Mansfield neighbourhood police officer sheds light on the job as she works on making the town ‘a better place’

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PC Lou Martin, Mansfield town centre neighbourhood policing team.

PC Lou Martin, a mother to three girls, joined Nottinghamshire Police on her 38th birthday after enjoying a rewarding career as a teaching assistant.

Working with the Mansfield town centre neighbourhood police officers, PC Martin helps to find other ways to help people overcome challenges in their lives, and to make the town a better place to live.

She said: “When people think about the role of a police officer it is natural to imagine us all driving around on blue flashing lights, rushing from job to job and chasing down criminals.

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“Whilst we do get to do a bit of that, most of that kind of work is reserved for members of our response teams.

“As neighbourhood officers, our job is to patrol the same areas day after day, speaking to people, listening to their concerns and building up effective working relationships.

“When we aren’t dealing with ongoing incidents of crime or antisocial behaviour, we are working to build those relationships and to better understand people’s problems and concerns.”

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Persistent police challenges in Mansfield town centre include low level antisocial behaviour, shop-lifting and drug use.

PC Martin continued: “If you think about shop-theft as an example, there are two parts to that problem and more than one way to help the businesses affected.

“We can keep catching and punishing the people committing the offences, but we can also work with the affected shops to help them improve their security and deterrence measures.

“Drug use is another example where we can work with others to tackle the problem.

“Many of the people involved are very vulnerable and are known to local homeless and treatment services.

“By working together as we do, we can ensure they are also being given the help they need to break that cycle of offending.

“We’ll keep arresting those people again and again when they commit offences, but we know we have to work with others if we are to change their behaviour and make the town a better place to live and work.

“While some people may think some of the lower level offences we deal with are not that serious – in reality, they really do matter to the town as a whole.

“All of us on the town centre team are local people .We are passionate about the town and the wider area and really care about its future.

“I want my older girls to enjoy the night-time economy, and I want them to be safe.

“I also want the same for everyone else who lives and works here and being a neighbourhood police officers gives me the best possible opportunity to make a difference.”

Nottinghamshire Police is encouraging local residents to sign up to Nottinghamshire Alert so they can have direct engagement with the force and its partners around issues that matter to them.

Nottinghamshire Police continues to encourage local communities to help shape local policing in their area by taking part in its neighbourhood policing priority survey.

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