North Wales Policing Team Update

The latest from Inspector Wesley Williams at North Wales Police.

I can’t believe it has been three months since I started back in north Flintshire as District Inspector.

I am pleased to say I have loved every minute of it so far. I thought I would take a moment to reflect on the work that the team, our partners, the community, and I have been involved with.

When I started, I set out three areas I was keen for us to work on, my thought process being that if we get these principals right, everything else would take care of themselves.

These are:

• ENGAGEMENT
• PROBLEM SOLVING
• TARGETED ACTIVITY 

  Before I go any further, I understand that we don’t always get everything right. Sometimes we need to try different things before we get the right solution. I can assure you that we will always try our best to do the right thing to get the right outcome for those involved. I am in regular contact with councillors, AMs and MPs to ensure we are all working as one team to better improve the support we provide to our communities. The feedback has been excellent so far.

  Some highlights so far include:

  Engagement – our teams are challenging themselves to be visible across the entire district area, with particular focus on hight footfall and isolated areas. This is twofold, firstly to enable us to speak with our communities to understand what is happening and how we can support with local initiatives and secondly, to help us all to be safe.

  Only yesterday, our patrol teams were able to take a stroll from Queensferry, into Garden City and across the coastal footpath. Not only is this good for patrols, but it also helps the teams get a well-deserved break away from the calls for service which can take a lot out of our teams.

  Problem Solving – our teams are investing heavily in community-based problem solving. I am keen for us to get to the root cause of issues, rather than putting plasters on issue. This approach will allow us to work better with partners to enable us all to get into the prevention space.

  To name a few of the pieces of work:

  Through the Safer Streets initiative in Shotton, around 500 addresses have been more secure to reduce the risk of theft, additional CCTV cameras have been installed on the streets and youth engagement and increased visibility has supported us to reduce anti-social behaviour, acquisitive crime, violence against women and girls and the wider community.

  Safer Street is an extensive Government funded programme that sees a determination to make streets even safer.

  Holywell has seen an increase in dedicated patrols. We are seeing an increase in stop searches in the area, with people being brought into custody for crime and anti-social behaviour as we take a zero-tolerance approach against those that are intent on causing misery within our communities. We are seeking longer term investment in the area to ensure our efforts are sustainable and have a long-lasting legacy.

  Flint retail park has also been an area of priority. I have been pleased to hear the positive news stories as our teams are now connecting youths to services. I am also grateful for the great partnership working with the local businesses who are supporting, one of which has offered to support youths with work experience and writing CVs to try to turn people away from anti-social behaviour and into employment.

  Targeted Activity – On Monday morning, our team co-ordinated arrests of three individuals that have been causing issues within our communities. One was arrested and charged with shoplifting offences in the Holywell area, one recalled to prison and another for failing to attend at court for breaching the conditions of a community protection notice (CPN). Several stop searches were carried out across the district.

  We are also making significant in-roads into our response to domestic abuse. Our positive outcomes are improving, which demonstrates our zero-tolerance stance that we are taking to remove those that are causing significant harm to individuals behind closed doors. Our approach is enabling us to safeguard victims and families. We will continue to work with support agencies to make a real difference.

  We had a significant involvement with Operation Crossbow – the joint operation with Cheshire Police, partners and community groups to raise the profile of our teams and to enable us to prioritise community issues.

  More on this here :

• Criminals travelling between North Wales and Cheshire border targeted in Operation Crossbow | North Wales Police

  There have also been several focused initiatives to tackle county lines across the district, including Operation Medusa. Our teams are heavily investing in identifying and protecting vulnerable people that are preyed on by those involved in supplying drugs. Our approach will include our neighbourhood teams proactively visiting those that are being exploited through cocooning. Our visits will include checks of their addresses to ensure they are not being exploited and have support available to safeguard them and to improve their lives.