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🚓👮♂️ A Message From Your Local Officer 👮♂️🚓 |
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Hello everyone, It’s your local officer, PC Jamie Christian, here with an update on everything Baffins and a few dates for your diary!
🛍️Shoplifting At our first residents’ meeting and on a number of occasions thereafter, many of you highlighted shoplifting as one of your top concerns for Baffins. You told me you felt that more needed to be done and there was understandable frustration about the situation at the time.
Since then, we have worked closely with several stores in Baffins to streamline the process and improve our response. I’m pleased to say that, as a team, we have made significant progress—currently solving (i.e. a charge or issuing an out of court disposal) around 70% of shoplifting offences reported to us. This is well above the national average of approximately 23% and shows how seriously our team have taken this issue.
From the outset, I made it clear that we want to make our area a difficult place for shoplifters and to pursue prosecutions whenever we are provided with the evidence we require. While I would like to see stronger sentencing by the courts to further support these efforts, this ultimately lies outside of police control.
🕵️Shoplifting Myth buster There is also a common misconception that the police will not investigate shopliftings under £200, something I am told some stores are still telling the public. Let me assure you that this not true. We will investigate and prosecute shoplifters when the evidence is provided to us by the stores and the suspect is formally identified. You may find that some stores have an internal policy about what they report to police, but that it a matter for them. If they make the report, provide the evidence and the suspect is identified, then formal action is highly likely to follow – as demonstrated by our 70% solved rate.
🛝Cobden Play Park Consultation You may be aware that Portsmouth City Council are looking to make improvements to the Cobden Play Park and I have been kept informed about the proposed renovations.
Portsmouth City Council are inviting feedback from residents in the PO3 5 and PO3 6 postcode areas. I would encourage you to take part in the consultation and share your views using the link below:
Teignmouth Road play park consultation - Portsmouth City Council
As part of my involvement, I have fed back some concerns I have regarding reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB), drug use, and some more serious incidents in the park and surrounding area. I am still keen to hear about any issues or concerns you have therefore we will be holding a Police and Communities Together (PACT) meeting:
Location: Within Cobden Park
This is your opportunity to discuss current ASB concerns and any issues you feel may arise from the proposed developments with myself and members of Portsmouth City Council. Your feedback will form part of the wider consultation, so please do come along and have your say.
🏢St Mary’s House Many of you will be aware of ongoing issues at St Mary’s House, including unauthorised access to communal areas, drug use, and associated damage.
I’m pleased to report that Vivid Homes has now repaired the entrance door, which we hope will improve security for residents.
My thanks go to Cllr Sanders for supporting my efforts to resolve this issue.
If problems continue, please continue to report concerns to Vivid Homes, and to the police where criminal activity is involved.
🚓Beat Walk with Amanda Martin MP On 21st May 2026, PC Chris Middleton (28834) and I were joined by Amanda Martin MP for a beat walk around Baffins. This was a valuable opportunity to highlight local issues, discuss our policing response and identify challenges we may face going forward. It was also a chance for Amanda to speak directly with residents and hear their perspectives. My thanks to Amanda for taking the time to join us. As a result of this, we have also agreed that we will hold a ‘Drop In’ Beat Surgery as below:
I encourage you to come along and discuss any concerns, ask us questions, or share information about matters affecting the local area. No appointment is necessary -simply drop in at any time during the session, and we will be more than happy to discuss your concerns.
📞Get in Touch As always, please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss any issues. Please note: Do not report crimes in progress directly to me, as I may not be on duty. Instead, report these via 101 or online at: | ||
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