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Local policing teams carry out week long crackdown

Kelly Morgan
Reporter
Reporting fromTrowbridge, Wiltshire
Listen to PCSO Jack Thomas and PC Oliver Gilmore carrying out an anti-social behaviour hotspot patrol

Neighbourhood Policing Teams, (NPTs), have carried out a week long crackdown to highlight the importance of their role in the community.

Neighbourhood Policing Week happened across the UK, (23-29 June), with every force organising their own week of events.

During this week police officers in neighbourhood teams were protected from additional tasks so they could focus solely on their neighbourhood responsibilities.

Chief Constable Catherine Roper, who re-introduced NPTs to Wiltshire Police in January 2024, said communities give nothing but "positive feedback" about the work of the 10 teams across the county.

Chief Constable Catherine Roper standing in Swindon town centre wearing a police uniform.
Chief Constable Catherine Roper said local teams carried out "proactive enforcement" during the week

The results for Neighbourhood Policing Week 2025 for Wiltshire Police included:

  • 35 visits to vulnerable people
  • 22 patrols in priority locations
  • 17 local schools visited to teach children about the role of the police and raise awareness of crime prevention methods
  • 6 people arrested
  • 5 speed enforcement checks completed
  • 2 warrants executed

Ms Roper said the week included: "Proactive enforcement across Swindon and Wiltshire including warrants, high visibility patrols and a wide range of activities."

Sgt Gemma Rutter from the Trowbridge Neighbourhood Policing Team said the week allows the team to get into communities and tell them "what we're all about".

Communities are sometimes confused between response and NPTs said Sgt Rutter.

"We (NPT officers) don't just do the 999 jobs we are very much focussed on the long-term problem solving, intelligence-led response to community issues," she said.

Detective Sergeant Jen Jeffcoat-Marsh smiling wearing a police baseball cap, stab vest and sergeant rank slides
Det Sgt Jen Jeffcoat-Marsh says different police teams work closely together

Collaborative working between different police teams was evident during a visit made to a premises in Trowbridge suspected of modern slavery, one of the planned events during Neighbourhood Policing Week.

Seven officers were deployed on the visit which was led by Sgt Rutter.

Alongside officers from the NPT were two intelligence officers and Det Sgt Jen Jeffcoat-Marsh who is part of the violence against women and girls and adult sexual exploitation teams.

Det Sgt Jeffcoat-Marsh said: "There's no way that what we're trying to achieve would be successful if we weren't all working together."

No arrests were made during the visit but the teams will return to carry out welfare checks.

Listen to a visit made by the Trowbridge Neighbourhood Policing Team to a premises suspected of modern slavery led by Sgt Gemma Rutter

NPTs are the "bedrock of an effective police service" according to Ch Supt Doug Downing, the head of local policing.

Ch Supt Downing said: "We encourage the public to actively engage with officers and, where they exist, share your concerns."

Wiltshire Police