By Katia Harston and Paul Whitehouse
DRUGS and antisocial behaviour are the two biggest crime concerns for Barnsley residents, Chief Constable Stephen Watson has been told.
The new police boss has been in town to find out what people in Barnsley want from a new neighbourhood policing model that will see dedicated teams tethered to individual communities.
It is part of a series of consultation events Mr Watson is running to ‘hold a mirror up to the force’ and establish what residents want most from their police - and that information will be used to guide how the new team is structured and how it operates.
In 2015 all officers - and then PCSOs - were ordered to work in a ‘reactive’ role, rather than having some working in neighbourhoods to prevent or reduce crime and antisocial behaviour before it could escalate.
Mr Watson was frank in his admission to residents at the Church of the Nazarene, off Sheffield Road, Barnsley, on Wednesday that current arrangements had failed.
Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle
