Police Call: Ward officers help build relationships

The essence of a ward officer’s role is to build trust, confidence and link with elected members and the community in their area.

Armed with this information they can deal effectively with local community issues and gather local intelligence, build positive connections and deliver on local priorities.

A ward officer also provides an excellent link to the school-based police officers and support their work with young people. They are often called on to support local events too.

A critical part of their role is their attendance at community council meetings.

Officers provide a local overview of emerging and established crime trends and can meet with members of the community, working together to plan effective ways of addressing issues.

I was pleased to tell the Falkirk Scrutiny Board last week that ward officers had attended 97 per cent of all community council meetings.

Details for ward officers are available on the Force website and I’d encourage you to link in with them if needed.