Rotherham success sees Post Office crime scheme rolled out

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A TRIAL to incorporate post offices in the crime prevention battle in Rotherham has proved so successful that the scheme is being rolled out across the county.

A number of post offices in Sheffield, Barnsley and Doncaster have been “adopted” by South Yorkshire Police as part of a scheme designed to provide reassurance and crime prevention support in key community locations.

The scheme sees PCSOs regularly visiting post offices at peak times and speaking with customers and members of staff to ensure that strong links are maintained within communities.

Adopt a Post Office was launched in Rotherham last May and saw police points of contact for all Post Office branches across Rotherham.

The scheme had been adopted in other parts of the country but at the time was new to South Yorkshire.

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Jason Harwin said: “Post offices are key locations where members of the local community, particularly the elderly, regularly handle money. This makes them an ideal place in which we can interact with the public.

“After the success of Adopt a Post Office in Rotherham it made sense for us to adopt post offices forcewide, in some of our key communities. We found the scheme to be very beneficial for people in Rotherham, and hope that we can replicate these benefits across the county.”

Senior Post Office security manager Amy Quirk said: “We are always looking to create new partnerships with the police which will benefit not just our two organisations, but the wide variety of customers who use our locations.

“The Post Office remains at the heart of communities up and down the country, and we are happy to provide branches in South Yorkshire for the police to utilise in terms of liaising with customers and conveying key security messages.”