HASSOCKS PARISH COUNCIL

POLICE

Do you NEED to contact your local police?

If it's an emergency, or to report a crime as it's happening, dial 999 and ask for the police.

For other crimes and urgent matters, there's still the central 0845 60 70 999 number to call Sussex Police.

The PCSO for Hassocks is Emma Collett.

However if the matter's not urgent and you'd like to find out who the officers for your neighbourhood are, along with how to contact them, there's now a whole new way to get in touch.

Go to www.sussex.police.uk, type in your postcode and you'll now find the names and photographs of all your local neighbourhood officers.

Click on their pictures and you'll see their personal profiles and contact details.

You can contact them either by sending an email or by leaving them a voicemail message, simply by phoning the 0845 60 70 999 number and using the individual extension number provided.

The new system is the result of a six-month project by Sussex Police's in-house web team to give every Neighbourhood Specialist Team across Sussex its own web page.

In addition to photographs and contact details for every Police Community Support Officer and Neighbourhood Specialist Constable in Sussex the pages also contain a monthly What's happening in your area? community update, regular news flashes for the district, details of upcoming street briefings, up-to-date information about how local police are doing and details about your nearest police station.

Supt Robin Smith, who has been leading Sussex Police's neighbourhood policing project, said: "We are using friendly technology that could, over time, revolutionise the way that people keep in touch with us.

"We want to make it as simple as possible for people to develop a two-way conversation with their local police - that's what genuine neighbourhood policing should be all about.

"If it works as well as we hope, it should ultimately lead to safer, more confident communities - and lower crime."