Police Problem Solving Teams add real value to communities across county

Cheshire Constabulary’s problem solving teams have added real value to community policing across the county since being introduced last year.

In September 2019 the Constabulary launched its new problem solving approach which included putting together teams across Cheshire to make sure that when solving local problems, they could get to the root cause of the issue.

The teams are a specialist addition to local police officers, and support and advise them on the best way to problem solve the issues that really matter to communities.

Solving problems, rather than simply responding to the symptoms of them, has enabled the Constabulary to make Cheshire even safer.

The teams were established by Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane and Chief Constable Darren Martland to complement the initiative to provide each community with its own police constable (PC) and PCSO in order to extend the Constabulary’s partnership working to tackle emerging issues and crimes more efficiently and effectively.

PCC David Keane said: “It’s incredibly important that Cheshire residents feel like they have a visible police presence in their area with local officers who understand local issues and how to effectively deal with them.

“The feedback the teams have received so far has been overwhelming positive with residents and local businesses feeling more secure in their surroundings. The teams’ work builds on the approach of the dedicated PCs and PCSOs for each policing community by providing officers who have problem solving with partners and communities at their core.

“It is great to see officers working more closely with their local communities, to meet local priorities and effectively problem solve deep rooted issues that really do matter to residents.”

Deputy Chief Constable Julie Cooke said: “It is vital that we put problem solving right at the heart of what we do in Cheshire and the problem solving teams in each local authority area work closely with the community area PCSOs and PCs to identify and tackle the issues that affect local communities. By working with local communities and officers they look to address the “root cause” of issues and not just turn up and simply ‘put a plaster’ on the problem.

“The misery caused by anti-social behaviour blighting a community, the burglary problem in a street, the prolific domestic abuse offender, or the organised crime groups dealing drugs within communities, all need to be addressed with a focus on long term and sustainable solutions – which is exactly why we launched our new problem solving approach last year.”

The problem solving teams focus on trying to reduce the demand on the police and other agencies and to protect vulnerable people, ultimately making Cheshire even safer for residents.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, David Keane, said: “I am delighted to see the positive results the Constabulary’s problem solving approach and the dedicated problem solving teams have had over the last 12 months.

“It is great to see officers working more closely with their local communities, to meet local priorities and effectively problem solve deep rooted issues that really do matter to residents.”

DCC Cooke added: “Problem solving is not easy and quite often these problems do not have a quick fix either. The teams have clear objectives of what they’re trying to achieve, they do the research on what's been happening by looking at data and speaking to residents, they come up with a plan on what they’re going to do and who they’re going to work with and then they go out and tackle that issue.

"And the results they’ve achieved so far have been really positive. They really have made such a positive impact in their communities and have made a lasting difference.”

Here are some highlights from the four areas of Cheshire:

Cheshire West highlights:

Chester and Cheshire West’s problem solving team has spent the last 12 months concentrating their efforts on the issue of rough sleeping in Chester, something that really matters to the community. Throughout the year they built a rapport with those protesting and assisted building owners with the options open to them. During the pandemic, the council housed more than 170 homeless individuals and the team worked closely with them on the ‘No One Left Out’ programme, and more recently on the Multi Agency Rough Sleeping (MARS) Project in a bid to work with the most entrenched rough sleepers in the borough.

The team has also secured a number of Closure Orders to reduce the criminal use of buildings and to reduce Anti Social Behaviour in communities. They have successfully applied for seven Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) and issued more than 20 Community Protection Notice Warnings to combat specific issues.

They have also focussed their efforts on drug dealing and anti social behaviour using vehicles and neighbour disputes - showing the range of issues they are working to solve for their communities.

Cheshire East highlights:

The Cheshire East problem solving team has been influential in designing and providing training to officers and PCSOs across the Constabulary helping to enable local officers to implement long term problem solving in their communities.

The team at Crewe also launched an initiative to target knife crime. A poster competition in the community led to a local 13-year-old having her anti-knife crime poster displayed on a billboard which is estimated to have been seen by up to half a million people. As a result of a number of community knife sweeps and the teams hard work, knife crime has been made a priority for the Safer Cheshire East Partnership which included senior members of the police, education, health and council teams to make the Crewe area a safer place for its residents and visitors.

In Poynton, the team quickly established that on regular occasions, groups of around 150 youths were out in the town during lockdown and at weekends drinking alcohol. The team were able to identify the necessary partners to assist in the area and now officers, along with The Youth Services, are actively patrolling this area building better relationships with the youths.