On Wednesday 31st August, Anna Firth, Member of Parliament for Southend West, went on patrol with Southend’s district of the Essex Police force for Operation Union.
Operation Union is a partnership plan to keep Southend safer. The operation is backed by emergency services, the council, transport networks and tourism and hospitality traders to tackle emerging issues and to prevent and detect crime.
Operation Union is pro-active policing, where officers engage with the public and try to make civilians feel as safe as possible. The stats show that when the police patrol on foot for 10-15 minutes their presence is more effective than when they simply stop and drive through an area - hence leading to less anti-social behaviour. The police patrol day and night, weekdays and weekends to ensure the people of Southend are safe.
Anna has worked tirelessly for the police force as one of her key priorities since she has been elected is to make Southend safer. She has raised several issues in the House of Commons, and received a positive response on Operation Union from Kit Malthouse MP, Minister for Policing at the time. Anna has ensured the Southend district are granted extra police, with an additional 30 joining the team. Furthermore, the recent addition of state-of-the-art knife poles, which Anna campaigned extremely hard for, have joined Southend’s armoury to eradicate knife-crime of the streets.
Paul Hogben, Inspector, said,
“We have worked hard all summer with partners from businesses and organisations from across the city, to ensure that we effectively prevent and detect crime and ASB in our waterfront areas. The wide scope of people involved in this operation allows a much more rounded approach to public safety, rather than simply relying on police. One of the benefits of Operation Union, is the communication between all partners, enabling us to share intelligence and learn from experiences as we go.”
Anna Firth MP said,
“I am extremely glad to see that Essex Police and the Southend district are doing everything they can to make our city safer. The increased police presence not only reduces crime and anti-social behaviour, but also makes civilians feel safer and more protected as the officers on patrol pro-actively engage with the public. I am going to continue to work on making our Southend police force the best it can be. Thank you very much Southend Police for your continued hard work!”
