Surrey Police launch new crime prevention initiative in Guildford
Project Servator will see specially trained officers carrying out unpredictable deployments across Surrey, while encouraging residents to report suspicious behaviour
Surrey Police is introducing a new policing initiative in Guildford this weekend, aimed at deterring criminal activity and improving public safety across the county.
Project Servator will officially launch on Saturday, with specially trained officers deployed in visible numbers to identify potential signs of criminal planning.
The initiative will combine high-visibility policing with community engagement, encouraging residents and visitors to act as an additional source of information by reporting anything suspicious.
Chief Superintendent Graham Barnett said: “Project Servator is a highly visible, unpredictable policing deployment. It includes officers who are specially trained, both uniformed and sometimes covert, to spot the tell-tale signs that someone could be planning to commit a crime.
“That operational activity, which is unpredictable, so it can pop up anywhere, starting in Guildford, but could be anywhere in Surrey, is then supported by community engagement, understanding that the public are our extra eyes and ears.
“We can’t be everywhere at all times, so we want the public to report suspicious activity.
“That then aims to reassure the public that we are out and about. We’re doing our roles. We’re spotting criminality, but also to build a network of vigilance within our community, encouraging the reporting of that suspicious activity, with the aim of making it uncomfortable for criminals to come to Surrey and behave badly.
“We also coordinate that with a communications approach, and again, the idea being to disrupt anyone that feels that they want to come to Surrey and commit crime.”
Mr Barnett confirmed the initiative would not affect existing frontline policing resources when asked whether officers would be moved from other parts of the force.
He said: “It won’t take officers from the public-facing roles across the force. These are additionally trained officers.
“So it won’t be affecting the wider response across Surrey.”
He added that while Surrey remains a generally safe county, the initiative would provide another way of tackling crime through a combination of visible and less visible police activity.
“We know that Surrey is largely a safe place to live, but of course there is still crime in Surrey. So this is about combining that visible and less visible policing. It’s about making the public safe and making our communities an uncomfortable place for criminals.”
Project Servator deployments will become a regular feature of policing across Surrey, Mr Barnett confirmed.
The initiative is part of a national programme, with Surrey Police becoming the 28th force in the country to introduce the approach.