A mobile police station will travel to villages around the area where residents who have trouble getting to Whitehill police station can report crimes, get advice and speak to police officers personally.
Residents in the Kingsley and Selborne areas will also benefit from a visit from the van which will be staffed by officers from Alton police station.
The mobile station will be manned by two officers who will be working overtime, one to take enquiries in the unit itself, and one to perform high visibility foot patrols.
Officers will also have a direct link to the force enquiry centre at the police headquarters in Winchester.
ÒIt will work like a mobile library,Ó WhitehillÕs Inspector Gerry Thorne explained.
ÒInitially we will have the mobile police station once a fortnight but the hope is that we will have it once a week and it will be in a certain location at the same time every week.Ó
Three initial dates have been pencilled in for when the new mobile police station will be in the Bordon area starting on Wednesday, February 20, (followed by two more dates on March 6 and March 20 although exact details are still being finalised.
Insp Thorne explained that the mobile police stations were the latest idea put forward by Hampshire Constabulary to increase community policing in the county.
The new van is one of three in Hampshire which has been specially converted using some of the cash allocated from the governmentÕs rural crime fighting fund which totalled £220,000.
It follows the closure of rural police houses in a large number of villages where in the past residents would have been able to pay their beat officer a visit.
However, if the pilot scheme is successful it will mean that villages will benefit from the work of their beat officers and the mobile police station.
Insp Thorne explained: ÒIn addition to the work that the beat officer does in a 40-hour week, which is mostly spent on their patch, another two officers will be staffing the mobile police units.
ÒThe purpose of the vehicle is so that residents in the villages can get advice on crime prevention, matters of the law, report crimes and speak to an officer face-to-face.
ÒWe have secured money to pay for overtime for this so where in the past we would have had to have taken someone from other duties to do this it is in essence putting two extra officers on patrol.
ÒThe vans will be staffed by my officers who will be aware of the problem areas, but later down the line they may be staffed by specialists - a little like the handling calls centre. But if they are coming here every week it will not take them very long to get to know the local area.Ó
Assistant Chief Constable Phillip Jacobs said that the provision of the new mobile stations was in response to the needs and wishes of the rural communities.
He said: ÒWe recognise the importance for there to be a visible police presence among communities to help deter crime and we hope these mobile offices will increase the impact of policing in our rural communities.
ÒThis is the first time we have taken the office-based part of policing to the streets. We hope its benefits will be reaped by the community and the officers working in that community.Ó
AltonÕs Inspector Steve Mote echoed those sentiments but pointed out that the new initiative will only be successful if residents in the villages make use of the new mobile stations.
He said: ÒWhile the onus is on us to get out into the community, this initiative will only succeed if the rural population at large come out and speak to us.Ó