THE Policing Committee of Derry and Strabane Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) met with PSNI Senior Team this week to discuss the District Commander’s Annual Report for 2016/17.
At the meeting members of the Policing Committee raised issues such as road safety, police visibility and response times, anti-social behaviour, drugs awareness, burglary and business and rural crime with the District Commander and his senior officers.
Speaking after Monday’s meeting Cllr Gus Hastings (PCSP Chair) and Linda Watson (PCSP Vice-Chair) stated:
“Today’s meeting of the PCSP Policing Committee was positive and constructive with police presenting their annual report on crime in the district.
“Officers advised us of progress against the targets set out in the Local Policing Plan for 2016/17.
“The members welcomed the overall 9.5% reduction in crime in the Council area over the past 12 months equating to 870 fewer victims of crime.
“Committee members and PSNI acknowledged the positive partnership approach to tacking crime and increasing community safety in the district with PCSP, statutory partners, community groups and indeed the general public all contributing to this encouraging reduction.
“Behind these statistics are victims and we will continue to work with the police to ensure that their needs are met and that PSNI, locally, delivers positive outcomes for all our citizens.
“Committee members reaffirmed their commitment to continue to support the police to tackle crime and also to monitor police performance in the coming year.
“Overall, the District Commander’s report for this year is positive but there is also a number of areas where we need to work to improve performance and members will monitor these areas of concern over the coming months.
“We would thank all the partners involved in making our communities safer places to live, work and visit and look forward to more positive outcomes in the coming months.”