'It's a great community' - Meet the Leeds PC tasked with policing the streets of Chapeltown

As part of a special report into policing in Leeds, Emma Ryan shadows a police officer to find out how neighbourhood policing is just as important as blue lights when it comes to tackling crime.

PC Mark Rothery is a self-confessed problem-solver.

As we set out on his day’s jobs from Stainbeck Road police station, following a team briefing and a quick check of emails, the variety of appointments today could not be more different.

Special report: What is it like to police such a diverse city as Leeds?Special report: How two groups in Harehills are tackling crime and social inequalityWe start with a trip into the city centre to meet with a representative from the Chapel Allerton Arts Festival.

They are organising a local version of Cluedo for this year’s upcoming event. It features local places and faces such as shop-keepers, the local pub landlady, the vicar, a ward councillor and PC Rothery.

They want his mugshot to be part of the game but it just shows how, after nine years as a neighbourhood officer, he is considered as much a part of the community as anyone else.

But he puts the time in and on another day he might attend councillor surgeries, meetings of other local groups and at school pick up and drop off times, he is often at the school gates chatting to youngsters and parents.

It is all part of building up trust and relationships within the community - essential tools for a neighbourhood officer.

He said: “I have done blue lights and fighting on the floor and this is completely different - we are problem solvers.

“We get hold of a job and see it through to the end. When you are on 999 you fly in and out of a job, you will deal with that problem there and then but not the long term. They will pass things to us, like a neighbourhood issue that has potential to escalate, we have the time to deal with that.

“Chapeltown is known for a bad reputation, we get shootings and stabbings, organised crime and gangs. But it is a great community and 90 per cent of people want police involvement and engagement.”

A City Divided: Shocking reality of child poverty revealed as homeless Leeds mum is forced to 'sofa-surf' with children aged six and twoA City Divided: Yorkshire Evening Post launches special series highlighting social inequality in LeedsSpecial report: Children born in these Leeds areas will live 10 years longer, shocking inequality figures showAnd that takes us to PC Rothery’s second call of the day.

We pop into Chapeltown Youth Development Centre (CYDC) led by Lutel James.

Once a bad boy on the streets himself, he recognised 20 years ago a pattern among the young people in the area and set up football matches.

There were 40 kids back then and now there are 500 engaged with the organisation, which runs sessions on boxing, music, gang prevention, jobs and employment.

Mr James says: “We don’t sugarcoat the hard to reach or say they are easy to ignore. For us that is our responsibility and others if we want society to change. A lot will be against our contact with the police and that they don’t believe in it.

“But I would say the police are part of youth development. The relationship with Mark has been brilliant. He understands and appreciates what do and makes it easy to have flexible and comfortable conversations.”

PC Rothery says one of the best projects he has been able to work on, with the likes of CYDC and youth services, was Lives Not Knives - a project in local schools where pupils have been involved with knives.

The team of officers and PCSOs at Stainbeck work nine hour shifts that cover 7-4pm, 3-11pm or 4pm to midnight at weekends to capture the times that people are out and about.

Possibly the biggest local event is the West Indian Carnival that takes place this bank holiday weekend and a lot of PC Rothery’s time has been spent planning and liaising with the community to make sure it all goes off safely.

As we make our way to Moortown for our next job, which is a call to Helen, a 94-year-old woman with dementia that the police have supported, he explains how the community are taking a lead role.

“We have had community meetings in the lead up to the carnival and there will be street marshals from a community group in Chapeltown who police it themselves. We will be there if they need us but they are local people and deal with the problems.”

Up at Moortown, PC Rothery, an assistant accountant before he joined the police 11 years ago, calls in on Helen who is another member of the community that neighbourhood policing looks out for.

Knowing she can be lonely, isolated and vulnerable, he pops by to check she is okay, has a chat and a brew with her but on the official side has referred her to social care and groups that take people out to coffee mornings and day trips.

“Most of my time has been in neighbourhood policing. I prefer it”, he says.

“You get chance to talk to people,chance to engage and build up relationships. I love working here.”