Few know how to phone up their local bobby, warns police chief

MORE WORK needs to be done in promoting contact details for local officers in communities across South Yorkshire, the force’s Chief Constable has warned.

A survey into the opinion of neighbourhood policing across the South Yorkshire force found only three per cent of respondents have contacted an officer to discuss concerns or report incidents.

The majority – 62 per cent – said they would call 101 or 999. The results also showed that only 36 per cent of people know they can contact a local officer directly.

Chief Constable Stephen Watson said neighbourhood officers should be contacted to discuss local ongoing matters and an increase in this type of reporting would take the pressure off call handlers who work on the 101 and 999 lines at Atlas Court in Sheffield.

Speaking at a South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner public accountability board meeting, Mr Watson said: “All insight from what the public is telling is very welcome particularly around something as important as this.

“There’s a lot in there that is encouraging but of course while others feel confident there will be others who lack confidence in us and there’s clearly plenty of work to be done.”

The survey was commissioned to see if the public had greater confidence in neighbourhood policing following a shake-up 18 months ago which put more officers into local communities.

Residents can find contact numbers for local officers on the force website and neighbourhood teams are split into 13 sections across Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster.

The survey also found that respondents said they were “confident” in the force’s ability to tackle anti-social behaviour in their area, but said levels either had increased or stayed the same.