Catching up with the team . . .
It’s been a busy year in the community
The Okehampton Neighbourhood Policing Team has recently undergone a few staff changes and currently consists of a sergeant, two police constables and two police community support officers (PCSOs). A new addition to the team is Sgt Pennie Channing. Pennie is the team leader for Okehampton and Tavistock stations.
The Neighbourhood Policing Team is on Facebook and Twitter to engage with a wider audience. They are using social media to better engage young and old people alike. The team has its own website through which you can email members and also read about the priorities they have set on their patches. It also regularly contributes to a ‘News from the Blues’ column in the local newpaper.
PCSO Lisa Smith has been working in the neighbourhood team for 11 years at Okehampton. PCSO Marcus Jarvis also covers the area and they are accompanied by two neighbourhood beat managers, PC Nathan Walker and PC Nadine Wilson.
The Okehampton policing area is divided into three sections; Okehampton Rural West (Hatherleigh and its surrounding villages), Okehampton Rural East (North Tawton, Chagford and surrounds) and Okehampton town centre.
The neighbourhood team often assists in the investigation of low level crime, providing reassurance and assistance for victims of crime, gathering local intelligence to identify offenders and keeping the public safe, attending safeguarding meetings for vulnerable members of the community, delivering talks to school-aged children on topics such as road safety and many other tasks. They visit vulnerable groups of people in the community to offer advice on crime prevention and various topics relevant to the audience. In summer 2017, PCSO’s Lisa Smith and Marcus Jarvis visited the Okehampton Catholic Women’s group to hold a crime prevention advice session. They were on hand to answer questions from the members of the group regarding keeping safe at home, when out and about, as well as property marking for their valuables in their homes and outbuildings. The session proved to be a valuable lesson for some of the women and they were very grateful to Lisa and Marcus for attending.
The team regularly engages with young people through visits to Okehampton Primary School and Okehampton College as well as youth clubs and also holds talks for local scout, cubs and brownie groups. The PCSOs also stage property marking sessions at the schools when students can bring along their mobile phones and other valuable devices to be security marked and registered.
In September 2017 Lisa Smith, along with PCSO Kevin Williams and PCSO Mark Canvin from Tavistock Police, attended West Devon Borough Council’s annual Junior Life Skills event, which saw its highest ever turnout of students. The learning event, held every year for Year 6 pupils, challenges children in ‘real-life’ scenarios that teach essential safety lessons. Lisa, Kevin and Mark delivered valuable internet safety lessons to 549 children from across West Devon. The action-packed sessions were held at Okehampton’s Parklands Leisure Centre and Tavistock Town Hall. The PCSOs, along with seven other partner agencies, joined with West Devon Borough Council to present ten different scenarios.
The children and their teachers were really receptive to the sessions and enjoyed a great day with the PCSO’s, asking many questions and showing a lot of interest.
PCSO Lisa Smith visited Bridestowe Primary school in November 2017 to talk about road safety to the school children as part of Road Safety week 2017. The children were able to see the police van and Lisa even turned the lights and siren on for them to see and hear!
Okehampton Police would like to wish everyone a happy and safe 2018.