Together with a lot of other people from our area, I dropped in at the Melbourn Hub yesterday evening to meet up with South Cambs Police to hear about their work and to learn how we can help our community to be safer and more more supportive of people in need.

I was lucky to get to talk to Chief Inspector James Sutherland about key issues in South Cambs – here are the main points, in no particular order!

1. Hate crime is definitely on the rise. This is hugely disturbing. Please, as always, REPORT IT. If in doubt, REPORT IT. Ring 101.

2. The regular ‘Panel’ meetings held around South Cambridgeshire are streamed live, so if you can’t make it you can still watch and learn. This has proved very popular. These are the public meetings where residents tell the Police what issues concern them most, and learn what the police are focusing on in the local area.

3. You can communicate with South Cambs Cops via Twitter (@SouthCambsCops) or find out what our team is busy with by visiting their website: https://southcambscops.org

4. There are no gang activities in South Cambs.

5. Anti-social behaviour (‘ASB’) is falling. Most ASB is vehicle-related.

6. Last year’s ‘Slavery Summit’ in which members of the public were invited to spend a day learning about the existence of human trafficking in South Cambridgeshire was a huge success in terms of awareness-raising. 70 people went away as delegates in their communities to help spread the word that this hideous crime takes place here in South Cambs. James counted 14 cases of modern slavery here in our villages – an utterly shocking fact.

7. Traffic surveys: the police will always help provide traffic surveys. Parish councils need only ask.

8. Have you taken the BAD WOLF TEST?

9. Chelsea’s Choice, a performance about child sexual exploitation, was performed in large number of schools and colleges around South Cambs. It was clear, thankfully, that this is not a prevalent problem, however it is always important to remain aware.

10. James was hugely complimentary of the work done to improve Melbourn High Street Car Park. In his words, this is ‘a case study in how to design out crime and anti-social behaviour.’ ‘Talk to Melbourn.’ ‘No village could have done more to solve their own problems.’

And finally:

11. Every November there is a spike in crime. Clocks go back, crime goes up. Make your home unappealing to burglars!

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