by Martin Jefferies

Police officers in Thanet are using revolutionary gadgets to respond to residents' concerns.

They have been supplied with Blackberry mobile phones and can log into a special application to record feedback from local people when they speak to them on the street or at community meetings.

Because each entry is accompanied with a postcode, Kent Police and the Thanet Community Safety Partnership (TCSP) can accurately and instantly see which types of crime are affecting individual neighbourhoods.

Sgt Ian Warner (pictured, aboveright) said the data may sometimes contradict what officers had identified as key issues, or what they had been told at local Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meetings.

He said: "The PACT process is excellent in that it allows us to speak to residents and listen to them about their concerns. But we often find the meetings attract those who are either extremely passionate about their community or have a particular axe to grind, so the data isn't always representative of the wider picture.

"The feedback we record on the Blackberry devices is fed into a large database and we can filter the results by an individual ward, postcode or street and can see exactly what crimes people are most worried about."

Sgt Warner said community engagement in Thanet was "way ahead" of other parts of the country. He added: "We've now gathered enough data to start acting on people’s concerns. For example, the residents of Birchington told us they were concerned about speeding drivers on the A28 Canterbury Road and we made that one of our top priorities."

Tiffany Hall (pictured, above left), neighbourhood crime and justice co-ordinator for the TCSP, said the interactive survey was praised by Home Office officials on a recent visit to Thanet.

She said: "They are really keen for us to work with the community and to tackle the crimes that local people are genuinely worried about.

"It's pioneering work and Thanet is once again leading the rest of the UK."