EAST HAMPSHIRE'S senior police officer was this week due to explain the changes in local policing to Whitehill residents and urge them to form their own Street Watch scheme. With response teams set to move from Whitehill Police Station to Alton later in the year, Chief Insp Phil Kedge was due to attend a meeting yesterday evening, Thursday, at Whitehill's Pinewood Village Hall. Prior to the meeting, Chief Insp Kedge said: "Policing is not a static activity - each year we are driven by local and government strategies, targets and priorities. I understand that any proposed change may cause the perception of a negative impact on local policing. The response teams are being moved to Alton because it provides all the central functions to support them. It is a more modern facility with better supervision and access to the main policing departments, including custody. Where the response teams have been stationed at Whitehill, there has been an amount of inefficiency with officers losing patrol time in travelling back and forth to Alton for even the most basic requirements. "With the new structure, officers have immediate access to local support and, once on patrol, will be able to dedicate their time to proactively police local communities." Chief Insp Kedge also encouraged the formation of a community Street Watch scheme in Whitehill. Street Watch has had success in Four Marks, and Chief Insp Kedge hopes the scheme will spread across the district. He said: "I will personally help to set up and chair a Street Watch meeting for three months - that's how passionately I believe in the community of East Hampshire. In my own time, as a member of the community, I will assist them to get confidence, empowering them and helping them to get local leadership. In return, I am asking for them to have 12 local residents willing to get the local scheme running. But there is a short window of opportunity to consider it. "If they don't take me up, we will still develop Street Watch through local officers."
