On shift in Killamarsh: inside neighbourhood policing

As part of Neighbourhood Policing Week, we joined Sergeant Blaine Molloy for a shift at our new police station in Killamarsh.

Our Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT) are officers who work at the heart of our communities. Teams consist of a sergeant, police constables, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and neighbourhood investigation officers.

Sgt Molloy joined as a police officer in 2012, after serving as a special constable for more than three years in Derby. He brings with him experience from working in our response teams, dog section, and recently moved from the local team at Matlock to lead the North East SNT covering Killamarsh, Dronfield and Clowne.

From 8am, Sgt Molloy is in the station, where his first call is to pick up his radio and TASER so that he’s ready to attend a job when requested. He then checks the incident log from overnight, noting down details of a burglary to pass to an officer in his team who’s working to investigate similar incidents.

He then spends some time completing admin work – speaking to neighbouring SNTs, responding to messages from local partners and review his team’s incidents. He also reviews body worn video, giving feedback to officers and advice if needed.

Sgt Molloy also attends a meeting with teams across the area to get a picture of crime trends and focuses.

Once the rest of the SNT arrives to start their shift, Sgt Molloy conducts a short briefing going over key jobs for the team – such as ongoing shoplifting, intelligence about thefts and ongoing anti-social behaviour incidents.

Later in the day, he headed to Dronfield to patrol a local park that had experienced problem behaviour, also popping in to update a local business which had reported concerns about a man carrying a knife the night before, leading to an arrest.

Sergeant Molloy said: “I love working with the SNT, you have the chance to solve problems, looking at addressing why crimes are happening and preventing them.

“Safer neighbourhood teams are often the face of policing, the people that local communities know. There’s a view that SNTs just referee neighbour disputes over the garden wall, but it truly is so much more than that.”

He continues: “Being on an SNT means you can go out and talk to people, speak to them about any concerns they have and update on police work on the area. You can get to know an area, have really positive conversations and implement changes to prevent crime long term.”