Lancashire Police: crime falls across the county and more officers expected on the streets and roads next year

Lancashire Constabulary’s Deputy Chief Constable, Sacha Hatchett, has pledged that the force will prevent and fight crime, keep communities safe and put victims at the heart of everything they do, as she spoke to the Post about the constabulary’s performance over the last 12 months and looked forward to some significant changes in the next six.

What is the Deputy Chief Constable most proud of in the past 12 months?

DCC Hatchett said: “First and foremost, the fact that we've had 4000 fewer victims of crime this year. That is something to celebrate, especially set against a backdrop of a lot of forces seeing increases in crime, and we're working really hard to achieve that.

“We've got one of the strongest outcomes for crime in the region, that means prosecutions for offenders in Lancashire, but I cannot emphasise the reduction in crimes enough, we’ve seen a reduction of 18% in terms of our robberies, 20% in terms of anti-social behaviour, and a fall in road casualties of 8.5%”

As part of this, DCC Hatchett cited the launch of Operation Warrior, focused on organised crime; and Operation Defender, in which the force visits every victim of residential burglary – this helps prevent burglaries happening in the same area by warning neighbours and allowing them to become “the eyes and ears”.

DCC Hatchett also mentioned the introduction of specialist Rape Investigation Teams, and the continuation of Operation Vanquish, which focuses on intelligence and crime within the community, for example looking at crime patterns, and safeguarding vulnerable people who have been exploited in drug networks.

As part of the government’s ‘Uplift’ programme of investment, Lancashire Police was also expected to gain 508 new police officers within the last four years, but they have exceeded that with more than 600 additional officers.

What will Lancashire Police improve on next year?

DCC Hatchett recognises there are always areas that can be improved, as highlighted by discussions with their officers, and the community via Lancashire Talking.

Over the next six months, Lancashire Police is therefore introducing a new Target Operating Model (TOM), which promises to put the resources – including the funding from the Police and Crime Comissioner, and these 600+ additional police officers – in the right place so the force can effectively respond to call for service, investigate crime and focus on victim needs.

As part of this, the force is promising improved contact with victims, DCC Hatchett explained: “Currently, if you don't need to see a police officer, you will generally be spoken to within the force control room, what we're doing is saying when you report your crime, then actually you will speak to a police officer, either on the phone or in person, so it's making sure that we are able to give that crime prevention advice.”

Lancashire Police is also increasing the number of targetting teams, those able to tackle spikes in crime when they arise in certain areas, from 13 to 15, and introducing dedicated supervision for them.

Meanwhile, increased investment in the Force Major Incident crime team, means when something like a murder happens, there will already be a dedicated team in place, rather than having to bring in staff from other policing areas; and there will be an increased number of custody surgeants.

Another change is that the current unarmed ‘Tac-Ops’ model will be disestablished and replaced with a dedicated Roads Policing Unit and a Roads Crime Team, as DCC Hatchett says the feedback from the Tac-Ops team and the public suggested “we really need to be defining what we are doing on the roads.”

DCC Hatchett commented: “We're going to focus on crime, and we're going to focus on roads, so we'd kind of merged their purpose previously, and what we're saying is that there's actually a different skill set for each of the roles, and we’re making sure they've each got dedicated supervision.

"The Roads Policing Team will deal with collisions, with fatals, with drunk drivers, they will be looking for people who are committing offences on our roads, and they will be investigating those offences.

"But in addition to that, we've been trialling some stuff around the use of technology to deny criminals thei use of the road, so we are introducing a Roads Crime Team, who will be overt and covert, and what they will do is utilise technology but also intelligence to prevent people from facilitating their criminal activities on our roads. We have had so much success around using things like ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition), stopping people, cash seizes, drug seizes, wanted people.”

Moreover, the pre-existing Rape Investigation Teams will be expanded in size and remit to cover Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) in the coming months, providing staff with additional training to deal with these often complex investigations involving victims that have been through traumatic experiences.

How does DCC Hatchett summarise Lancashire Police’s work?

DCC Hatchett said: “I'm hugely proud of Lancashire and what the staff do day in day out, they deal with really complex and challenging incidents and crime on a regular basis, and other people have the luxury of not having to run towards that but they don't.

"I also would like to highlight, that we are always looking at innovative ways of using technology to make sure that we're able to keep people out of stations and in the community… and that allows staff to be as proactive as they possibly can.

“Us targeting what we need to target, being responsive to the demands which are placed upon policing – that is that is what we are doing and we hope to continue to do, as we move forward into the next year.”