PACT - Partners And Communities Together is a government initiative designed to bring together various bodies and organisations in the fight against crime. Although it is an inclusive initiative involving many organisations, one group or body has to run it and the "steering group" chosen to oversee PACT is the police.

To this end responsibility for the overall performance of PACT is taken by the police who may then charge other groups or organisations such as the various departments within Plymouth City Council, the Youth Offending Team, Social Services, housing and health, to name just a few, with any relevant task if their services are required. The police will hold these groups accountable for providing what is needed to reduce specifically targeted crime. For example reducing vandalism may require the services of Social Services if the perpetrator of the vandalism is under their control.

For the St Judes area we are fortunate enough to have our own local beat team consisting of (at time of writing) Inspector Martin Williams and Sgt Phil Prior plus the neighbourhood beat manager PC Kevin Richards, as well as police community support officers Avril, Tracey, Lee and Jan.

Specifically targeted crimes are the top three priorities decided by the local community and these three priorities are decided by discussion and vote. Over time these three priorities may change to reflect the changing needs of the community. These needs are decided at periodic meetings run by the police, usually in room 2 of the Tothill Community Centre. The date of the next meeting is Wednesday the 9th of April.

At the last meeting, which took place on Jan 16th 2008, those local residents present selected these three priorities:

1. Youth related anti-social behaviour
2. Criminal damage in the park
3. Litter and broken glass

The police will prioritise responses to calls from the public regarding these issues. If, as a park user, you see criminal damage of any sort (including graffiti or vandalism of any kind) or witness, or are a victim of, anti social behaviour then the advice from the police is dial 999 and it will be treated as an emergency.

The police are keen to target the perpetrators of all crime but will concentrate efforts on these crimes in particular. They do stress however that, in order for PACT to be a success, it relies on the public to report what they see, only then can the police respond and do something about it. What this means is that YOU may have to be the person who picks up the phone or contacts the police rather than leaving it to someone else.

If you see the effects of points 1 or 2 above rather than the crime in progress please still contact the police and make them aware. The police will measure the success of PACT by the number of incidents reported. If you don't report an incident, they will assume that the problem no longer exists. You can contact the police directly from this site using the problem reporting page [here]. You can even make your report anonymously if required. If you would rather contact the police via telephone you can ring Crownhill police station on 08452 777444. Minicom users can dial 01392 452935.

If you do decide to make a report, the advice from the local policing team is to please always ask for a log number. By requesting a log number the call handlers are required to pass the call on to the policing team which is something that doesn't always happen if a log number is not requested!

You may, if you require, also write to any member of the local beat team by addressing your letter to:

Charles Cross Police Station
Charles Cross
Plymouth
PL4 8HG


What ever else you might do, please try to remember and follow these three simple steps:

1. If YOU see it, YOU report it! Three reports of the same thing are far better than no reports at all.
2. Always ask for a LOG number.
3. If it is happening NOW, dial 999!