Police are hoping local people will check-out their new contact point when they do their weekly shop at a Tesco supermarket.

Cambs Times: Police Contact Point meeting, Tesco, Wisbech. Pcso Megan Sargent with the certifacate from Tesco. Picture: Steve Williams.Police Contact Point meeting, Tesco, Wisbech. Pcso Megan Sargent with the certifacate from Tesco. Picture: Steve Williams. (Image: Archant)

Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Sir Graham Bright, was at the store in Cromwell Road on Wednesday to help launch the new service, which aims to encourage more interaction between the public and officers.

The new Police Contact Point is the second launched by Sir Graham as part of his initiative to get officers more involved with the community and follows on from a pilot scheme run at a Sainsbury’s store in Bretton in Peterborough.

Sir Graham explained the Peterborough scheme had proved a huge hit.

“The Peterborough contact point is close to a police station and there were some reservations about whether or not it was necessary, but it has proved so successful. In fact we had more people in the first session than they had in three months at the police station. The team are now there at least every other day for a morning or afternoon,” said Sir Graham, who has undertaken regular walkabout surgeries across the county so he can meet the public and discuss their concerns.

Cambs Times: Police Contact Point meeting, Tesco, Wisbech. Pcso David Russ, Pcso Megan Sargent, Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Graham Bright Sgt Robin Cawston and Outreach worker Nicola Fenton.Picture: Steve Williams.Police Contact Point meeting, Tesco, Wisbech. Pcso David Russ, Pcso Megan Sargent, Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Graham Bright Sgt Robin Cawston and Outreach worker Nicola Fenton.Picture: Steve Williams. (Image: Archant)

He was at the Tesco launch for nearly two hours along with outreach worker Nicola Fenton and members of the local policing team including PCSO Dave Russ.

PCSO Russ said the team would be in the store one day a week initially with the day and time changing weekly.

“We don’t want to be here at the same time every week because people often do their shopping on the same day and we want to give as many different people a chance to chat to us as possible,” said PCSO Russ.

Sir Graham said: “This is all about listening to the public and further increasing the time our officers spend out in their communities. People can come along to discuss any issues or concerns they want to see being addressed within the Wisbech area.”

The day and time of the weekly Contact Point will be advertised across social media including Twitter, Facebook and on the Shape Your Place website.