York Street Rangers join police at pop-up surgeries
York Street Rangers have joined the police to host ‘pop-up’ surgeries at various locations across the city centre.
On Tuesday (15 January), officers from the York City Neighbourhood Policing Team were available in three different locations across the city, speaking to members of the public, answering any questions and providing advice about any concerns they may have.
Hosted in partnership with York BID, Street Rangers were also on hand to support the surgeries and deliver advice alongside police officers at the locations in Kings Square, and in Marks and Spencers and McDonalds.
Thanks to new hand-held technology distributed to officers last year, officers are now able to work from virtually anywhere across the county. This new flexibility allows them to spend more time out in the communities they serve.
Speaking about the pop-ups, Police Constable Franky Myers from the York team said:
“We’ve hosted a few pop-up surgeries across the city and they’ve received a great response.
“Now that we can work from anywhere via phones and tablets, it means that officers can be more visible and accessible to the community, addressing any concerns, answering questions and giving members of the public the opportunity to pass on important information directly to the police. https://www.youtube.com/embed/O4NOeMr7Akw?rel=0&showinfo=0
“With the flexibility of the pop-up surgeries, we can literally set up anywhere across the city centre and thanks to information shared by the public, we can be in the right place at the right time.
“It’s really useful to host the surgeries alongside the York BID Street Rangers, as it takes partnership working to effectively tackle crime. It also gives us the opportunity to offer services such as dot peen property marking, with a lot of cyclists just being able to stop on their commute through the city, to have their bike marked.”
Safe and welcoming
Speaking about the pop-up surgeries, Andrew Lowson, Executive Director of York Business Improvement District said:
“Our Street Rangers work closely with the local Neighbourhood Policing Team all year round, to ensure York remains a safe and welcoming city in which to live, work or visit.
“We are happy to support the pop-up surgeries, as they are a very accessible way for the public to approach both our Street Rangers and Police Officers and raise any concerns they may have. The pop-ups also provide a reassuring presence in the city and help to deter crime and anti-social behaviour.
“We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with North Yorkshire Police and delivering more surgeries throughout the year.”
The team are aiming to host many more pop-up surgeries throughout the year and will be adding dates and times of the next event to their York City Police Facebook page and sharing via the @NPTYorkCity Twitter account.
They are also appealing to local business owners, who are willing to offer a location to host surgeries from, to get in touch.
Speaking about future locations, Police Constable Myers said ‘We are always looking for new places where we can be accessible to the public and it would be great to hear from retail outlets in the city, who would be happy for us to host a pop-up surgery from their premises.
“If any business owners are interested, please email on SNAyorkcity@northyorkshire.