Those in rural areas should report anti-social behaviour, the Police Crime Commissioner has stated when asked about the lack of police presence.
A meeting of Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Panel last week was talking about an additional £1m of funding the force had received that went towards putting on extra police patrols in urban areas.
Coun Allan Beal, South Holland District Council’s member on the panel and Whaplode and Holbeach St Johns ward member, asked if any had been spent on rural areas.
“In one area in my patch there are incidents three or four times a week.
“The incidents are reported and there is a crime number yet nothing seems to be done.
“The chief constable has been notified but we’re not getting any responses.
“It’s becoming serious.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones said that residents should make an official complaint ‘if they’re not getting the deserve’.
“Whenever we get money from government there’s so many strings attached it’s like a puppet show,” he said. “The money has to be spent in specific areas.
“That automatically leads you to higher volume rather than areas where even a low amount of incidences will have an effect on a small community.
“It’s welcome to get £1m to tackle anti-social behaviour hot spots. By their nature they’re the ones with the most incidents.
“The chief constable has to make decisions on what’s available and the incidents reported.
“The message to the public is report, report, report.
“If people say there’s no point reporting it, well there is, because there was £1m provided based on those reports.
“You might have got some of that resource in the area if reports had been made.
“With the budget it’s unlikely, unless something dramatic happens, that you will see additional resources coming into areas of Lincolnshire. Quite frankly the resources would already be there if the chief had them.
“That’s why we have to work smarter as well harder and the use of technology is really important.”
The meeting was told the £1m funding created 200 extra hours of foot patrols during which there were four arrests, four stop and searches and one anti-social behaviour incident.
When asked if that provided value for money, Mr Jones said: “The purpose of this is to prevent crime. I’d be more concerned if we were talking tens of arrests as it would be people ignoring the fact police are there.”
