Flying squad bobbies jump in to tackle local crime surges

Flying squads of beat bobbies have been set up to reduce neighbourhood crime and stamp out anti-social behaviour.

The teams, comprising a sergeant and six constables, are deployed to communities plagued by drug dealers, car crime, shoplifting and other anti-social behaviour.

Unlike conventional bobbies on the beat, they are not attached to a specific neighbourhood but parachuted into communities hit by surges in crime.

More visible policing

The innovative approach, pioneered by Suffolk police and backed by policing minister Kit Malthouse, aims to meet public demands for more “visible policing” by bobbies on the beat.

But it is a targeted, cost-effective approach that directs neighbourhood policing at hotspots rather than simply having officers pounding a beat that may not have problems with anti-social behaviour.

Detective superintendent David Giles of Suffolk police said: “People say they want bobbies back on the beat. There used to be bobbies living in police houses in villages. We won’t go back to that.

“But we have to listen to the communities when they say they want to see visible policing. We want to be engaged in the community. The teams’ ethos is that they don’t get allocated response tasks.

“They have the freedom to move to different places to tackle community problems, engage with communities and have adaptable, dynamic movement. They might be in one town one day, and another the next.”

Tracking down suspects

As well as being parachuted into communities, they can be dispatched to track down a wanted suspect by “knocking doors until they find them”, help arrest county lines drug dealers or police events such as the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The three squads, known as the Kestrel teams, cover the coastal east, urban south and rural west of Suffolk, and have been funded by a precept on county council tax. Their rotas have been designed to ensure at least one team can be deployed seven days a week.

They have also been specially trained in “forced entry” and “behavioural analysis” known as Servator tactics, so they can be deployed into areas to spot suspicious behaviour by an individual, engage with them to establish why they may have acted furtively and, if necessary, arrest them.

In the year to September 2021, the squads completed 1,103 hours of hotspot patrols, conducted 92 positive stop searches, submitted 2,221 intelligence reports, collected £33,000 worth of drugs, arrested 66 suspects, seized 38 vehicles for traffic offences and located nine missing people.

Mr Malthouse told The Telegraph: “One of the key components of success in crime fighting is focus. Sometimes that focus is on specific crime types, sometimes on specific criminals and often specific geography. When you combine all three, in my experience, you often get outstanding results.”

It is part of a move to specialist squads – backed by Andy Cooke, HM chief inspector of police – that have seen forces introduce burglary and shoplifting teams.

Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s police and crime commissioner, who initiated the scheme with chief constable Steve Jupp, said the squads complemented “Sentinel” teams that focused on organised crime.

“It improves visibility and the public perception of the police because it gets officers out there quickly to tackle and prevent crime. I hope it will improve public confidence,” he said.

Not seen a single bobbie

A recent national survey by police watchdogs found more than a third of people have not seen a single police officer on the beat in their local area in the last year and said the situation was getting worse.

Det Supt Giles said that while he was pleased with the arrests and seizures, there were also intangible benefits. “If they worked Jubilee weekend and didn’t arrest anyone, didn’t find any drugs but had a really good community engagement time, how can you put a statistic on that?” he said.

“In policing, we love numbers, we love statistics. But we know this is the right thing to do.”