Rural community voice

Neighbourhood Beat Manager Huw Thomas of South Wales Police wanted to give his rural communities a say on local policing so he conducted a survey across his beat, in which 194 people took part.

The research supports his regular PACT engagement events
and was all about giving more people a voice on their police.

Among the community priorities in rural Fairwater was that 37% of respondents wanted the police to deal with vehicle-speeding issues and a further 36% wanted antisocial behaviour tackled.

PC Huw also asked about patrol preferences and 84% of respondents wanted him to walk the beat. As for police
engagement, 31% of respondents wanted youth engagement
to be the focus.

With the data compiled, along with regular updates from PACT meetings, PC Huw has been putting the findings into action. He has carried out a reassurance operation around antisocial behaviour, called Matrix, taken to the streets on foot patrol, and started up a youth club.

He has also taken to the rural roads on his police cycle,
giving the community lots of different ways to see and talk
to him, and he will be trained in using a hand-held vehiclespeed
meter.

PC Huw, pictured with Student Officer Darren Thomas on rural
patrol, said: “I wanted to find out what the wider community wanted from their local police and the survey has provided some interesting results that vary from those brought up at PACT.

“Local policing relies on community support and communication
and the response to the survey has been very good. The findings have been shared with our local partners and will help focus resources on tackling those issues of most importance to our communities.

“It’s a good example of partnership working across a wide rural area. I’m always looking for new ways to cover such a wide geographic area, and the findings will help shape my patrol strategy.”

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