Residents invited to attend New Milton area police beat surgeries at Ashley Youth Hub, Nedderman Centre, Barton Methodist Church and New Milton Community Centre

RESIDENTS are invited to air their local crime and policing concerns at a series of beat surgeries in the New Milton area.

The special community meetings with officers this month and in November come after poor turnouts and two previous public events.

Sharing the upcoming dates and venues, PCSO Alan McCaffery hoped attendance would be high enough to attract varied panels of specialist force representatives.

These could include officers from the cyber crime unit, country watch team (rural crime), and the economic crime unit (fraudulent crime).

The next beat surgeries are:

• Thursday 24th October, Ashley Youth Hub, Normans Way, 6.30pm

• Wednesday 30th October, New Milton’s Nedderman Centre, Marryat Road, 9.30am

• Wednesday 6th November, Barton Methodist Church, Cliffe Road, 6pm

• Thursday 14th November, New Milton Community Centre, Osborne Road, 7pm

As reported in the A&T, PCSO McCaffery warned “If you don’t use it, you’re going to lose it” after only one resident joined a New Milton Residents’ Association representative hosting an evening beat surgery at the community centre in September.

Seven people, including town mayor Cllr Alvin Reid, were at the Ashley Youth Hub’s first beat surgery just over a week later.

PCSO McCaffery said he was also disappointed that no youngsters had attended, saying he hoped to hear their views.