PROTECTING the most vulnerable people and bringing down organised crime gangs in Oxford is a top priority for the city’s new neighbourhood police inspector.

Insp Chris Simpson told the Oxford Mail tackling crimes associated with serious and organised groups operating in the city’s communities was a main focus for neighbourhood police teams.

Having started as a police constable in Cowley almost two decades ago, Insp Simpson has served the city for a number of years while also working as a detective and roads policing officer.

Taking up his new role as the Inspector for neighbourhood policing in Oxford on June 1 - the day Thames Valley Police launched its new way of policing the region - Insp Simpson said he was keen to take on a ‘key role’ in the force.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail for the first time since his appointment, Insp Simpson said he thought his new role was ‘unique’.

He added: “As an inspector, it’s a very good role. It contains a lot of different work with different partners in the city.

“It gives me a lot of opportunities to build effective relationships to understand, and then put things in place to tackle issues affecting our communities.”

The police inspector said many different things about Oxford created different challenges for the force. He added: “Oxford is a very cosmopolitan city, very diverse and there is something special about it. You have got the university and a young student population and we get many tourists every year. These all bring challenges, but the issues around criminality and drug use are found in big cities across the UK.”

Last week, the city centre neighbourhood team under Insp Simpson’s command carried out a successful drugs raid through community intelligence, which is believed to have shut down a major source of drugs supply in Oxford. Officers raided a house in Friars Wharf on Friday under the Misuse of Drugs Act and recovered a ‘substantial quantity’ of Class A and B drugs, as well as cash.

Insp Simpson warned criminals that further arrests and raids could be carried out in the city.

He said: “We are continuing with a lot of work in to disrupting crime groups and disrupting those who prey on the vulnerable.

“I expect there will be further police enforcement with our partner agencies to target this kind of criminality.

“We know that in order to find drugs, users can be involved in other types of criminality. By reducing illegal drug supply and support those who are victims of it, then we would hope to reduce the criminality aspect with that.”

The priorities are part of TVP’s Stronghold campaign to combat serious and organised crime. A form prevalent in Oxford is drug lords exploiting vulnerable people and selling substances from their homes. Under the new operating model, Insp Simpson is in charge of 17 PCs and about 30 PCSOs.

TVP created the new system of three teams in each local policing area. They are investigation, problem solving and neighbourhood policing. It is believed neighbourhood police officers will have more time to dedicate to their community work because they will be the last hub called upon to respond to immediate or urgent incidents.

Insp Simpson said he smart phones had been rolled out to officers to make their work more mobile.