Why I will continue to champion our Bay

Hello, my name is Inspector Christopher Lithgow and I am in charge of Neighbourhood Policing for Paignton and Brixham.
I have 16 years policing experience working across Torbay, Totnes and Exeter, mostly as a detective.
I have been in role for nearly a year now and before this role I worked in the staff office for the Chief Officer Group and the Office of Police & Crime Commissioner. I bring a strategic vision to policing as well as operational experience.
I was brought up near Broadsands and spent the initial phases of my career in Torquay so I know the area very well, I know its complexities and I will continue to champion its many positives. I am coming to the end of my first year leading neighbourhood policing in the communities I grew up in and I am excited for the year ahead.
Sometimes, you might hear people referring to the Neighbourhood role as Sector Policing because it covers particular geographic sectors, they both mean the same thing and in essence Neighbourhood Policing is about being visible, being accessible and managing long term complex problems in the local area. Of course there are far more intricacies than that, but this is my overall aim. I have clear priorities for both towns and both towns have different issues.
I currently have a team of Sergeants, Police Constables and Police Community Support Officers within Paignton and Brixham and you will meet all of them in these pages.
Although we have a dedicated patrol function who respond to incidents 24/7, 365 days a year, Neighbourhood officers are often called to assist with responding to immediate incidents on top of their day to day commitments.
In Neighbourhood Policing we provide a vital link to the community, schools, partnership agencies, community groups and many others.
Neighbourhood Policing effectively diverts a huge cohort of people away from crime and antisocial behaviour by the many interventions and working relationships we have created.
We plan and police significant events in the local area to make sure people who visit, live and work in the area do so safely and without the fear of crime.
We provide specialist problem solving plans to key long term community issues and we all vary our shifts to provide reassurance and patrols to the two towns.
The list of activities and actions that my team carry out can sometimes feel never ending. It is my role to ensure the team have clearly defined priorities and that we operate efficiently and effectively to address issues assessed by the threat, harm and risk they pose to the community.
The workload is immense but I am truly humbled on a daily basis by the level of compassion, resilience and work ethic that my officers show.
You will often read about a negative side of policing and this job is like no other because everybody has a view or opinion on policing.
I respect people’s views and will do my best to listen and hear what the community raise to me but let me assure you that your local Neighbourhood officers really do some exceptional things. They operate in extraordinary situations that are complex, volatile and unpredictable. I would love to share much more about what the team do on a daily basis but sadly this cannot always be the case due to the sensitive nature of our work.
The team are visible on Facebook with a following close to 25,000 people and I attend numerous partnership, resident and commerce meetings where I am accessible to answer questions from key community members.