 The Police: Community Beat
When PC Andy Saint walks
through the door of ALL FM and removes his body armour,
he says it is a symbolic moment about
much more than taking off a piece of kit.
He becomes an ordinary member of
society and is able to
communicate with
people he'd normally
be unable to reach . . .
Along with PC
Elaine Walker from
Longsight Police
Station, he has been
trained to produce,
research, script,
present and even
engineer his own fortnightly programme
Community Beat.
 He readily admits that compared to
talking to people face-to-face on the
street, getting behind the microphone
was more than a bit scary.
"When
somebody first said, 'and over to you
Andy', I literally jumped back a foot from
the microphone."
Andy also concedes that planning
the content is very time-consuming on
top of day-to-day police work, but says it
is definitely worth it. "It enables us to reach places we wouldn't otherwise be
able to, because there's a lot of people
who won't talk to us on the street."
What makes this something very
special and more than just a local
version of Crimewatch with officers
interviewed as experts, is that these local
bobbies actually plan and make the show
themselves. True to Radio Regen's vision
of real community radio there's room for
all to speak - and that includes the police.
Two other Longsight beat officers fell so
in love with radio they even returned in
their spare time to do their own music
show Eclectic Rhythm.
Andy has also been involved in youth
projects and soccer schools, and has
studied Urdu to assist him on his beat, all
of which helped gain him a nomination
for Community Officer of the Year at
2003's Police Review Awards.
"Community radio is another tool with
which to help us combat crime," he says,
noting that Community Beat's success
was even recently mentioned in the Chief
Constable's annual report.
It turns out to be an ideal way to
alert residents to specific local crime
problems, discuss topical issues and
make appeals for information about small
local incidents which would otherwise go
unsolved. Andy says calls to his office
after the show have frequently paid off,
such as an appeal about a hit-and-run
that generated a dozen calls.
"It works because it's truly local radio
and a lot of people listen - you hear it in all
the cafés and shops - and it seems like
people are listening to what we say. I think
community radio would be beneficial for
the police throughout the country."
Links: www.gmp.police.uk
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