A few weeks ago The Voice asked readers to submit their questions to Supt Mark Housley.
Here are some of the questions and his responses.
George Mitchell, of Holbeach, asked about Holbeach Police Station – Dear sir, over the years our police station became a police car park, as the force retreated from the community and we were left with a wall box telephone as contact.
Now there’s a large development taking place, at what cost and for what purpose?
Answer: “Until October 2020, Holbeach housed a small neighbourhood policing team, with the main response to 999 and 101 calls being provided by officers from Spalding station.
“In October last year, we based response officers at Holbeach station, providing 24-hour response cover to the communities of Holbeach, the Suttons and surrounding villages. They work alongside their colleagues based at Spalding and in partnership with the local neighbourhood team. This followed a trial period which demonstrated an improvement in response times to incidents, a closer working relationship with local neighbourhood officers and improved local knowledge.
“Parts of Holbeach station were very worn and in the main were aged Portakabins. The current building works will provide a fit for purpose establishment for those that work there and the community.
“While Holbeach police station is closed for refurbishment, we have worked with partners to maintain satellite offices out on the area of Holbeach and the Suttons so our staff can remain in the locality without having to return to Spalding station, where they are temporarily based.
“Once the refurbishment is finished, both the neighbourhood teams and response officers will return to the station.
Any questions regarding cost should be directed to the OPCC.”
Terry Byatt asked: “When was the last time you saw a policeman actually “walking“ the beat? And I don’t mean community officers on a sunny day out in summer!”
Answer: “Uniformed policing on South Holland consists of two strands, response and neighbourhood policing.
“The response officers routinely respond to 101 and 999 calls and the subsequent enquiries that come with that.
“The neighbourhood team conduct engagement with communities and aim to provide early intervention and problem solving.
“The neighbourhood team’s role includes intelligence gathering, providing visible reassurance, partnership work to safeguard children and vulnerable adults, tackling ASB and other community issues.
“It is the neighbourhood team that may “walk the beat” in order to achieve some of the forementioned. However, time spent on foot patrol is amongst the other demand placed on them and the 280sq miles of South Holland and the nature of some of their duties mean a vehicle is often required.
“That said, both the community support officers and beat managers strive to do it when they can.”
