Runnymede’s Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) deals with chronic issues of crime and anti-social behaviour. This includes a wide variety of incidents such as: cuckooing and drug dealing by County Lines drugs gangs; dealing with anti-social behaviour at an address impacting the local community or resolving aggressive begging. Where arrest alone is not the solution, we have a toolbox of powers which can be used to solve issues, such as Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) and Property Closure Orders.
Sergeants manage the work of their team. They carry out a large number of staffing related administrative roles and are also able to go out on patrol in uniform and use their warranted Police powers when necessary.
Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are our primary presence in local communities, this might be in a car, on foot or on a bicycle. Amongst many other things, they engage with the public, gather evidence and intelligence and offer crime prevention advice and reassurance. PCSOs do not have a power of arrest and have very limited and specific powers of search and seizure.
Neighbourhood Specialist Officers (NSO) co-ordinate problem solving work carried out by their team. This might involve gather evidence and intelligence, collating ongoing reports to Police and attending Court to give evidence. Importantly, the NSO has warranted Police powers including arresting, searching and seizing, and stopping vehicles. An essential part of the role of the NSO is to patrol the community, using their additional local knowledge to target identified areas of crime and ASB, stopping vehicles and people, taking details, searching them and dealing with any offences.
A “typical day” for an NSO is a varied day. On an early shift, duty starts at 7am attending a daily briefing with the uniformed Response Team.
Your NSO will then catch up on recent crime and intelligence reports in their area. NSOs will quite often meet with local Council Housing Managers and Environmental Health Officers to discuss noise and anti-social behaviour from local properties which is impacting nearby residents. The NSO will then go out and spend a couple of hours of targeted patrols of crime and ASB hotspots. He will also speak to some local drug users to obtain intelligence about a possible new County Line drugs gang dealing in the area. Visits will take place to local shops which are having issues with groups of abusive teenagers causing problems and stealing after school, CCTV is viewed, and images of the suspects obtained to show to the local schools.
During the afternoon school run, officers patrol areas around the local schools to deter any anti-social behaviour and talk to parents about safe and considerate parking outside the school gates. Checks will be made of properties which currently have Closure Orders in place, making sure the people who were taking advantage of the vulnerable resident have not returned and also offer reassurance to the residents.
Before the end of duty at 5pm, the NSO updates the reports of the day’s activities – submitting intelligence, completing stop and search forms and writing to the parents of the children causing problems at the local shops.