Wolds policing plan

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

Download a PDF version of this plan.

Foreword

Neighbourhood Policing is at its heart, about the communities we serve, and the officers in my Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) dedicate their time to understanding the issues affecting those communities and how we can best support them.

While the Wolds is generally a safe place to live, work, and visit, we face ongoing policing challenges, particularly in our local towns, much like those in areas with similar populations. The region’s geography and distances also present unique policing challenges.

We are dedicated to addressing these issues through collaboration and early intervention to reduce demand, allowing us to focus on the most pressing community concerns. By working closely with East Lindsey District Council and other key partners, we aim to effectively utilise civil orders and maintain a cohesive approach to tackling crime and enhancing public safety.

There are five main population centres: the towns of Louth and Horncastle are the largest, followed by Woodhall Spa, Coningsby, and Tattershall. Coningsby is notable for being home to RAF Coningsby, an active and busy RAF station. We police every area, and base our policing resources from strategic locations to police as effectively as we can to achieve this. Our two Neighbourhood Policing Teams are based in Louth and Horncastle. They are supported by our Response officers who are available to provide 24/7 service.

The Lincolnshire Wolds spans an area of nearly 220 square miles, with a large part of that being rural, making it a popular destination for walkers. During peak months, the area welcomes over half a million visitors, contributing to heavy traffic on roads leading to the coast, as well as major routes between Grimsby and Boston. This results in an inordinate amount of traffic for such a rural area.

Our plan is designed to address the specific needs and challenges of this rural area, while fostering a sense of security and trust within the community, and we are supported by the Roads Policing Unit (RPU). Visibility and accessibility are key, and we aim to promote our public engagements to ensure that our communities have a voice and are able to express what is adversely affecting them.

Inspector Jacqueline Barnsley
Neighbourhood Policing – Wolds

Our vision

Working together to make the county 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 2025/26.

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.

School engagement

We will maintain our collaboration with local schools through initiatives such as Mini Police to build relationships, foster trust, and educate children about safety. Additionally, we will prioritise online safety, ensuring children are aware of the risks in the digital space, with preventing exploitation as one of South Wolds’ current priorities. We will continue to work closely with our colleagues in the crime prevention department to determine the best strategies for addressing these issues.

Pedestrian and cyclist safety

We will continue to educate and advise our community on the safe use of bicycles, addressing the anti-social use of bikes and e-scooters, while promoting bike safety to both cyclists and drivers. Our goal is to ensure that cyclists feel safe using our roads.

Tackling drug supply and associated anti-social behaviour

The issue of drug supply, along with the associated anti-social behaviour and criminality, will remain a key focus for us. With the support of the Road Policing Unit (RPU), Response Officers, and specialist proactive teams and investigation units, we will address these challenges. Key partners, including social services, housing agencies, and schools, will be involved in our efforts, with a particular focus on preventing the exploitation of vulnerable  individuals, especially children. We will actively target those who seek to exploit others or profit from the supply of controlled drugs.

Op Galileo

Over recent years, we have achieved notable success in reducing hare coursing and rural burglaries. We will continue to build on this success by using specialist investigative teams, the Rural Crime team, and proactive resources such as the Roads Policing Unit (RPU) and our community Response teams. These efforts will provide an effective and robust response to this ongoing problem. We will leverage intelligence to ensure we are in the right place at the right time, relentlessly targeting offenders.

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.

Reducing harm in the Wolds night-time economy

We will collaborate closely with licensees, the licensing department, and local councils to reduce violence, particularly violence against women and girls, and the harm associated with excessive alcohol consumption. Our approach includes introducing initiatives such as Ask For Angela. We will proactively patrol lively night-time areas, ensuring a visible presence at key times, and actively target those who supply controlled drugs or commit acts of violence in our towns and villages. Additionally, we will build on the success of our newly relaunched Pubwatch scheme to prevent violent individuals from accessing local establishments. Our aim is to ensure that everyone feels safe and comfortable in our local pubs and nightclubs.

Pubwatch

We are dedicated to collaborating with local licensees to support them in operating an effective Pubwatch scheme. This initiative aims to prevent violent individuals and those who exhibit anti-social behaviour from accessing licensed premises. By doing so, we contribute to making the Wolds a safer and more enjoyable environment for night life, thereby reducing harm towards our community and those visiting.

Tackling travelling criminals, particularly those involved in burglaries

We know that criminals use roads just like law-abiding citizens do, and that opportunistic offenders, often from various policing areas, may target rural communities. We will collaborate with our Community Patrol and Roads Policing
colleagues to proactively target criminals on our roads using intelligence-led policing in coordination with other forces. We will leverage technologies like ANPR to ensure we are focusing on the right individuals and deploying  resources effectively. Additionally, we will offer crime prevention advice and reassurance to affected communities and promote alternative ways for residents to report issues and concerns beyond the 101/999 system.

Drink- and drug-drive stop checks

We will collaborate closely with our Roads Policing Unit to deploy a dedicated drink- and drug-drive stop check operation. This initiative aims to prevent, deter, and enforce offences related to drink- and drug-driving. The operation will be conducted at several key locations within the district, with the goal of keeping our communities safe on the Wolds’ road network.

Speeding and anti-social use of vehicles

We will collaborate with our Roads Policing Unit to implement a comprehensive drink- and drug-driving stop check operation. This initiative aims to prevent, deter, and enforce offences related to drink- and drug-driving. The operation will be conducted at several key locations within the district, with the goal of ensuring the safety of our communities on the Wolds road network.

We will also engage with the communities most affected by these issues. Our efforts will include conducting speed checks, assisting in the establishment of community speedwatch schemes in conjunction with the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP), and carrying out surveys in areas where there is a perception of speeding. These measures will help us better understand and address any problems.

Develop a culture of problem solving

We will collaborate closely with our problem solving team to ensure a cohesive approach in tackling challenges. Our decisions will be guided by data and evidence, ensuring we achieve our goals. We will look beyond our local area to identify best practices and learn from what has worked elsewhere, sharing our positive results. Additionally, we will work with local partners to determine who is best placed to lead on each issue, regardless of their affiliation.

Operation California

Operation California aims to tackle the use of recreational drugs within the night-time economy of the Wolds district. We collaborate closely with our dedicated licensing team and local licensees.

We will be using drug itemisers in venues such as pubs and clubs as a condition of entry to enhance security and deter drug-related activities. They work by taking swabs and analysing them for the presence of drugs, including cocaine, cannabis, heroin and ecstasy, almost instantly. These are valuable tools in the fight against drug-related crime, creating a safer environment for both residents and visitors by deterring people from carrying or using drugs in these areas and reducing the likelihood of drug-related incidents.

#FATAL5

Throughout the year resources will work alongside specialist officers (such as the Roads Policing Unit) with partners such as the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership to make our roads safer, tackling the areas that fall under the #Fatal5, alongside other antisocial behaviour on our roads. Local Policing teams will complement responses to force wide operations on a local level such as the targeting of drink- and drug-drivers on our roads. We will seek to base our response on evidence, requesting where appropriate speed surveys to obtain data that will allow officers  to focus their time where most needed. Local community speed watch will be promoted to encourage the public to become involved in prevention and partners will be consulted and the public signposted where other agencies can best offer solutions to create and implement initiatives that make our roads a safer place.

The #Fatal5 are:

• careless driving
• drink- and drug-driving
• not wearing a seatbelt
• excessive speed
• distraction (including mobile phones)

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.

Engagement with seldom-heard communities

We will work with local teams, analysts, and partner agencies to identify our seldom heard communities and determine the best ways to reach them. We recognize that certain groups, such as the disabled and elderly, are less likely to reach out, despite being equally or more likely to be victims of crime and anti-social behaviour. To address this and ensure our priorities reflect the views of the entire community, we will proactively contact these groups, encourage them to share their perspectives, and find innovative ways for them to express themselves.

Additionally, we will continue to enhance our social media presence, providing a platform for two-way conversation with our communities in an informal manner. We will also actively promote the use of StreetSafe and CrimeStoppers to report issues.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG)

VAWG covers multiple crimes with the common theme being they disproportionately affect women and girls. We will work with other policing teams to ensure such crimes are robustly dealt with and work with partners to ensure
such behaviours are shown not be acceptable.

We will work with external partners including Crime Stoppers to promote and participate in local/national campaigns to ensure that those who may be victim of criminality from all communities and backgrounds have the confidence to speak out and report matters to the Police. We want women and girls to feel safe across the Wolds day and night.

Working in partnership with

• East Midlands Ambulance Service
• Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue
• Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner
• East Lindsey District Council
• Platform Housing Group
• Lincolnshire Housing Partnership
• Safer Lincolnshire Partnership
• NHS Lincolnshire
• Lincolnshire Resilience Forum
• Just Lincolnshire
• Home Office
• Probation Service
• Longhurst Group