East Coast policing plan (HTML)

This is a plain text, HTML version of the East Coast policing plan. You can download the PDF version of the plan at the bottom of this page.

Foreword

Working together to make the coastal district the safest place to live, work and visit.

The Lincolnshire Coast has a rich history in its seasonal tourism offering, with Skegness being one of the country’s first seaside resorts to welcome visitors and is still one of the most popular today. Skegness, Ingoldmells and Mablethorpe make up over 50 miles of stunning coastline, including the unspoilt nature reserve of Gibraltar Point. The area has much to offer and attracts a wide range of visitors, particularly during the summer months.

Skegness alone sees 2.3 million visitors a year. The town sees its population rise from approximately 20,000 to 250,000 in the height of the summer. With 36,000 caravans across 262 sites, it is easy to see the challenges we face with the influx of visitors. The increased demand that this brings for both police and partners warrants a multiagency approach to provide the best possible service to both the residents and to visiting communities.

Last year saw the launch of the Summertime Policing Plan which is a structured approach. We aim to work together with several teams both within the force and our external partners. This year’s plan will look to take on the successes of last year and improve and build on those. This will take into account a review which has taken place through the University of Lincoln coupled with the feedback we have received.

We will continue to work with the Roads Policing Unit to keep our roads safe and deny criminals the use of the coastal road network.

Our officers work incredibly hard throughout the year, and I am proud to be part of such a fantastic team of people. By working in partnership with other agencies, I am confident that we can provide a safe place for people to live, work and visit.

I must stress that this is a plan which will not only focus on the summer but for the whole year. We know that our demands change, and we will be flexible in our approach to problem-solve emerging issues.

Inspector Jacqueline Evans
Neighbourhood Policing – East Coast

Our vision

Working together to make the coastal district the safest place to live, work and visit.

Our strategy

In line with the force priorities there are three areas that underpin our neighbourhood policing plan 2024.

Stop crime and ASB

We will do our utmost to prevent harm before it happens and lessen the impact when it does.

Protect people from harm

We will work with the community to deliver a series of initiatives to make them feel safe and protect them from harm.

Help those in need

We will work with our partners to identify the most vulnerable in our community, offering a high standard of care. Ensuring we have the right resources in the right place at the right time.

How we will deliver this

We will engage

We will be in the right place at the right time, in the heart of our communities.

We will listen

We will listen to the views of all our communities, setting community priorities across the district in consultation with you dealing with the things that really matter in your area.

We will inform

We will communicate using face-to-face engagements and across a number of online platforms.

We will work together

We will seek out opportunities to work with our partners and offer community participation policing initiatives.

Stop crime and ASB

We will do our utmost to prevent harm before it happens and lessen the impact when it does.

Anti-social behaviour

In the last 12 months, we have worked closely with East Lindsey District Council and other partners to reduce anti-social behaviour (ASB). This has involved the issuing of Community Protection Warning Notices (CPWNs), Unacceptable Behaviour Warning Letters (UBWLs) and Community Behaviour Orders (CBOs) and we will continue to identify problem areas and deal robustly with offenders throughout the year and across the area.

We will continue to work with our colleagues in the community partnership to engage with schools through the Mini Police project.

The Joint Diversionary Panel (JDP) are a panel of people who gather weekly to discuss youth offending and apply more of an education and reparational approach to youth offending with a view to keep young people out of the court process. However, we are aware that some offences still need to be dealt with through the criminal justice system.

The team have worked with retail premises where there has been an increase in shoplifting which can often lead to further ASB issues. We know that people will commit offences in order to fund their addictions – we will continue to work with We Are With You to signpost people to the best service to provide help and support.

Street drinking

As previously stated, we have strong working relationships with partners which include East Lindsey District Council, local housing associations and the British Transport Police (BTP). Working together, all year round, we will engage and, where necessary, use community-based powers to enforce. We are aware that street drinking often leads to offences of ASB and this can be intimidating. We are keen that residents and visitors alike feel safe and reassured in our area. 

Dispersal orders

A dispersal order gives police officers and police community support officers powers to direct people they suspect are causing or likely to cause crime, nuisance, or anti-social behaviour to members of the public to leave a designated area and not return for up to 48 hours. Under the legislation, officers also have the power to seize any item used in the commission of anti-social behaviour. If a person who has previously been directed to leave the dispersal area returns, an offence would be committed, and they could be arrested. Dispersal orders are an effective tool for dealing with incidents linked to night-time economy and anti-social behaviour. The Summertime Policing Plan will make the granting of such orders easier, providing our frontline officers with an important tool in preventing anti-social behaviour and serious violence on the coast.

Operation Songlark

Last year, we saw a substantial reduction in caravan burglaries by over 52%. This initiative spans the year with a preventative phase to reduce the number of caravan burglaries that occur across the East coast. Led by the local Neighbourhood Policing Team and supported by both specialist investigation and proactive teams, we aim to trace offenders swiftly, recovering stolen property and bringing offenders to justice. The local Neighbourhood Policing Team will be conducting high-visibility engagements in the area of caravan parks during the season and working with caravan site owners through Caravan Park Watch to provide crime prevention advice to all our visitors. Engagements will be regularly advertised on our social media pages.

County lines and drug supply

We are working with our colleagues across other forces to identify any potential County Lines in our area. We know that the supply and taking of drugs can lead to crime, disorder and ASB issues. Last year saw a large-scale operation to combat drug dealing across the area and many of the offenders are currently in the criminal justice phase. We will continue to work with our colleagues in the Intelligence Development Unit (IDU), act on submissions through Crime Stoppers and be the eyes and ears in the community to build on evidence to secure Magistrates Court Warrants. Drug users are often vulnerable and can be subject of exploitation. They can also commit offences in order to fund their drug habit. The NPT will also be working closely with the Roads Policing Unit to conduct days of action. With the help of partners and the Community Speed Watch groups we intend to reduce the number of serious road traffic collisions that occur within West Lindsey and make our roads as safe as possible to travel on.

Protect from harm

We will work with the community to deliver a series of initiatives to make them feel safe and protect them from harm.

Operation California and the night-time economy

As a team, we work closely with the licensing team, licensees, and local councils to educate on the dangers of drink-spiking. We have some resources which can be distributed at premises for patrons to protect their drinks. Thankfully, reported offences are relatively low which is positive. During the course of last year, we had a number of successful deployments of the “itemiser” which is a machine used to identify the level of a drug in the persons system. This can lead to stop searches of patrons and being able to prevent drugs being taken into the premises. Last year also saw us secure a knife arch and the deployment of this will continue this year with a view to deterring the carrying of weapons and the detection of such offences.

Hotel Watch and Caravan Park Watch

We are currently working with local hotels to launch a hotel watch scheme which will be very similar to caravan park watch which has been successfully operating for a number of years. This is a great way of empowering groups to run their own initiatives and work with us in partnership, when required. We are able to share information and provide crime prevention advice. What3words is a great application which has been widely used by the caravan parks and we will continue to encourage hotels and caravan parks to promote the application to easily identify offence and victim locations.

Operation Atlantis

Operation Atlantis will see us work closely with our partners in the HM Coastguard, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and East Lindsey District Council (ELDC). Last year, with partnership working, we saw Lifeguard incidents reduce by over 31% and rescue operations reduce by over 37%. The operation will encourage partners, retails premises and concessions along the seafront to promote the use of the Sandi Starfish wristband which is an initiative to reunite missing children with their parents quickly and safely. We are hoping that this will also include Police Service Volunteers and our Cadets to promote the scheme. As a reactive element, our teams will have the use of our own Utility Type Vehicle (UTV) which can be deployed across the coastline to places which are hard to reach.

Operation Seabird

Operation Seabird is a national multiagency initiative set up to deal with coastal crime such as damage to Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), disturbance to protected wildlife, and habitats. It focuses on education firstly with prosecution as a last resort. Most coastal disturbance is committed due to lack of knowledge. Our specialist Rural Crime Action Team lead in this important area. Working with partners in Natural England, Humber Nature Partnership, Lincs Wildlife Trust and the RSPB, we aim to keep the coastline safe for all visitors this summer

Organised car meets

We know that the Coast is an attractive place for people to travel and display their vehicles. We welcome responsible vehicle owners and want car enthusiasts to enjoy themselves, but we will not tolerate dangerous and anti-social driving which affects our local communities. Working together with East Lindsey District Council we aim to create a safe environment across the coastal car parks which supports everyone’s needs. We will commit local and specialist officers to engage and advise with the car enthusiast community, and, where necessary, enforcement activity will take place, including the use of CCTV and police drones.

Help those in need

We will work with our partners to identify the most vulnerable in our community, offering a high standard of care. Ensuring we have the right resources in the right place at the right time.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG)

StreetSafe is a great site where people can report the times and locations when they have felt vulnerable or unsafe. This can be due to a number of factors including environmental issues such as lack of street lighting. In July 2021, the Government launched its Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. Evidence presented in the strategy suggests that some forms of violence against women and girls are so commonplace that many women and girls don’t even think they’re worth reporting. We will use detailed analysis through our analysts to identify the best places to deploy our officers and, through visibility and engagement, will create a safe environment.

Communication and engagement

We know that there are a number of people who are harder to reach than others and we need to ensure that we are accessible to all of our communities. We are populating our engagement calendar and evaluating where we can reach as many people as possible and be most visible. We will continue to communicate through social media platforms and publish key messages.

Working in partnership with

• The Environment Agency
• Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner
• South and East Lincolnshire Community Safety Partnership
• Police Federation
• East Lindsey District Council
• what3words
• RNLI Lifeguards
• RNLI Lifeboats
• Operation Seabird
• Rapid Relief Team
• Spike Aware UK
• Oscar Kilo
• Lincolnshire Resilience Forum
• Just Lincolnshire
• Magna Vitae
• HM Coastguard