Central Scotland Police

Operation Reassurance

Operation Reassurance is the theme name for all high profile policing carried out by Central Scotland Police officers whether it be foot or mobile patrol or targeted operations.

Fear of crime is prevalent in all walks of life and is a normal human response to perceived threat. Operation Reassurance seeks to address these fears and by interactive policing, bring proportion to situations which may have led to misconception .

Statistically, the Central Scotland Police area remains one of the safest places in to live, work or visit in the United Kingdom. Although these figures refer to recorded crime and are undoubtedly of no comfort to those unfortunate enough to having fallen victim to crime, the statistics do appear to reflect the comparitively low levels of crime committed in our force area.

Although working constraints can impact on opportunities for officers to carry out foot patrols, Central Scotland Police is wholly committed to meeting public demand for high visibility policing. From experience, however, it is not only about carrying out general foot patrol. It is about interacting with communities, listening to what is being said and responding in a proportionate and appropriate manner.

Acting on intelligence from communities, officers will patrol identified 'hot spots' as and when they can. This can be in response to a variety of problems such as youth disorder, public drinking, irresponsible driving or street noise outside licenced premises.

Over and above the day to day reassurance work that is carried out by officers, the force will continue to mount regular force-wide, high profile operations during which office-based staff will join special constables in augmenting street strength to tackle the problems that have been identified by communities as currently being of concern. On these occasions local councillors, council officials and other community representatives have accompanied officers, seeing at first hand the work being carried out by officers and hearing for themselves the problems being encountered in their communities.

To date, these operations have met with wide-spread public approval and have made an impact on, amongst other things,street disorder.

Clearly, Operation Reassurance cannot function without the support of both the community and the force's many partner agencies. It is therefore the responsibility of us all to attempt to reduce the fear of crime and help maintain or improve the quality of life for all who come into contact with our police area.