More bobbies on beat promised for Edinburgh communities

COMMUNITIES across Edinburgh have been promised more bobbies on the beat - and will be able to quiz them if they do not make a difference.

The new Safer Neighbourhood Teams are specially created groups of officers, bringing together community beat officers and neighbourhood action units to work alongside city council community safety teams.

A six-month pilot project in the south and east of the city, covering Portobello, Craigmillar, Howdenhall and St Leonards, saw a fall in complaints of vandalism and antisocial behaviour. And now the teams are being extended to cover all the Capital's 17 council wards.

Local priority-setting meetings will allow communities to shape the work of the teams by identifying the concerns of residents and agreeing what needs to be done to tackle them. The police and community safety teams will then have to report back on progress after an agreed period.

Police said the new system would allow the issues that communities care about most to be dealt with in a quicker and more efficient way.

Chief Superintendent Gill Imery, Edinburgh divisional commander, said: "Our Safer Neighbourhood Teams will have a huge impact on the way we police communities in partnership and I am delighted they are now in place.

"It represents a real shift in our policing efforts towards local engagement and reflects our recently launched Community Commitment, where we have outlined the level of service we will provide.

"Often our officers respond to calls that can be better served by an environmental or community safety warden from the council, or vice versa. This new team structure will allow for closer joint working between the two agencies which will ultimately better serve communities."

Paul Edie, the city council's community safety leader, said: "This innovative approach to local policing will build on the strong partnership foundations we already have in place across the Capital for tackling crime and antisocial behaviour.

"An important element is the setting of local priorities with communities - this really is giving the people who matter a say in how they want crime to be dealt with."

Community safety minister Fergus Ewing said: "Everyone has the right to feel safe in their community and promoting community safety and tackling antisocial behaviour are top priorities for the Scottish Government."