Hereford Northside News

Dear Resident, 

This is the monthly newsletter for May and June 2025.

The Hereford Northside patch is covered by members of the Safer Neighbourhood Team, and is a large area including Victoria Park, College, Aylestone Hill, Eign Hill, Tupsley, Greyfriars, Whitecross. Kings Acre, Bobblestock and part of Widemarsh ward. Apologies for the delay in the publishing of the newsletter, we are currently undergoing some staffing changes, and will introduce the new members of the team in due course.

Since our last newsletter we have very busy out in your communities, attending events, social gatherings and giving talks. The month of May saw us assisting our colleagues in the City Centre with the Great British Strike at the Bull in High Town. We engaged with the peaceful protesters and many members of the community. Whilst patrolling the City Centre shops we were alerted by staff to some lost property. We carried out some investigations and found the owner, who was very happy to have the items returned. May also saw the May Fair arrive in the City Centre. Some of you may have seen the reporting on the fire in one of the mobile catering units. We assisted on the cordons at both ends of Commercial Street and liaised with the Council, Fair staff and members of the public. The street was closed for some time, but the Fair staff were fantastic and did all they could to help with the clean up, despite one of their own losing their business and livelihood.  

June saw us attend school fetes and fairs. Holmer CE Academy invited us along to their event, and we brought the police van, engaging with the children, parents and staff. Even Peeler the friendly police dog made an appearance for a short time, which the children loved. Peeler eventually had to take a break as it was extremely hot that day! The following day we attended St Francis’ Xavier School Fete, and this time we had the police car. This proved very popular, particularly with the mums and dads! We handed out colouring sheets to the children, the police dog sheet always being the most popular. We quizzed the children about the police and if our questions were answered correctly the children got a sticker and some Top Dog trump cards. We also attended the GEM School for their careers day and had some very enthusiastic children wanting to know about all aspects of the police. They loved dressing up in the uniform and trying on the police hats. 

We are finding that an increasing number of children believe the number for the emergency services is 911. This is due to the TV/internet children are exposed to which originate from the United States. Please make sure your children/grandchildren know it is 999 to call in an emergency.

We continue to support and liaise with our local housing providers carrying out joint visits addressing anti-social behaviour. We also continue to visit at risk people within the community providing reassurance and advice. We have referred people to local support networks and agencies who are best placed to assist them and have received some positive feedback. June has seen us carry out home visits to the vulnerable, particularly with reference to being scammed. We continue to back up our Response officers and telephone investigators by picking us the lower level crime jobs, completing house-to-house and CCTV enquiries. This is also a great way to patrol around our communities , chatting to people and gathering intelligence.

As this hot weather continues, please be mindful of opportunist thieves. We have had a recent incident where downstairs windows were left open due to the hot weather, and items of value have been stolen from the inside windowsill. We continue to patrol around the patch whenever possible. If you notice anything suspicious then please contact us.

Today we attended Hereford City Church and joined the Young at Heart group for their coffee morning. This was joint working with our colleagues at BTP (British Transport Police). We provided information, leaflets and advice on many topics including scams. Thank you for having us! 

Kind Regards,

Your Safer Neighbourhood Team - Hereford Northside