Police officers take their meetings to the streets of Torquay

Devon & Cornwall Police officers in Torquay are taking an innovative approach to increase their presence in the local community by holding meetings outside, in the town centre.

Chief Superintendent Roy Linden, who heads up police teams across South Devon said: “We know the importance of being visible within our communities, which is why we’re thinking of more ways for our police officers to be outside on the streets. This doesn’t replace the good old fashioned ‘boots on the ground’ officers who patrol our streets on foot, this is just an additional way to be more visible. While not all of our meetings will be able to take place outside, when they can, they will.”

Their first meeting, which took place in the Castle Circus area alongside the Police and Crime Commissioner and Torbay Council, was a success.

During the meeting, police officers spotted two people who they believed were wanted for a number of offences. They carried out stop searches on the suspects and arrested the two men for breach of court orders. They were taken straight to custody.

“The positive policing action that took place during our first meeting shows how valuable this new approach is, and will continue to be. Just by hosting this meeting outside, our officers were able to target offenders and make successful arrests,” C/Supt Linden added, “I have no doubt that this will be an effective method in addition to our regular foot patrols; being outside means officers can proactively target and deter offenders, while their increased visibility provides reassurance to our communities.

“When weather permits, we’ll continue to run our meetings outside when we can. If you see us in one of our meetings, please do feel free to come up and chat; not only does this approach aim to make us more visible, but it’s also another opportunity for us to engage with the public in our communities. Your thoughts, concerns and problems are really valuable to us, so even if it’s just to find out more about your local team, do come over and say hello.

"In addition to running meetings outside, we will be placing a mobile police office in Torbay at least three days a week over the summer to further enhance our contact with the community - make sure to keep an eye out for this over the coming months.”

After the meeting, police officers continued their foot patrols across the town centre and surrounding areas. A further arrest was made of a man who officers suspected was wanted – he was taken back to custody to appear in court.

Police officers will continue to conduct high visibility foot and vehicle patrols across Torbay. Crime reports provide us with essential information about where and when crimes are taking place. Please continue to report any intelligence you have, no matter how small, on our website or by calling 101. By doing this, we can make sure that police officers conduct patrols in the right places and at the right times.

Information can also be passed anonymously to independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555111, or via their website.