I have asked a range of people who hold different views about policing the city to write a brief article. Those who read the Herald's "on line" version will recognise "PC Clark of Plympton", who often gives the common sense view of policing. Here is his first comment on the blog:
" I am PC Clark. Strictly speaking I am not a Plymouth Officer because I work within the Operations Department which has a ‘whole of Force’ responsibility, but I am based at Plympton so inevitably am often involved in the local policing situation. I am also a citizen of Plymouth and as such take an interest from that aspect as much as any other resident of the city.
The Operations Department includes the Tactical Aid Groups, Traffic Officers, Firearms Officers and other specialists. The Department supports local Officers and the community with the more major incidents which include fatal/serious traffic collisions, murders and organised crime. When not dealing with incidents such as these we seek to prevent them happening in the first place. We also seek to disrupt criminals’ activities on a local and national basis.
Prevention and disruption is less spectacular or newsworthy than after a major incident has occurred but it is a vital part of police work which goes on all the time in our community. Here, there is a considerable overlap with local ‘bobbies.’ While they may be checking the streets and back lanes for thieves we may be checking vehicles coming in to our area for drugs; of course these roles can be interchangeable and often are.
Traffic Officers will retain their main responsibility to the road network but will no doubt also be active in parts of the city after dark e.g. Peverell where there has been a spate of ‘creeper’ burglaries recently. Similarly, local Officers will pay attention to road safety issues even as they conduct their crime and other enquiries.
What I like about policing in this area is that it is varied. In my role I get to deal with incidents major and minor. I would echo PC Roberts’ view that it can be very rewarding but can also be very frustrating in equal measure. I am sure he would agree with me that the only way to deal with any setbacks is to ‘crack on.’
PC Clark, Plympton
Thank you to Simon for his comments. For the interest of readers, I have put a clip of a recent car crime in Plymouth. The type of work that our Operations team get involved in.
