Mid Devon Neighbourhood Policing Team updates

Hello,

As the sun shines in my window, I thought I would take the opportunity to spread some good news across the Mid Devon landscape. The Mid Devon Neighbourhood Policing team has some new additions and whilst I’m not one for football there’s some similarities with the transfer list, with my new signings and some departures on the free transfer list.

I have the pleasure of welcoming Sergeant Sarah Stevens to the team, who will mainly work from Crediton but manage the wider Mid Devon teams. Sarah joins us from the domestic abuse investigation team in Exeter and brings decades of Policing experience with her. Sarah replaces Insp Simon Andrews who was recently promoted to his new post as a Patrol Inspector in Mid Devon. I would argue he had some great counsel in his run up to the promotion process and I wish him all the best in his new post.

We are also lucky to have a new signing in our PC ranks in welcoming PC Emily Ravenscroft to Crediton as a Neighbourhood Beat Manager (NBM). Emily has transferred across from patrol in Crediton and is already getting to grips with her new role, having bought bucket loads of enthusiasm with her. I’ve no doubt you will see her out on patrol across Mid Devon soon but in the mean time you can report any issues for Crediton neighbourhood to Emily on our website or indeed here on DC alert. We also see the return of PCSO Lisa Mcmillan who has been on a career break over the past year and has quite literally been broadening her horizons! 

In order to bring in new talent you have to say goodbye to some of your staff and sadly in the past few months we’ve seen the departure of two PCSOs in Crediton, PCSO Andy Fee and PCSO Nicola Payne who have both moved on to pastures new. Nikki was with D&C Police for over two decades and is a huge loss for us but we wish her all the best and we are sure she will ace her new job.

Some of you will therefore be wondering what has happened to PC Neil Minehan over at Crediton, well in another swift transfer move, Neil has joined us in Cullompton replacing PC Steve Greenaway. Neil, having been an NBM for a while now, is already fully integrated in the team here and getting stuck in to some community priorities within Cullompton and the surrounding villages. If I’m honest though I am having to keep an eye on him, as on the station tea making chart I’m tallying way higher than he is… if you see him out on patrol give him a gentle nudge and hopefully we’ll see him higher on the chart by the end of the summer. A quick word here to thank PC Steve Greenaway for his efforts in Cullompton over the past few years and you’ll still no doubt see him around but this time with a white Police hat on… he’s joining the Traffic department in the serious collisions unit.

I’m trying not to bring in another football analogy but there’s been no transfers or departures in Tiverton so as the manager I see the positives in consistency here! However, we do have some exciting news for Tiverton, which involves a new project for Tiverton, increasing visibility in the town…stay tuned for more news on this in July. 

You may have noticed that 2 PCSOs minus 1 PCSO means I’m now a PCSO short in Crediton but fear not as PCSO recruitment is now open so please feel free to see our website for more recruitment information and apply online. We are also welcoming applications for Special Constables and Police Constables too. I should also chip in here that if you want to see what we are all about, you can apply online for a “ride-a-long” or ‘insight patrol’ and within reason you can choose which station you want to patrol from. 

So in brief, there’s been some changes! We are also changing the way we communicate with you, including this system DC alert, so I’ll try my best to get to grips with the system as will my team! I’d like to say we’ll be super quick replying to your messages but whilst we are learning the system, bear with us… (no we don’t have a bear with us but I’m informed it’s the correct spelling and not bare with us!). Please reach out with any issues you are having and we will endeavour to either direct your enquiry to the correct agency or get stuck in to dealing with the problem. If you can make one of our community events, great, if not please contact us and we will get back to you. 

Don’t forget to dial 999 in an emergency and for anything else there’s details on our website for how to contact us for non emergency enquiries, including this system and failing that you can dial 101. To close, it’s hot out there…keep hydrated , wear sunscreen and I believe the occasional ice cream/ice lolly is allowed. I’d say you can’t go wrong with a twister. 

Thanks for reading, 

Inspector Mark Arthurs