THE priorities for North Yorkshire Police over the next four years have been laid out in the latest Police and Crime Plan.

Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan released the plan today, which stated the force’s priorities were to care for the vulnerable, collaborate further with other agencies and ‘reinforce’ local policing.

In caring for vulnerable people - including those with mental health, alcohol or drug problems, as well as missing persons and victims - the plan said more work would be done with local authorities, health and other organisations to arrange more support and deal with specific needs and issues.

York Press:

This, the report said, would involve “an open-minded and outward-facing perspective”, to work more closely with the fire and ambulance services and other local partners. The force would also aim to reduce reoffending through working more closely with criminal justice partners locally and further afield, “to better tackle serious and organised crime, child sexual exploitation, human slavery and trafficking, and other serious and emerging threats”.

This is particularly important for the force, following a recent inspection which stated North Yorkshire Police “required improvement” in the way it deals with serious and organised crime, despite partnerships already being in place.

Local policing will be reinforced with the £10m of new technology, which has already been delayed by nine months, but will mean officers spend less time at their stations completing paperwork, and are able to spend more time on the streets, while plans will also be put in place to better deal with cyber crime and online exploitation. Civilians will also be utilised more, including Neighbourhood Watches and Special Constables, and - as discussed in a scrutiny meeting last week - the work of some officers will instead be carried out by civilian staff. The survey which helped design the plan was completed by about 2,000 residents, officers and staff, and showed “the visible presence of police officers in communities is a priority”.

Mrs Mulligan’s plan said: “Neighbourhood policing remains, and will always remain, the bedrock of policing in North Yorkshire. Nowadays however, a ‘community’ can mean many things and they are not necessarily visible. Fortunately, we have moved on from the days of ‘Heartbeat’ style policing, and through this policing plan we are heralding a new era of policing in the 21st Century that will help us better protect people in our changing world.”

The force also aims to make communication with police easier, reducing waiting times for the non-emergency 101 number, online reporting and firearms licensing, and improving how quickly police deal with queries or concerns from the public.

Mrs Mulligan said the latest plan would help the force “provide ‘exemplary’ service, in the round”.