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Last month Get up interviewed Inspector Lee Poynton, one of two neighborhood police inspectors based in York. Inspector Poyton has completed almost 25 years of service with North Yorkshire Police (NYP), with experience in the Narcotics Unit, the Detention Bureau and the Control Room.
Get up began by asking Inspector Poyton what drew him to neighborhood policing, a department in which he has worked for more than a decade. He explained that “neighborhood policing allows you to make the biggest difference in our communities by working with people, listening to them … and that’s the change I’m very passionate about.” He described student connections as “a huge part of our community here at York”.
Focusing on student issues, Get up asked Inspector Poyton which issues were most affecting pupils in York. He said “what we can’t avoid talking about is violence against women and girls, whether it’s drinking in nightclubs, domestic violence behind closed doors or violence at its worst.”
He continued: “What I would say to anyone who is suffering from any kind of abuse, whether it’s a man or a woman, we’re going to listen and work with you and respect what you want.” Regarding those who are unsure about police intervention, he said Get up: “people should not suffer in silence – there are many agencies and we will respect your wishes”.
Get up asked whether the Home Office’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy, announced last year, had changed the approach of North Yorkshire Police. The inspector said: “I don’t think our approach has changed, I think it was right, but it has probably sharpened our focus.”
He continued: “An offense that would not have been dealt with so much before will now be dealt with. If there is a [case of] violence against women will go through a system that checks if we’ve done everything we can physically, mentally do to make sure we offer the best service to the victim.”
With a specific discussion about drinking at York, the officer explained that “we have an operation across the country that collects all the drinking data, but the advice to students is don’t leave your drinks unattended, don’t accept drinks from strangers… and be more careful if you go out with people you don’t know”. He described the early evidence kits now used by the NYP, allowing officers to test for drugs if you report a suspected high soon enough.
Discussing attitudes to drinking, Inspector Poyton explained: “The really positive thing about how policing has changed is that once students were seen as ‘too drunk’ or ‘couldn’t handle their alcohol’, we don’t have that approach and if any student encounters this approach, it’s something that needs to be raised.”
The inspector advised all students that “personal safety is really important and that’s going out as a group, coming back as a group.” He also discussed other issues such as the dangers of unregistered taxis in York, along with river safety, warning that the River Ouse “will take lives, it has in the past and it will continue to do so”.
Get up then asked about the drug trade in York. The officer replied: “I don’t see it as a serious problem, but I would be very naive to think that young people don’t take drugs.” He continued: “I don’t condone it… but our position is not so much to impose, but instead to offer help, advice [and] supports. We can give you a criminal record, but if we don’t figure out why you’re taking drugs, you’re going to keep doing it”.
Get up also wanted to know how NYP connects with the student body. The inspector claimed that “the student community is a difficult community to break into” in relation to people who were only at York for a few years during their studies before moving on.
He continued: “We try to be responsive and give the service you want… we’ve changed in policing in a big way, from coming in and telling you what you can’t do to now telling you what you can do. you do, to help the students”.
Exploring the importance of partnership working, Get up asked how local neighborhood teams liaise with other agencies. Inspector Poyton explained that “without working in partnership, our work will fail” and that “we are in very close contact with the security teams at the University of York, we are in very close contact with the social care teams at the university, as well as drug and alcohol agencies’.
Regarding City of York Council, he continued: “We have a community safety hub based at City of York Council offices that work together on complex cases… the noise is a prime example when students have a party, it goes straight into the council to deal with it and we will only get involved if we have to”.
Get up also asked how the NYP is doing with the government’s police recruitment program. Although Inspector Poyton did not have figures, he explained how “there are a lot of student police officers who are now completing their training – that’s a huge and quite significant number of police officers who are now out on the street making our communities feel safer”. He specifically said that “the lift was really important to us because putting the street numbers back into the community, serving the community is vital.”
Inspector Poynton asked, ending the interview Get up to pass on his key advice: “Don’t be afraid to come and say hi…my team are mostly PCSOs and there’s nothing they like more than a cup of coffee and a chat, that’s what they’re there for”. He reminded students to “stay with your friends, stay in a group” when out at night and relayed that “I’m not telling people not to have fun, but to be safe.”
Editor’s note: Interview conducted on October 27, 2022.
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