A RIPON based car dealership has rallied round to provide an additional policing resource for remote Yorkshire Dales villages.

Batchelors of Ripon has provided a new Vauxhall Corsa to North Yorkshire Police that will allow dedicated rural Community Support Officer Sharon Wilson greater access to the villages on her beat.

The car is to be put into action at the start of a two-week ‘Safer Neighbourhoods’ awareness-raising campaign being run by the North Yorkshire force. The campaign, which is being funded by the Home Office, is part of a national initiative which aims to ensure communities know who their local Police Officers and PCSOs are and how to contact them.

Deputy Chief Constable Adam Briggs said: “Safer Neighbourhoods is about working with partners, businesses and residents to develop safer, stronger communities. It’s also about making sure people know who their local Police Officers and PCSOs are and how to contact them. That can only happen if Officers are regularly out and about in the neighbourhood, meeting people and getting to know local communities.

“This sponsored car is an excellent example of Safer Neighbourhoods in action. We’re extremely grateful to Batchelors of Ripon for providing the car. We’re also grateful for the positive response we’ve had from local Councils, many of which have provided extra funding to cover day-to-day running costs.

“Of course we are already providing operational policing cover to these areas but this is an additional service that will allow us to establish a rural PCSO in these villages.”

PCSO Wilson added: “Safer Neighbourhoods is about being part of a community and to do that you need to spend as much time as possible in that community”.

“I intend to spend a lot of time walking around the villages listening to local people but if I had to actually walk to the villages I’d be lucky to do one a day and I’d need a new pair of shoes every week!”

Photo shows (L to R): Front - Sgt Paul Peacock with David Smith (Director, Batchelors of Ripon). Back - Deputy Chief Constable Adam Briggs, Dr Myra Henshaw (Chair of Kirkby Malzeard Parish Council), PCSO Sharon Wilson and David Batchelor, Batchelors of Ripon