New borough commander vows to crack down on antisocial behaviour

EXCLUSIVE: Surrey Police's new Waverley Borough Commander talks to Nub News about her priorities, and how she plans to tackle the antisocial behaviour that has blighted both Godalming and Farncombe this summer.

As a former Neighbourhood Officer herself, Waverley's new borough commander is very keen on community policing.

Inspector Sam Adcock has served as an officer with Surrey Police for almost six years. Prior to that, she served in Hampshire Constabulary for 10 years.

She is a former neighbourhood officer, custody officer and control room officer one, in charge of firearms deployment and managing risk across the force.

And she is of the firm opinion that working in partnership with community groups and residents is the key to tackling the antisocial behaviour that has caused so many problems in the town this year.

In her first week in the job Inspector Adcock, who is based at the Waverley Borough Council offices in Godalming, doubled the number of neighbourhood officers in the borough from two to four. The officers will cover Waverley's four centres: Godalming, Haslemere, Cranleigh and Farnham; with each area having a dedicated beat officer.

She has instructed Godalming's officers to deal with the bad behaviour that over the summer has seen car windows smashed, benches torched and litter left strewn across the Phillips Memorial Cloister.

Problem areas.

"I have asked each area to have a look at their problem areas and their challenging people," she told Nub News. "I want those officers to own their area and its problems and be accountable to the public for that. "I have made that the top priority. We are aware of the issues, and we will deal with the issues as we see them. "I have asked my officers each to create a local priority list over the next six to 12 months. "I want them to understand what the problems are, and focus in on them." Responding to criticism on social media that officers were not often seen in the areas where problems have arisen, such as the Jack Phillips Memorial Park and near St John's Church in Farncombe, she said: "We will and do patrol those areas. "I have asked my team to increase their social media presence so people are aware of what we are doing. "Once they are in post people will be able to see a significant difference." There are two officers in post now; another will join at the end of November and the fourth shortly thereafter. "We are doing some moving around as well," she says. "I've got an officer returning from a career break who used to work in Farnham town centre. I want him in Godalming dealing with these issues. He landed with us on Monday." Community engagement.

She has also doubled the number of youth engagement officers from one to two.

"They will be engaging with the community, finding out what the issues are and becoming part of the problem-solving package," she said.

"My number one aim is to not only make Waverley safer, but to make Waverley feel safe."

She stresses that a solution to the problems lies in partnership working with the town and borough councils as well as schools, and in youth provision.

And she encourages residents to get in touch to raise issues direct with the force, via the 101 call number or its online reporting system.

"If we don't know it's happening we can't do anything about it," she said.

Rule of Six.

Asked how the force was intending to enforce the new Rule of Six, which limits groups to six people, whether indoors or out, she said she was confident the law would be observed in the area. "Surrey Police are committed to keeping our residents safe. We would ask our residents to follow the government rules," she said. She is asking people to report breaches of the new rules via 101. "We will of course get to what we can, but we have to be sensible, and everyone has to play their part in that," she said. "It will be a challenging time, but we will continue to follow the four Es: engage, encourage, explain, and enforce when necessary. "I think in general, having worked in the control room, Surrey has been very compliant, and we thank everybody for that." Public meetings.

In the future, post-pandemic world, Insp Adcock is hopeful of restarting public meetings, something on which both the Police and Crime Commissioner David Munro and Godalming's MP Jeremy Hunt are very keen.

"Quite often within the beat surgery we can be aware of problems that we were not aware of before," she says.

"I want people to know their local officers and to work with us."

To report a crime or other issue of concern call 101 or get in contact via the online reporting system here.