Chief Constable hails increased visibility and engagement as Peterborough receives new police officers as part of £2m investment
Peterborough’s police presence has been boosted by the announcement of two new neighbourhood policing teams.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s Chief Constable Nick Dean appeared in Cathedral Square on Thursday (July 17) to make the announcement of the extra officers.
The force has received a £2 million investment as part of the government’s £200m boost to resources for police forces in order to recruit neighbourhood policing teams/
This investment will allow the recruitment of two sergeants, 28 police constables and seven PCSOs before the end of March 2026. That recruitment process for officers across the county is already well underway.
Of these officers, ten would be specifically assigned to Peterborough and support the work of the existing East and City Centre Neighbourhood Policing teams.
The Chief Constable has hailed the extra officers as the start of a process that is designed at building more visibility and trust among the police and the communities they serve.
He said: “Peterborough is central to what we do here. We have seen challenges here but I have to pay tribute to all of my officers who police the city and have contributed to a reduction in crime and increasing trust and confidence. This initiative allows me to invest into our neighbourhood officers and have them dedicated to walking the streets to enhance our community involvement.
“Our mantra is to keep communities safe, crime has reduced, trust and confidence has increased, visibility has increased but we can’t be complacent and these resources will help us.
“This initiative specifically allows us to target neighbourhood and community policing at the heart of cities and towns.
“I hope to achieve more visibility, more engagement and instill more confidence from our communities. We are here to detect and prevent crime that matters to them.
“It is a big ask, an additional 30 officers across a county of this size means people may not see an immediate impact- we need to be realistic here- but this builds on the work that neighbourhood officers are already doing. We are doing a tremendous amount and this allows us to enhance that.
It’s about speaking to people, understanding their concerns and being honest. We can’t be everywhere and the nature of crime today- online and behind closed doors- is that if I put a Bobby on every street corner of the county, then it won’t prevent all types of crime. Hopefully we can roll this forward and increase that 30 throughout the lifetime of the programme.
“Residents should look forward to more visibility, more trust and confidence, more engagement and connection between our community teams and officers really listening to the priorities and concerns they have.”
Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes supported the launch of the new officers and promised to continue to fight for an increase in the force’s numbers.
He added: “It is brilliant to see the launch of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee for the whole of Cambridgeshire happen in Peterborough. Too often we end up at the bottom on the queue and today we are at the top.
“The number of new officers is not enough, I am going to keep fighting to get more officers but it is a down payment. Today we have delivered.
“I don’t think anyone will be surprised to hear that there are a few issues in the city centre, people have concerns about shoplifting, aggressive begging, aggressive behaviour and street drinking- which can seem low level- and there are also more serious crimes such as smashing up Barclays.
“The more important thing is that these officers are going to be on the beat, getting to know the community and we are going to see them every day around Peterborough.”
Pep Cipriano, the chief operating officer of Peterborough Positive, the city’s Business Improvement District, said: “For many, many months and years businesses have been telling us that they want to see more police action and this is a step in the right direction. The biggest thing is shoplifting and anti-social behaviour. They are also concerned about drug dealing and drug taking and scooters, there are lots of things on our list, which we will present to the police and ask for action.