Members of Ringwood Town Council heard that although there had been an overall reduction in crime over a recent 90 day period, there has been an increase in antisocial behaviour, violence, and criminal damage.

Responding to Sarah Gulliver’ Beat Report for Ringwood South, councillors expressed concern that many local people did not report low level crime as there was a perception that the police were not interested. It was felt that the reporting system was flawed and, even if crimes were reported, there was rarely any feedback given.

However, the priorities of the Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Hampshire are to improve the reporting system, and this could be discussed in more detail when the Deputy PCC attends Council in January 2022.

APS Gulliver explained that they were not able to follow up on every crime due to resource issues, and that it was a delicate balance trying to do the right thing for the community against what is lawful. Priorities are assessed locally, and the neighbourhood team is dedicated to serving the community.

This was appreciated by Members, who understood that the resourcing issues were out of the local team’s control.

She went on to explain that when a non-emergency crime is reported, either by 101 or online, the report is dealt with by a triage hub, where they are reviewed and dealt with if possible.

This avoids saturation of the neighbourhood teams and frees up their time to carry out

targeted work. Some deployments are passed on to neighbourhood teams, and all reports are available for the teams to view.

Concern was raised that not all reports are available to view locally, with examples given. It was noted that many crimes could be linked to the same person, but it did not appear that they had been connected.

Although the PCC had pledged to get more police officers on the beat, it would appear that these resources were targeted at areas where there are high levels of crime. It was felt that Ringwood was poorly served in terms of levels of officers, despite having a significant population paying towards the service. It was noted that there were now three new students in Ringwood, so numbers had increased locally.