Chief Inspector’s Update

By Southend District Commander Chief Inspector Jo Collins.

AS Christmas is fast approaching, I hope that this update finds you all well.

We are busy wrapping the Christmas presents that have been very kindly donated and which we will distribute through our partners to vulnerable children who may otherwise receive little or nothing.

The campaign was highlighted in last month’s update, but there is still time to donate until Monday December 18, if wish to. Thank you to those of you who have supported, it will mean a lot to the children who receive these gifts.

On Friday December 1 we began our Christmas Drink Drive campaign headed ‘Drink Driving. Together We Can Stop It.’ We are urging the public to ‘help prevent, persuade and call the police’ on drink drivers this Christmas.

Think of it as the three Ps – Prevent, Persuade and as a last resort Police, if someone you know is driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs.

Keeping with the road policing theme, we have an amazing group of Special Constables working within the Southend District and on Friday November 29 our Special Constables were out on a traffic operation, conducting speed checks in various locations including Progress Road in Eastwood and Belton Way in Leigh.

During the operation they conducted 40 checks on Police National Computer resulting in five drivers being dealt with for speeding, one had no insurance, one vehicle was seized, and one driver was dealt with for no MOT. Thank you to all our Special Constables for their hard work.

We receive lots of complaints about speeding, so hopefully this reassures you that we do take reports seriously and will act where we can to deter and detect unacceptable driver behaviour.

We have also been busy engaging with the community in many areas.

In November PCSO Fox attended Leigh Road Baptist Church Pre-School in Leigh to speak to the children about the police. The children tried on some police uniform and were able to look around and sit in a police car. They had lots of fun and hopefully learnt something too.

We have also been out attending lots of events including the Christmas Fayre at St Saviours Church, Kings Road. This gave us the opportunity for lots of engagement and leaflets and advice were given out.

All these activities are important to help build trust and confidence, which I know some areas of the community don’t have and this has always been something I want to focus on whenever we can.

We have also conducted patrols in company with Community Safety Officers from the council following reports of a suspicious male around Chalkwell School in the mornings.

During those patrols we engaged with lots of people attending the school and we hope everyone is reassured by the action taken. The reports were nothing to worry about, but we are glad people called us and we could check it out.

We also have a newsletter for Southend called Dispatch, which is emailed weekly and will keep you up to date with all our events and news. Our number of subscribers is growing and if you are not already signed up, please visit the Essex Police webpage, and hit the subscribe button.

So as 2023 comes to a close I hope you all have the opportunity to spend some time with your friends and loved ones over the festive season and wish you all a very Happy New Year.

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