POLICING in Ripley hit the streets last Friday as officers held their first
outdoor street briefing.
The briefing at Ripley Market Place enabled residents to meet officers, hear updates on ongoing incidents and ask questions.
Ripley section inspector Steve Hobbs said: "This is the first street briefing we have done. We decided to hold it at Ripley Market Place on market day because we wanted to attract a wide range of people.
"We will eventually hold these briefings across the area, for example, we could just poll up on a road in Heanor and hold a briefing.
"We make a lot of decisions which effect the community, so we have decided to go out and involve the community."
The sunny weather aided the success of this first briefing, helping to draw in upwards of 30 people who stopped to listen.
During the briefing, crime prevention officer John Fahey gave advice on how to avoid becoming a victim of crime and issued special marker kits to owners of satellite navigation systems.
In full view of the public, patrol sergeant Darran Burford assigned jobs to his beat officers and police community support officers. These included parking problems on Oxford Street and a house burglary.
Ripley beat officer Ian Wheelwright, added: "I could spend all day everyday dealing with parking issues. Oxford Street is one of the biggest problems and an enforcement campaign has started."
Ripley PCSO Sarah Dufton ended the 40 minute briefing by explaining how she plans to go into schools to talk to pupils about anti-social behaviour and the typical action taken against offenders.
Street briefings were first conceived on the streets of Chicago and are gradually becoming more common. They are part of the drive by police forces to implement the Government's neighbourhood policing plan.