Eight new police officers will interact across neighbourhoods and communities in Thurrock
A NAME change and the introduction of eight new police officers into Thurrock has prompted borough police commander Chief Inspector Tony Atkin to deliver an upbeat message to residents.
Teams of locally-based officers, previously named Community Policing Teams, are now called Neighbourhood teams and, across Essex, a total of 74 additional officer roles have been announced in response to the Government's Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.
Thurrock has been designated to receive eight of the officers and CI Atkin, who will join the Chief Constable of Essex and the county's Police and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst for a tour of Grays town centre later this week to mark the initiative, said: "People have told us they want to see more officers on our streets and that visible policing is important to them.
"We understand and I'm delighted that, with the uplift of numbers into Thurrock Neighbourhood Policing Team, we will seek to deliver this. It means we can be more proactive, working with partner agencies to deal with the issues that matter most in our neighbourhoods."
Critics of the police scheme have suggested it is merely a political 'smoke and mirrors' operation, with seven officers retiring from the borough division in recent times who have not been directly replaced – while cost-cutting across the county has seen significant reductions in the number of Police Community Support Officers.
Support officers for the region's Neighbourhood Watch programmes have also been cut.
However, CI Atkin remains upbeat, adding: "Residents will see new police officers on the streets of Grays, South Ockendon, Stanford-le-Hope, Tilbury and across the wider district.
"They'll be joining the rest of the established team to continue reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, carrying out pro-active operations and targeting repeat offenders and those who exploit vulnerable people.
"The types of crimes our neighbourhood policing teams investigate include some robberies and sexual offences, vehicle crime, shop theft, business burglaries and dangerous dog incidents.
"We'll continue listening to and talking with our town centre shops, local businesses and community groups but we also want to hear from you.
"You tell us that nuisance vehicles, on and off road, is your top local concern and we continue to deal with this, using the tactical options available to us.
"In the Thurrock district, anti-social behaviour has more than halved since 2019 pre-Covid and reports of crime have also reduced, by nine per cent, at the same time.
"And work to reduce burglaries and vehicle offences has shown reductions of 40.1% and 18.1% respectively in the past six years, too.
"But we know we have more to do, and we won't drop our focus. One victim is one too many.
"So, my pledge to you is that my neighbourhood policing officers will continue to be visible in our communities while investigating crime, getting justice for victims and working on solutions to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour across Thurrock still further."
Ahead of his visit to Thurrock on Wednesday, (4 June) Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington said: "We value our neighbourhoods which is why we're increasing local presence to increase visibility and reduce crime even further."
"More than 90 percent of people in Essex tell us that they think a regular uniformed presence in their area is important and we're listening to that feedback.
"But these officers won't just be visible in your neighbourhoods – they'll be preventing and investigating crime, getting justice for victims, and working with partners to resolve issues that matter to you.
"This adds to our commitment to keep our cops visible in the communities they serve."
CC Harrington added that crime continues to fall in Essex and Neighbourhood Policing Teams are playing an important role in that: "We've had nearly 10,000 fewer crimes reported in the last year and more than 22,000 fewer than five years ago, while anti-social behaviour is down about 65 percent on five years ago and continues to drop. We're also solving more crime than this time last year.
"Our neighbourhood teams work with our partners to prevent crime happening in the first place and provide solutions to issues in local areas.
"In the last year, officers who make up these teams made around 2,500 arrests and secured more than 2,000 charges. That's nearly 10 percent of all arrests made and about 15 percent of all charges.
"They're making a real difference to their communities, making you safer, and getting justice.
"And we've done this against a backdrop of years of unfair funding from central Government. Just imagine what we can achieve if Essex Police had a fair deal when it comes to funding. It can't be right that the eighth biggest police force has the third lowest level of funding per head of population."
CC Harrington was speaking just days after he criticised the government for the decrease in police funding across the county.
He said: "Essex Police remains unfairly funded in comparison with other forces and parts of the country. We are the third lowest funded force but still manage to put more officers responding, preventing, and investigating crime per pound of funding than any other.
"We've made £20 million in savings in the last two years and the force's finances will be an ongoing challenge in 2025."
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