THIS month I was delighted to launch Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary’s first ever Local Bobby scheme which means you can now find out not only who your Local Bobby is, but also their direct email and mobile number.

As your Police and Crime Commissioner I have been continually listening and talking to thousands of people about the police service they receive. Your perceptions and feedback meant that bringing back local named police officers to serve you and your community was unequivocally the right thing to do.

The scheme ensures you can now find out who to contact about safety and crime concerns by just entering your postcode into the dedicated webpage. The northern area of Hampshire has 28 Local Bobbies dedicated to communities.

READ MORE: Local bobbies back in Hampshire - and you can call them directly

There are a number of differences between a Local Bobby and a Neighbourhood Policing Team officer, however, the key to their success is their ability to work with all policing teams. Neighbourhood teams; response teams, enforcements teams, and local detectives in District CID. One of the most important and welcomed differences is that Local Bobbies will not be abstracted to backfill other areas of the organisation – they will be dedicated to their communities, their concerns, there in their time of need, and addressing root causes of crime.

As your representative on all crime and policing matters my ambition is to strengthen community-police relations, something which has been lost in recent years. A new scheme for the region but really, it’s a revived practice from the past which we know works.

When police services became centralised and stepped further and further away from communities, it almost became impersonal and with that, community relationships were lost. Sometimes there isn’t any need to reinvent the wheel. The Local Bobby dedicated webpage has brought the best bits from the past into policing’s future and reflects the force’s transformation into a geographical service to connect the public to their police force once again.

This is a really exciting time for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. The force has 650 more officers than it did three years ago. It will soon have 10 more police stations open to the public, and now each community will have a dedicated local police contact; their Local Bobby. This, together with the Chief Constable’s new operating model, is a seismic shift in service delivery.

I will continue to lead the fight against crime by working closely with the Chief Constable and our partners to make sure you get the policing service you deserve.