Four additional police officers are being assigned to the Castleford Neighbourhood Policing Team – that’s a 50% increase – and two are being assigned to the Pontefract and Knottingley Policing Team. West Yorkshire Police have said this will mean they will run seven days a week shift cover across the towns for the first time for very many years as well as increased patrols to crack down on antisocial behaviour. Current shift patterns make it too easy for criminals to work out what days the police will not be around in town.

The increase in officers is the direct result of the Labour Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee including a £200 million funding boost to kickstart recruitment across the country which will see over 100 new neighbourhood police officers in West Yorkshire this year and 3000 more police and PCSOs across the country. This is just the start, with significant further increases in neighbourhood police planned in future years too. Wakefield Council are also backing that up by increasing town centre enforcement officers so everyone works together to deliver safer streets.