GWENT Police's new chief superintendent Tom Harding has provided an insight to his first shift out on patrol with the force.

Chief Supt Harding joined Gwent Police on Monday, having previously held the position of head of local policing across West Mercia.

 

 

And after his first patrol shift, Chief Supt Harding provided Gwent residents with an update with how he was finding the new role, and settling in to his new beat.

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"I've been really impressed by the positive attitude and the great welcome I've had," he said in a video posted to Twitter.

"Today I've had a great late shift out on patrol across Monmouthshire and PC Jenkins, she's been fantastic in looking after me this evening.

"We've had a really busy shift, from dealing with a male who was suffering with anti social behaviour to going and co-ordinating the arrest of a male who was threatening a number of his family members, to now dealing with a domestic incident.

"All in all, I've been really impressed with the attitude of the patrol officers. We've been out actively patrolling, highly visible, seeing lots of areas of the community which is great.

"I've got lots yet still to learn, but [it's] a beautiful place. I'm now surrounded by incredible mountains, the Welsh countryside, so I'm really pleased to be here.

"Lots more for me to do to get up to speed, to support officers in delivering the fantastic service that they do to our community.

"It's been a positive night in terms of dealing with the issues that we've been faced with, but incredibly sad in the fact that a number of those have been domestic related."

Chief Supt Harding added that he would continue to provide video updates of his time with Gwent Police over the coming weeks and months.

And on Thursday, Chief Supt Harding added a further update as he spoke with residents in Pill about any concerns they had in the community.

"I've been out across Bettws, Maindee, Pill, Newport Central, and I'm back in Pill now, out on patrol on my own trying to learn about the area," he said.

"[I've] had some really good briefings about some of the community concerns and issues and how we can look to solve those in partnership with the community and our other partners.

"I've been really impressed with the attitude and the positivity of the officers who have been going about their business 24/7/365 to protect our communities."