Hampshire crime commissioner praises work of Portsmouth police

THE crime commissioner has praised Portsmouth's police as '˜excellent' as he attended a neighbourhood watch meeting.
Hampshire police officers were praised by Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Michael Lane for their work in the cityHampshire police officers were praised by Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Michael Lane for their work in the city
Hampshire police officers were praised by Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Michael Lane for their work in the city

Michael Lane met with about 80 people gathered for Portsmouth branch’s annual general meeting, held last month.

Speaking at the meeting, he highlighted the importance of volunteers, including that of neighbourhood watch, but also praised police in their jobs.

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Addressing the gathered crowd, Mr Lane said: ‘You have an excellent local team.

Michael LaneMichael Lane
Michael Lane

‘One of the reasons they’re excellent is because of the trade in which they engage in.

‘But also there is a reason there is something about this city that adds motivation.

‘There are a number of people here who come here on purpose, it’s not just an appointment, a posting, a tasking of people to be here.

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‘There are people who serve you day in day out, night in night out, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, who bring with them a heart for the job they do, a motivation to do it under stress and even under stress, and also for this city quite a lot of people who really do come back and have a deep knowledge of what goes on here.’

He added: ‘There are some areas where keeping that knowledge within the team is hard. Here it’s not as hard as it is somewhere else.We still need people to understand the streets.’

The meeting took place at St John’s College, and saw senior Portsmouth police officer Jason Kenny attend.

He spoke about policing in Portsmouth.

David Horne, from Portsmouth NHW committee, said he was keen for people to take part and run schemes in the city.

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Members of NHW swap crime-fighting information in a bid to prevent offences and inform police.

Mr Horne, who runs a scheme covering parts of Paulsgrove, said: ‘Everybody can play their part no matter how young or old.

‘Everybody can play their part in the neighbourhood whether they belong to an organisation or not.

‘There’s a lot of valuable information – that’s just through the neighbourhood watch organisation.’

Anyone who wants to get involved with running a scheme, or to find out more, can search the organisation’s name on Facebook, e-mail [email protected] or visit hinwa-nw.org.uk