Thornhill Community Police Project

The ‘Thornhill Plus You' (formerly New Deal for the Community) funded Thornhill Community Police Project came on line in January 2004 with a dedicated team of 9 officers working for the local people in Thornhill.

The Thornhill Police Project, with its increased number of officers, came about at the personal request of the Thornhill residents. Thornhill Plus You backing and the commitment of Hampshire Constabulary has made this possible.

The Community Police Team are supported with Thornhill Plus You funding to provide a Community Police Office with extra officers that is located on Thornhill estate itself. The team are PC Dale Dauglas - the longest serving team member for Thornhill, PC Dave Jackson, PC Derek Hearn, PC Kate Frend, PC Rob Munro, PC Mark Brown and PC Wendy Smith. Debbie Harris is our enquiry officer at the Police office.

The Thornhill Community Police Office has been open to the Community since March 2004. The Office is Thornhill Plus You funded and is exceptional because it is the only Community Police facility of its kind in Hampshire. The office currently receives over 160 public visitors per month and provides a unique service to the local people. Rather than having to travel to a Police Station several miles away the Thornhill Community are able to refer their complaints and concerns a walking distance away at their own Police Office.

The Police Office is based within the Southampton City Council Housing Office building at Tatwin Crescent and is served by civilian Enquiry Officer, Debbie Harris. Their office opening times are Mon-Fri between 9am & 5pm . Working from the Community Police Office has helped in forging a close working relationship with our council partners, including the Neighbourhood Wardens, Tidy Team and Council staff, which means providing the means to jointly deal with local issues and problems.

Through the Crime Working Group the Thornhill community are able to voice their concerns and perceived fears to focus the dedicated Police team on issues that they consider a priority. Since its conception, the Thornhill Police Team have been focused dealing with local crime, drug misuse, anti social behaviour and community issues in general such as youth nuisance. We have executed a number of search warrants targeting drug dealers that has produced positive results with several offenders charged and brought before the court.

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Anti Social Behaviour has long been identified as a priority concern for the people of Thornhill. This is defined as being, “any behaviour by a person which causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more other persons not of the same household as the person effecting the behaviour.” This can include nuisance behaviour such as:

•  playing football directly outside of someone's home, causing noise with the ball and shouting

•  large groups congregating in areas that local people need to use such as shopping precincts, play parks, open areas, communal residential spaces – this can be intimidating & disturbing to families, older members of the community or any other person put off or whose quality of life is affected,

•  littering or fly tipping,

•  behaving in a threatening or insulting manner including the use of obscene or abusive language,

•  causing damage to public areas including graffiti,

•  public drunkenness,

•  Skateboarders causing excessive noise,

•  Motor vehicle nuisance such as scooter riders, joy riders racing up and down on and off road.

The Police Team are using the powers provided under the Crime & Disorder and the Anti-Social Behaviour Acts as a tool against anti social behaviour to make Thornhill a better place to live.

In pursuance of the youth nuisance at Hinkler Parade shops the Thornhill Police Team have obtained a S.30 Dispersal Authority for Hinkler Parade. We are continuing to apply this authority with dogmatic determination to eradicate youth problems associated with the Parade. Following on from the successes at Hinkler Parade, police attention has been focused upon the shop parade at Warburton Road to deal with a rise in similar anti-social behaviour. A dispersal authority took effect from 24th January 2006 and the police team will be continuing a zero tolerance attitude to tackling complaints of this nature. If you have been subjected to or know of someone that has suffered intimidation, harassment, alarm or distress from acts of Anti social behaviour then call us or let us know. All the information that you give us goes to recording incidents that enables us to direct resources to the problem.

The estate of Thornhill has been subjected to a number of vehicle crimes that have included theft of motor vehicles and theft from motor vehicles involving damage and forced entry to steal personal belongings. The Police understand feelings of public apathy arising from their frustration of the repeated incidents that the area has been victim to. We have responded to these reports and with public support have achieved a number of arrests. We strongly urge and encourage all victims of crime to report all incidents and suspicious activity to the Police. If we are unaware of a problem then we cannot react to it. We are reliant upon the public reporting such matters as it is from this that we are able to identify crime ‘Hotspots' and to direct City Safety Team and Police patrols to these trouble spots.

Avoid leaving personal possessions and items of value on view within your vehicles. Wherever possible place them out of sight to remove them from temptation. Always park your vehicle in a well lit area. Avoid leaving your vehicle in secluded, out of the way sites where attackers have time and opportunity to break in without risk of being disturbed. Every step that you take reduces the risk of being the next target. Remember to lock your vehicle and make use of a car alarm/immobiliser device.

In 2006 the Thornhill Police team are looking to continue the good relationships already established with its agency partners and the people of Thornhill. Our aim is to reduce crime and disorder to make Thornhill a better place to live and work.

The Police team is conscious that in order to be successful, the work they do is reliant upon the support and co-operation of its community.