THERE'S a new police officer in town, and you might recognise her.

Sergeant Jenna Jones has recently arrived from the Humberside Police Rural Task Force to bring her wealth of experience, returning to the community of Pocklington and the surrounding towns and villages.

Based at Pocklington Police Station, Jenna’s patch covers around 300 square miles of the East Riding of Yorkshire.  Including Market Weighton, up to Stamford Bridge, Wetwang and our furthest western boundary is East Cottingwith over near the Derwent.

She said: “We come under the Goole cluster, so our neighbouring policing teams are Howdenshire and Goole and is under Inspector Jon Powell who is also the Inspector for the Rural Task Force, from where I have just come.

“I am very proud of the achievements of the Rural Task Force, in just under two years with limited resources, we achieved a great deal.  We are recognised as the best police wildlife team in the country.

“I have moved back into core neighbourhood policing as the Rural Task Force was very specialised.  I want to continue to progress in my career and bring the local policing team together for the benefit of the local community.

“Pocklington was my neighbourhood policing patch up until five years ago and I had been here for five years when I left, so I know the area well and I feel like I am coming home in some respects.  Yes, things have changed but I know this area really well and understand the changes and challenges ahead.

“We are really fortunate that we live in a very low crime area.  But we don’t take this for granted and are acutely aware of how the cost-of-living crisis will be affecting people and their lives.  We are looking at what could harm our communities most. 

“We are working closely with our community groups and partners to make sure we protect our residents as best we can.

“The main issues that affect the Market Weighton and Pocklington areas are antisocial behaviour.  There have been a lot of houses built in the two towns and this brings with it increased levels of crimes and antisocial behaviour.

“But we also have farm burglaries, thefts and rural crime that effect our smaller village communities.  With my experience at the Rural Task Force, I am well placed to come into Pocklington to understand these rural crime aspects and support our local farming community.

“We will continue to work with our communities to help spread crime prevention advice and make sure people register their valuables on Immobilise or BikeRegister (the National Cycle Database).

“One thing I am aware of is under-reporting of crime to the right people.  If you are a victim of crime or antisocial behaviour, please call the police, if there is a crime in progress then always call 999. 

“If you have problems or concerns about crime in your community, we want to hear about them.  You can call us on our non-emergency number 101, you can email this team directly on Pocklington@humberside.pnn.police.uk or you can contact us via social media.  The front office at Pocklington is open three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays.  You can find out which station is near you and open on our website: https://www.humberside.police.uk/our-police-stations

“I just want to remind people to report crime and antisocial behaviour, if it’s not reported to the police then we will not know about it and can’t resolve the problems you are experiencing.

“I am really looking forward to working with the community, and our partner agencies, to come together for the benefit of the residents and to keep Pocklington the very low crime area it is.”