Police and Community

need each other!

Surely we should all do everything we can to ensure everyone can be, and feel, safe wherever they are, fulfilling the most basic human need.

• A question of attitude, working together we can achieve anything we set our minds to

• Simple steps make a huge difference

• Displaying this design in prominent positions signifies our personal commitment and active support to make this a reality.

• Establish and follow a Community Code

• No form of abuse or harm is acceptable,

• If we see someone in trouble, offer to help,

• Help to forge a constructive partnership of equals between   
• Police and Community, building trust and confidence, embracing accountability.

Support local people and projects to ensure thriving, vibrant, wholly inclusive communities work for and with everyone, addressing needs, fulfilling aspirations, offering opportunity for all.

Change is inevitable but not all change is progress, the policeman on the beat had a very close relationship with the communities served and whose presence provided a symbol of security, a person you could rely on and trust to help you when needed, communities had ready access to their local police station either in person or by phone but in the name of progress all this is long gone as police patrol in cars, police stations and local courts have closed and enquiries are met with an anonymous voice offering ‘options’ when you really need to speak to a human being.

The basic principle of policing has remained since inception and is as valid to day as ever, key to providing an effective, efficient police service that retains public trust and confidence is ready access when needed and appropriate response.

Anyone who knows anything about policing will know the most vital, essential element is accessibility, the ability to easily speak to the police who rely on information from the public to perform their duties, without this access the relationship between police and public deteriorates, the effectiveness of the police deteriorates and a chasm opens up between remote, ineffective police and communities who feel betrayed and abandoned.

As communities pay for the police ‘service’ surely we must have some say in how the ‘service’ is provided and we believe it is time to make our voices heard before the service becomes any more remote and irrelevant.

Policing by consent is an essential element of a free society, as important as the right to participate in free elections is to Democracy !

We, the undersigned petition the UK Government and the Mayor of North Yorkshire to provide an effective Police Service in North Yorkshire that is:-

• Embedded within our communities
• Meets local needs
• Fully Accountable to the Community
• Easily Accessible within the Community
• The call centre model makes it almost impossible to contact the police, places communities at potential risk and undermines police effectiveness, public confidence and trust.
• Police and Community working in a constructive partnership, building trust and confidence to Maintain Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, Safe and Sustainable Communities.

You can print the petition by clicking here and make it available for others within your community

Policing is a vital public service, essential elements:-

• What do, should, we expect from the Police Service, we think the police need a clear and unambiguous sense of purpose, a purpose shared with the community and wider society.
• Police service (clue is in the word) must be accountable to the communities they serve, compassionate, empathetic and sensitive,
• Must be responsive to the needs of the community which must come before the needs of the service, there is no point making changes that benefit the service at the expense of the service provided,
• Enforce the law humanely without fear or favour,
• Maintain public support, trust and confidence,
• Be accessible at all times, ease of access is vital,
• Maintain a close relationship with the community,
• Honesty and integrity breed respect,
• Have a clear sense of purpose, (prevent crime, keep communities safe) what is it?
• People need to feel that contacting the police is worthwhile, to have confidence the police will help them and do the best they can,
• Where a person is a victim of crime there needs to be a strong prospect of the perpetrators being caught and brought to justice,
• Need to be impartial and objective investigators.