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Chief Constable fortnightly update to the Police and Crime Commissioner - 27 February 2026 |
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Dear Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson, Listening and responding to the issues our communities raise to us is a central function of neighbourhood policing. Across December and January, our Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) led a two-month highly proactive programme aimed at improving town and city centre safety with a focus on retail crime, anti-social behaviour (ASB), street crime and night-time economy risks including Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). I should add that the whole Force supported with this activity and I would like to say thank you to my teams. Our priority locations for this activity, under the banner Winter of Action, were Swindon, Salisbury, Trowbridge, Chippenham and Devizes. Using local knowledge and intelligence from our communities, our NPTs designed specific problem profiles for each area with comprehensive plans to tackle issues which are impacting the public. This activity formed part of our local response to the Home Office’s Safer Streets initiative. Across the two months, we saw the following operational results: 197 people arrested for offences linked to retail crime, violence, sexual offences, street crime and driving offences 863 dedicated patrols as part of the ASB hotspot fund 4,387 intelligence submissions were made 345 individual engagements with businesses 36 schools were visited with officers engaging with more than 4,000 pupils on topics including knife crime, exploitation and ASB 134 speed enforcement events took place resulting in 1,279 drivers being caught speeding (including 120 arrests for driving offences) Our Special Constabulary completed 3,320 duty hours across December and January 5 closure orders were obtained 4 Criminal Behaviour Orders were obtained 56 deployments of our mobile police stations 351 NPT engagements at local events and meetings We enhanced our engagement with our rural communities – including increasing reassurance patrols around 12 farms which have been repeat victims of crime and undertaking a proactive hare coursing operation in the south of the county. In addition, you hosted a meeting with the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and the National Farmer Union (NFU) earlier this month to listen to concerns from their members and outline what we are doing to tackle rural crime in our county. Working with local businesses to prevent crime and improve safety has been greatly strengthened by the launch of Wiltshire’s first Business Crime Reduction Partnership in Salisbury. By your office bringing together Wiltshire Police, Salisbury BID, Salisbury City Council and Wiltshire Council, this partnership is helping us share real‑time intelligence, support retailers facing persistent crime and anti‑social behaviour and build a more resilient city centre. As a Force, we continue to work closely with your office to strengthen safety across Wiltshire’s night‑time economy and support the communities we serve. Through your office’s Getting You Home Safe campaign, we have seen first‑hand how coordinated partnership activity enhances public reassurance and early intervention. Many of the initiatives we support under this campaign are aimed at preventing crimes which disproportionately affect women and girls in our communities. On Monday evening, I hosted the latest Facebook Live event with our communities alongside Detective Chief Inspector Claire Smith. This was focused on answering questions regarding our approach to tackling VAWG. We covered many topics during the session in addition to sharing some of our successes in this vital area of policing, including: Cases where further action was taken have doubled over the past 12 months, with rates for rape and serious sexual offences now at 9% and 10% respectively. Conviction rates for these cases stand at 76% in 2025 Completing in excess of 22,000 public protection notices in 2025, sharing information via our multi-agency arrangements. By working collaboratively, we can more effectively manage risk and safeguard those most vulnerable Seeing a 14.9% increase in the number of stalking offences reported to us – which illustrates higher victim confidence in reporting and improved reporting practices – and a 3.5% increase in the number of cases where further action is taken, up to 16.9% In 2021, we adopted Project Vigilant which focuses on tackling behaviour that makes women and girls feel unsafe in public spaces by intervening before crimes are committed. It focuses on predatory behaviour displayed by potential offenders - not on others changing their habits - and aims to disrupt the early signs of harmful activity. Now, Wiltshire Police are one of the leading police forces taking Project Vigilant further by providing training to our new police officers, so they are immediately aware of the community concerns and enforcement opportunities Project Vigilant affords them. We are also using our experience to share learning with other police forces, we are deploying our drones to support and expanding into our Vigilant Communities initiative. More information about Project Vigilant can be found on our website here, and a more detailed explanation of what a Project Vigilant deployment involves can be found on this YouTube video. Our local action and activity underpins the national VAWG strategy, launched last year, which outlines significant reforms to better protect our communities. Under this strategy, we are currently in the process of designing a specialist rape and sexual offence investigation team here in Wiltshire to ensure we are dedicating resources to tackle these abhorrent crimes. The next Facebook Live event will be on May 11 at 6.30pm and will be focused on both our HMICFRS PEEL inspection report – which we are anticipating will be published in the next few months – and the contribution made by our incredible volunteers. I will also be updating on our new operational priorities which I will be launching in April. Our communities can submit questions for this session via this form. Finally, I wanted to share that next week is the national Police Staff Week of Celebration and Recognition which illustrates the pivotal contribution our police staff colleagues make to policing across the country. Throughout the week we will be sharing police staff testimonies and celebrating the many successes they have played a central role in. This activity will be coordinated by our Chief of Corporate Service John Derryman. I will also be joining our Director of People, Iain Gibson, in attending the National Police Staff Awards at the College of Policing next Wednesday. I would like to sincerely thank every member of police staff who works for Wiltshire Police for the superb work that they do across multiple disciplines within our organisation. They play a critical role in Keeping Wiltshire Safe. Kindest regards to you, Catherine Roper Chief Constable, Wiltshire Police | ||
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