Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Festus Akinbusoye has thanked dozens of town and parish councillors from across the county for having their say on the county’s police service.
More than 40 councillors and council clerks attended the commissioner’s annual parish conference last week to make their representations on behalf of local residents.
Topics raised at the meeting with the commissioner as well as Chief Superintendent John Murphy, the head of local policing for Bedfordshire Police, included responses to 999 and 101 calls, as well as e-scooters.
The meeting also heard from Superintendent Jaki Whittred, the force’s head of community policing, and Detective Chief Inspector Katie Dounias, who is leading the response by community officers to organised crime.
Mr Akinbusoye has now pledged to raise all these issues with the force’s acting Chief Constable following the event at the Rufus Centre in Flitwick on Tuesday (4 October), which was also attended by members of the county’s police and crime panel.
“This event was a fantastic example of local democracy in action,” said the commissioner.
“Local councillors have their fingers on the pulse of their community and can tell us how policing is doing in the eyes of people on the ground.
“This gives us a clear idea of what our residents want us to focus on and I will be ensuring that this feedback is passed on to senior leaders in the force and acted on.”
Chief Superintendent Murphy said: “I want to thank everyone who gave up their time to raise their concerns and speak to us on behalf of their communities.
“I was pleased we were able to explain to our councillors across the county the excellent work community policing is doing to tackle organised crime, violence and exploitation, balanced with providing engagement, visibility and problem solving in response to locally identified issues.
“We will always look to act on what is of most importance to our communities. I would encourage people to keep reporting things to us – via our website where possible – so we have a full picture of what is going on in their area and can take action.”
People can report things via the Bedfordshire Police website.