Anti-social behaviour a key priority for new Pontefract inspector

Inspector Phillippa Child said she was ‘incredibly proud’ to have been appointed as the new inspector for the Wakefield East and South East area, and would be focusing on tackling community problems.

The officer, who is from Horbury and learnt her trade as a neighbourhood policing team NPT) officer in Wakefield, said policing at a local level had always been her main interest and passion as a police officer.

She said: “I’m delighted to move into the role of NPT inspector for Wakefield East and South East and am keen to carry out some longer-term problem-solving work with partners to address issues which we know are causing community concern.

“We know there is an issue with youth related anti-social behaviour in Pontefract for example, and I want to stress that we really do get how the actions of a small group of young people can have a big impact on quality of life.

“We will look at longer term solutions and at addressing the cause of poor behaviour by some young people and I can also promise that we will not be afraid of taking some tough enforcement action to quickly get a message across such behaviour will have serious consequences.”

Phillippa joined West Yorkshire Police in September 2006 and worked in the Wakefield Central area as an NPT officer before a spell in CID.

She transferred to Leeds in 2016 on promotion to sergeant and worked in the city centre and Beeston areas before returning to Wakefield in 2018.

During her first spell working in Wakefield, she created the Lupset-based Girls Learning Opportunities (GLO) Project intended at improving the self-esteem of and education opportunities for girls aged 11 to 16, to help divert them away from potentially becoming involved in criminality.

The nine-week programme was launched in 2013 and was credited with helping break down barriers and providing young people with information about how to develop careers based upon their interests.

“GLO is still running and the impact it had is something I’m really proud of, as we know how hard it can be for young people to find a route towards building that confidence and feeling they can achieve aspirations,” she said.

Looking to the future, Phillippa said she would be keen to investigate the potential for more diversionary projects, such as GLO, with partners, while focusing on more proactive police operations addressing issues of community concern.

“We do want to take more positive action going forwards, addressing issues such as drugs and drug dealing in our communities and residents will be seeing visible police action,” she said.

“I would ask anyone who has information or intelligence about those involved in anti social behaviour, drug crime or other offending the Wakefield East and South East area is asked to contact the NPT [email protected]"