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Good evening!

Remember me, Ben, your local Police officer?!

It feels like forever since I was last at Yateley Police Station for a prolonged period, having been away from Policing after some leave and being called up for jury service!

Alas, I’m back and have been out and about for the past couple of days, both getting my feet back under the desk but also out and about on patrol saying hello to our local residents.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon on foot patrol for Operation Footprint, our local effort to get out and about to tackle antisocial behaviour in the Yateley centre area. I spoke with our businesses at the Dog & Partridge, One Stop, Gregg’s, and Sainsbury’s, who have all said how good it is to see us more often, report crime to us face-to-face, and speak about issues they’re seeing in their stores. Over the coming days and weeks I’ll continue to engage with those people we know are committing ASB in Yateley, working alongside Hart Community Safety to not only prevent further incidents but also deal with them robustly using Policing powers should there be a need for it. You’ll hear more in due course about what we’re doing to target ASB in Yateley, and you’ll be first to know via Hampshire Alert.

Today I’ve met with PCSO Marie Kennedy from Thames Valley Police who covers the Bracknell, Wokingham and Sandhurst area. We shared plenty of information and intelligence about crime and ASB in our area, our regular places and faces, and about what’s going on between our borders that sometimes is so difficult to share without sitting down and having a chat! I’ll soon be setting up a regular meeting with our Thames Valley and Surrey counterparts so we can keep our corners of Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey safe.

This evening I’ve also been out on e-bike, flying around our hotspots including Sean Devereux Park, Yateley Common, Yateley Green and the Red Cross centre, keeping an eye on places we know you’d like to see an increased Police presence. We’ll continue to do this when other deployments allow.

If you have any queries, concerns, questions, or have information you feel we need to know, you can reply directly to this Hampshire Alert, or pop me an e-mail to ben.blundell@hampshire.police.uk.

It’s good to be back!

Stay safe,

PC 27999 Ben Blundell,

Designated Neighbourhood Officer for Yateley, Blackwater and Hawley.

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