The Surrey Chief Constable, Tim de Meyer, and the Police and Crime Commissioner, Lisa Townsend, have been doing roadshows around the county and they visited Woking on November 22.

There was a good turnout, and we heard from both of them on the police performance and strategy.

Woking’s Inspector, Sandra Carlier, was also there and gave us an update on Woking.

There was a strong feeling about the police’s poor response to shoplifting. 

This has become a major problem in the UK due to a number of reasons. 

One of those reasons is simply that the criminals seem to be able to get away with it. 

Knaphill has been badly hit with the problem and the Chief Constable assured the public that it was not for the police to decide who to arrest and who to not arrest. 

The police will arrest and it is for the judicial system to assess and apply the punishment. 

So all occurrences of shoplifting should be reported. Ring 999 if is happening currently – otherwise report via 101 or online. 

The supermarkets have processes to deal with shoplifting but there is clearly still much work to do to get the supermarkets and the police in line to deal effectively with the problem. 

The Chief Constable also stated that anti-social behaviour (ASB) was also not to be tolerated and the public should also report that. 

The more people who call 999/101 about an ASB incident the better the response from the police as it will become an “area” incident and require a more robust police response.

So, you should all report the same ASB in your community. 

Never assume someone else has reported it and never think that the police “will not do anything about it”. That is not the case. 

The police do a lot of actions to keep us safe, but they are bad at telling us. 

They do attend many incidents but we, the public, often claim not see the police presence – even though they and the police cars are very visible. 

If you missed the Woking event there is another chance to attend online on Monday, January 29, from 6pm to 7pm. Visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/749225512677

The HM Inspector of Constabulary has just released its report on Surrey Police and it is well worth reading.

Some things are good in the report and some need improvement.  

It can be downloaded here.

It’s our police, and we pay for them in our taxes, and so we need to know what they are doing well and not so well.

Surrey remains a relatively low-crime county and much of that is down to the actions of the police.

But they can’t deal with our problems if we don’t report them. Report, report, report.

As well as calling 999 for urgent matters or using 101/LiveChat for others, you can visit www.surrey.police.uk