Increasing confidence by working with volunteers, faith communities and third sector groups

What?

Neighbourhood policing is all about putting communities and their needs, issues and priorities – at the heart of local policing.

Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) are now embedded in all parts of England and Wales. This means that your local area will be served by a dedicated team of officers, which will be made up of at least one sergeant, a number of police constables, police community support officers, volunteers and partner agencies.

NPTs have quickly established themselves as the ‘face of policing’ across the country. They are the officers that you and your community can turn to, to report local crime and disorder, highlight the issues you’d like them to prioritise and to review progress on crime and community related issues.

NPTs engage with all sectors of the community and build strong relationships with many individuals and community groups. They are always keen to continue
expanding their contacts and to work more closely with the public and wider faith based groups.

Why?

Volunteers, faith communities and third sector groups are key contacts within communities.

Volunteers provide local solutions to local problems and work alongside statutory services such as the police to make a real difference to their communities. Similarly, people with a faith often want to help their communities to provide local services and support activities, usually in a voluntary capacity. Third sector groups often have the local expertise to improve their local areas and provide a dedicated resource within communities.

NPTs are keen to tap into the rich community resources provided by volunteers, faith communities and third sector groups.

By bringing volunteers, faith groups and third sector groups closer to neighbourhood policing teams we hope to support information and knowledge exchange and to tap into the wide and varied activities already underway in all of our communities.

There are already many examples where NPTs are working alongside volunteers, faith communities and third sector groups effectively to tackle crime and disorder in our communities. We would like to harness this work and to share these activities with other neighbourhood teams.

Access – to policing and community safety services through a named point of contact
Influence – over community safety priorities in their neighbourhood
Interventions – joint action with communities and partners to solve problems
Answers – sustainable solutions to problems and feedback on results

How?

The NPIA’s Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme is currently looking at the work police forces are doing in conjunction with volunteers, faith communities and third sector groups across the country. It aims to produce some guidance for NPTs to give them ideas of activities they can undertake to further engage with them.

National scoping workshops are taking place during August and September 2009 with forces. We would welcome any feedback on this initiative and any good examples of where local police teams are working well with volunteers, faith communities and third sector groups.

Who?

The National policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) is a policing organisation that provides a central resource to the police service, working for ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers), APA (Association of Police Authorities) and the Home Office to improve the delivery of Policing. The NPIA, through the Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme (CFNPP), will support ACPO and forces in embedding the Policing Pledge in their service delivery.

For more information contact Mark Roe
Tel: 0207 147 8014
Email: mark.roe2@npia.pnn.police.uk

To download the Volunteer Street Patrols briefing click here