Rural policing move to combat crime in West Fermanagh

Editorial Department Catriona Loughran - 1503 • Published 20 Aug 2009 09:00 0 Comments

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It's clear Fermanagh PSNI is wasting no time in moving ahead with plans to deliver "effective" on-the-ground policing without stations following the relaunch this week of Fermanagh West Neighbourhood Policing Team.

Fermanagh West Councillors along with members of the local press were invited to meet with the realigned six-officer team at the Lough Erne Golf Resort on Tuesday.

The team is led by Sergeant Stephen Fletcher, who for many years, has served the Fermanagh West community building up a solid reputation with local people along the way.

Assisting him will be Constables Derek Abbott, Kenny Hutchison, David Beattie and Neil Smyton who will work across the vast rural area in teams of two along with two security PSNI officers.

Fermanagh West is considered to be the biggest ward in the Fermanagh police estate spanning a 50-mile land mass below Lower Lough Erne stretching all the way from Belcoo to Belleek.

Previously, the team has juggled neighbourhood policing duties with response duties which meant officers spent most of their time dealing with road traffic accidents and other incidents.

From now on, the team will focus primarily on neighbourhood issues such as burglaries, anti-social behaviour and vandalism as well as maintaining existing relationships with the local community.

Sergeant Fletcher said it's mainly about the community working with the police and finding a common way forward together.

"Our priorities are slightly different than before. My team will be assigned to certain areas and will meet with community groups regularly to assess what the problems are because different villages have different problems so it's about working together with individual communities to see how we can solve them," he said.

Given the ongoing dissident republican threat, the team like other Neighbourhood Policing Teams are aware of the security risks involved in having visible, accessible and well-known officers operating daily in local communities.

"We have to be careful," said Fermanagh Area Commander and Community Safety Inspector Graham Dodds.

"There is a threat there obviously and we have security measures in place. The majority of our services will have officers in yellow coats and what we have to do is build some security measures around that. But we want to get away from that and provide high visibility policing on the ground without that risk. The greatest security measure though is to provide good local policing to the public so that they can provide us in return with information that can help us put these dissident criminals away."

"It's a border area so the security issue is always in the back of our mind but we will be checking things out regularly and working with other NPTs to ensure the safety of officers in the area," said Sergeant Fletcher.

As Fermanagh West is considered to be the biggest ward in the Fermanagh Police District geographically, Area Commander Dodds said boundaries are another focus in which officers want to consult with the public.

"Before, people were simply told what their boundaries were around the station area and that was it. Now with the station redevelopment and stations being closed we want to consult the community to see what your boundary for community policing be, where is your focus? Is it your parish? Is it your townland? Is it your village? How do you want local boundaries be drawn? We have to achieve what best suits them."

This latest move by Fermanagh PSNI could be an indication of their determination in bringing forward a new chapter of on-the ground community policing to Fermanagh in light of station closures.

In an interview with the Impartial Reporter last week, Chief Superintendent Skuce said money saved from selling the stations will be put into ensuring there is a greater police presence "on the ground" in Fermanagh.

"What we are looking to do is provide the best local service on the ground, getting officers out in the community where the public can see them. Nowadays people are coming into the stations less and less, they are phoning us, they're emailing us, they're ringing NPT sergeants on their mobiles. A lot of the times the stations were closed because we were out on the ground which meant that when we were inside doing paperwork we weren't on the ground when they needed us, so I think the public need to be assured that station closures are not going to effect public service," said Area Commander Dodds.

He said Fermanagh people have been vocal in the past about what they want and his team are prepared to listen. "Good neighbourhood policing is about being out everyday of the week so the team are trying to consult with as many people out on the beat as they can. Fermanagh people are very good at coming up with good honest opinions. The feedback in the past was done as a consultation exercise but we want to change this, we want continual dialogue with the public."

Sector Inspector Roy Robinson will also be working closely with Fermanagh West Neighbourhood Policing Team and all teams in the county and mentioned one crime in particular that has increased in the area.

"The west is a place close to my heart as I am from there and we need to work with the public to provide the best services they need. In terms of the biggest problem in Fermanagh West at the minute is the theft of farm machinery and theft of small mini diggers, the sort of farm machinery you can drive away with. We would appeal to all people not to leave machinery unattended," he said.

Speaking at the relaunch UUP Councillor for Erne West Alec Baird said "I look forward to the launch of Fermanagh West Neighbourhood Policing Team and I will judge their actions as they go on. I have said in the past that whenever stations were closing I was concerned that each personnel were promised to stay in the area at that time there were four sergeants and 16 constables and now we have one sergeant and four constables but again, I will make the judgement as I see the team working."

The neighbourhood policing framework is based on 25 recommendations with F District bring the first District in the PSNI to have a Community Engagement Strategy set up, to reflect the diversity of all the communities and groups across the District.

The first relaunch of Fermanagh Neighbourhood Policing Teams took place last year in North Fermanagh (Irvinestown, Ballinamallard, Kesh) and was led by Sergeant Scott Fallis with Fermanagh South's Neighbourhood Policing Team (Brookeborough, Maguiresbridge, Rosslea, Newtownbutler) relaunched since July 27.

Next will be Enniskillen's Neighbourhood Policing Team, led by Sergeant Keith Hicks, which will be officially relaunched at Enniskillen PSNI station on September 4.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 20 Aug 09

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