My name is Lou Oakley and I am the current inspector for the Warminster Neighbourhood Policing Team covering Warminster, Westbury, Mere and Tisbury. I have been in this post for 15 months but have 19 years’ experience with Wiltshire Police.
I first joined in 2006 as a PCSO and have worked across many departments, including response, neighbourhoods, and PSU – a specialised unit trained to an advanced tactical level in public order and riot control.
My passion is frontline policing, and I believe that targeting the root cause of criminality can make a real difference in the community and help build trust and confidence in policing.
I recognise that the police are not able to solve criminality by themselves, and I enjoy working closely with partner agencies, looking at the long-term problem-solving approach.
Based on policing demand, data and feedback from our communities, youth-related anti-social behaviour, shoplifting, and rural crime are the top priorities for my neighbourhood policing team.
The Warminster area NPT consists of myself as inspector, a sergeant, three police constables and five police community support officers. I also oversee the Local Police Tasking Team, which is based in Warminster. My team also supports other departments, such as the Neighbourhood Crime Reduction Unit and Special Operations, which includes dogs, traffic, and firearms.
I am also the operational lead for retail crime in the county. A retail crime strategy has been put in place in response to the national increase in retail crime. In the last 12 months I am pleased to say that Wiltshire has seen a reduction of 11% in the county and 25.2% in Swindon. We are also arresting and charging more people, with 36.5% of cases getting further action, an increase of 7.3%.
A Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) panel has been set up in the county and Swindon which includes partner agencies such as drug and alcohol organisations and housing and probation, looking at reoffending and what can be done to prevent it. We currently have 20 CBOs active in Wiltshire.
A year ago, a survey was carried out with our retailers, and we plan to ask them questions again to compare the answers. We are also looking at simplifying reporting from retailers and uploading evidence.
We are your police force and we need your support. If you see something suspicious, let us know. If you see one of my officers out and about, come and say hello.
And if you want our team to come and talk to groups or attend events, let us know by sending an email to WarminsterAreaNPT@wiltshire.police.uk.
