BOSSES at Dyfed- Powys police have told the people of Llanelli that neighbourhood policing is vital to continue services across the force area.
Commissioner Christopher Salmon and Chief Constable Simon Price visited the town yesterday, as part of a series of launches of the Police and Crime Plan for the next five years.
Mr Salmon told those who attended the session at Llanelli Town Hall of the six priorities he has set out in the plan, which was released last month.
One priority is to enhance access to policing services — part of which would be ensuring neighbourhood policing is set out in whichever way best suits a particular community.
He said: "Llanelli is quite concentrated, but you don't have to go far out before you are in some very rural areas.
"The question is how do you provide policing there and there are a whole range of options to improving access.
"Front desks are a hot topic, but we can use different types like mobile police stations."
Mr Price added: "Police forces in other parts of the world are law enforcement agencies, but our tradition is very much to police by consent.
"The police force is part of the community, we work in partnership with the community and policing is something that the community does itself," he said.
And, he added, the way in which to support that community was to continue with neighbourhood policing across the Dyfed-Powys area.
He reiterated Mr Salmon's feeling that the area was the "best part of the world to live and work".
But he added: "The very thing that makes it the best part of the world to live and work in, is the very thing that presents great challenges."
Other priorities include preventing crime, protecting the vulnerable, bringing people to justice, ensuring high standards of professionalism and spending wisely.
A review into rural policing has already been launched by Mr Price, who is working with Mr Salmon on the project.
