Toyota Yaris Takes On Official Police Duties
Thanks to support from St Leonards Motors Toyota in Bexhill, the village’s dedicated Police Community Support Officer Sharon Eldridge is using her brand new Toyota Yaris 1.4 diesel to help her better manage her parish patch, which occupies a considerable rural geographical area.
As well as patrolling the village on foot, engaging with and reassuring the community on a face-to-face basis, PCSO Eldridge is able to meet the needs of potentially vulnerable members of the community who live in the more remote places within the parish more effectively. The Yaris is becoming a familiar sight parked in and around the village and acts as a high visibility police presence.
PCSO Eldridge, who is funded by Sedlescombe Parish Council, said: “The Yaris, which has been subsidised for my use by SLM Toyota, has already proved invaluable in getting me out to the more remote parts of the parish. Primarily though I leave it parked in front of the village green which has the twofold advantage of letting the community know I am out and about on patrol and deterring motorists from speeding through the village when they see a high visibility vehicle with police markings.”
Andrew Mowle, Hastings & Rother Police’s Finance and Administration Manager who co-ordinated the acquisition of the Yaris, said: “This is another excellent example whereby private commerce has partnered up with Sussex Police to help make the community a safer place.” He added: “The Toyota Yaris 1.4 diesel is remarkably economical in normal driving, whilst having an exceptionally low CO2 emission level. This makes it beneficial to the environment and ideally suited to the task in hand.”
Sedlescombe Parish Council chairman Valerie Wright, added: “We are thrilled to bits with the car because it helpsSharontravel to the outskirts of the area on a regular basis and the people living there are the ones who feel vulnerable.
“Seeing the car also gives everyone a nice feeling of safety. Fear of crime has gone down because of it which is fantastic.”
ENDS
