How Nicolle is working to address law and order priorities

In the latest edition of Marketing Derby’s Innovate Magazine, we meet Nicolle Ndiweni-Roberts, Derbyshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, for a Q&A on what she is doing to address the public’s law and order priorities.

The commissioner’s job is to bring communities and the police closer together.

As an elected ‘voice of the people’, Nicolle’s role aims to improve community engagement and deliver a more effective policing service.

In a frank and far-reaching interview, Nicolle outlines the work that has been done to find out what the public wants to see from its local police force – and how she is acting upon their responses.

She told Innovate: “We’ve tried to ensure we are getting the views of as many people across Derbyshire as we can, from as many communities as possible. And we’ve worked hard to reach those it has been difficult to engage previously, such as younger people.

“We’ve managed to get 3,300 to give us a real flavour of what people are feeling.

“And the top three priorities, that are reflected in my Police and Crime Plan, are tackling serious violence and violence against women and girls; anti-social behaviour and community safety; and neighbourhood policing, having a greater presence in communities.”

In terms of actions, Nicolle said that much work being done around prevention when it comes to serious violence and violence against women, particularly with schools.

Meanwhile, ‘hotspot policing’ is helping to decrease incidents or anti-social behaviour in designated areas.

Nicolle added that a £2.8 million first tranche of funding was also helping improve neighbourhood policing.

In the interview, Nicolle, who is a Derby resident, was asked how safe she feels in the city.

She said: “Genuinely, I feel safe in Derby – but I also see the challenges that we face as a city. I don’t personally feel unsafe, but I can understand why some people may.

“I understand the challenges we face with homelessness within our community, with drug dealing and substance misuse.

“There’s a lot happening within the city centre that we do need to tackle, but this has to be done in partnership because homelessness, for instance, is not solely a policing issue.

“Some of the issues we face in the city centre are very much around policing and crime and sit clearly with us, but some of them are a societal response that needs us to work together with councils, with businesses, with community members, with health.

“The challenge is resourcing. So, we have to be innovative and try to figure out ways to make things work with what we have.”

To read the feature in full click here.