had since 2010.

“We will then look to deploy, I would hope as many of those as possible can be deployed into front-line and neighbourhood policing, I would certainly be supportive of that.”

Chief Inspector Nigel Burnell from Cleveland Police said PCSOs have already started getting to work in neighbourhoods in Hartlepool as part of the Community Safety Team but the increased resources would help them ‘continue the momentum’.

Mr Coppinger added the collaborative work in Hartlepool carried out by the Community Safety Team is the ‘best in the Cleveland area’.