A TOWN councillor has joined Cheshire Police for an insight into how crime in Middlewich is dealt with.

Cllr Jonathan Parry, the newest addition to Middlewich Town Council, spent Friday night on duty with PCSO Dave Jinks, who covers Middlewich as part of his beat.

Over the course of the coming weeks, it is hoped that all 12 town councillors will join PCSO Jinks to better understand how Middlewich incidents are treated by the force.

PCSO Jinks said: “The programme is called Fridays Plus One, and it’s to get Cheshire Police and the town council involved with each other a bit more.

“It’s ok going to these monthly meetings and reporting back, but they don’t really know how we do things and what we come across.

“The objective is for councillors to see what we come across and the reasons we can’t be in Middlewich all the time.”

He added: “Jonathan was with me for about six hours. We did some foot patrols in Middlewich, checking all the hotspots, and I explained to him why we were doing what we were doing.

“We had to go down to an incident in Sandbach, and also did foot patrols around Brereton and Goostrey.”

Cllr Parry said: “It was very beneficial to see what the PCSO does. We know how hard he works but experiencing it is something that every councillor should do.

“It’s little things with anti-social behaviour, schools, parks and speed watch. People young and old know his name and he commands a really good respect – he has developed that rapport.

“The six hours flew by and there was a lot for him to do. It’s about checking areas that can be problematic, and if we don’t have people patrolling these areas they are going to get worse and worse.

“It was a big eye-opener. PCSOs are an invaluable asset to the town – I would love to even have two PCSOs because you get an excellent return for your expenditure.