INSPECTOR Phil Hodgson and his team are more Dixon of Dock Green than Robocop but that doesn't mean they will be soft on crime.

Phil heads up the new Western Rural Neighbourhood Policing Unit which brings together the rural areas of Chester and Vale Royal following a force-wide restructuring aimed at thinking and acting locally.

The big change is that beat bobbies will no longer be asked to deal with 999 calls. That job will be carried out by a dedicated response team. Instead his officers will concentrate on working with the community and solving crime.

'The challenge is immense but I can't think of any other role I would rather perform,' said Phil who has only been in his new role three weeks but has 21 years of front-line policing experience.

'My team and I want to improve the policing service for everyone, regardless of the standard they've had in the past. I want to reassure people that I'm committed to making all the communities within the NPU feel safe with visible, accessible policing and I won't give up on achieving that goal.

'We've listened to what people want from their police service and what people will experience is a definite change - more officers will be dedicated to working with a community for a community rather than racing around in police cars with horns blaring and lights flashing.'

This change in style means Phil and his fellow NPU inspectors across the county now have a host of issues on their plate.

'I'll be in charge of two separate teams. A Community Action Team, which will focus on quality of life issues that matter to residents and not just the high profile work such as targeting drug dealers.

'I'll also have control of a separate investigation team. This will be made up of a dedicated team of detective and uniform officers, who will be responsible for solving crime, such as assaults, burglary and vehicle crime,' he said.

The Force is confident that changing the way it goes about its business is the key to success when it comes to improving the service, however NPU inspectors are also realistic about the challenges which lie ahead.

'The challenges as I see them are quite diverse due to the fact that geographically, my team will have a large rural area to police with differing challenges.

'The rise of violent crime is something that nationally needs addressing and I will seek to tackle this problem in a robust manner at the same time as ensuring the communities' needs are met.

'What I don't want to do is promise something that I can't deliver upon. Anyone can say this problem will be solved and we'll eradicate that problem but what really matters is listening to the public, getting results and then analysing how we can improve.

'My staff and I will need to be accessible and we propose to achieve this by listening and meeting people and seizing every opportunity to adopt a hands-on approach within the community.' david.holmes @cheshirenews.co.uk

How it works
To contact police about an issue which does not require an immediate response ring 0845 458 00 00. In an emergency dial 999. Each NPU will get a voicemail number for non-urgent messages.

Inspector Hodgson will have eight officers in his investigation team plus six based at Mickle Trafford, four at Dragonhall and five at Frodsham. The final change over date is June 13.

The following officers have responsibility for a patch from that date: PC Mike Powell (Farndon/Shocklach); PC Malcolm Baker (Mickle Trafford/ Guilden Sutton); PC Neil Busby (Waverton/ Christleton); PC Geraint Davies (Tattenhall); PC Vaughan Marks (Tarvin); PC Gareth Cooper (Elton); PC Sharron Beverley (Eccleston/Chester Business Park); PC Martin Walsh (Barrow); PC Rob Fisher (Kelsall, Mara and Delamere); PC Chris McCourt (Tarporley /Oulton); PC Damien John (Mollington) and PC Robert Boulton (Malpas).