In 2019 Whitstable was allocated a Town Centre Constable to serve Whitstable High Street and the adjoining areas. We the undersigned would like to:

 1.     Highlight the benefit that we think this service brings. Our town constable (PC Camp) is a reassuring visible presence amongst the local community – visible, approachable and well known. He is well informed about the patterns of retail crime in the area and trusted to help combat them.

 2.     Oppose any change to allocate officers to larger ‘beats’ which would jeopardise the Town Centre Constable model. Deploying officers to larger areas would make them less visible when on patrol and make it harder for engage key partners such as businesses in collecting evidence. We would like to see more policing in our town, not less of it.

 3.     Raise concerns in reduction to PCSO’s. PCSO and Special Constable’s played an important part in policing our town during lockdown – they play a vital role in proactive community engagement which has been notably reduced in the last six months.                    

4. Encourage you to not change the current service model as part of the Community Policing Review due to be concluded in July 2023. Since the introduction of the service crime rates in the town have not substantively dropped in a way which legitimises a reduction in service. Anti social behaviour continues to be a problem as evidenced by the Anti Social Behaviour Order put in place between the 20th-22nd January.

Yours truly,