BIDDING a fond farewell, Holsworthy’s long standing PCSO Raquel Rowe has decided after 12 years ‘on the beat’ in the town that now is the time for her to move on and start a new chapter of her policing career, writes Zoë Uglow.

PCSO Rowe, who joined the Holsworthy neighbourhood police team in April 2006, has now joined the Okehampton neighbourhood police team so she can focus more closely on her new role as ‘Diversion Support Officer’.

She said: “I want to say goodbye to the parish and thank you to everyone who has helped support me over the years. It will be sad and this has been a hard decision to make as I have loved serving in Holsworthy.

“As a PCSO you really get to know the area and are linked with the community. I have enjoyed every part of my job and am really going to miss the public.”

Since November 2017, PCSO Rowe has taken on the additional role of Diversion Support Officer — a pilot scheme run by Devon and Cornwall Police.

During that time she has carried on in her role as PCSO for Holsworthy but has decided now is the time for her to move on. She has relocated to Okehampton where she will continue to work as a PCSO, but says this will enable her to dedicate more time to her new role.

She said: “I have already moved, it happened quite quickly — I was really lucky. My Inspector said ‘choose any day you want to leave Raquel’ so I thought I would get it over and done with and just do it.”

PSCO Rowe explained what her role involves: “I am one of four under the pilot scheme. I cover West Devon. We signpost people to appropriate agencies to address the needs of the criminals we work with in order to stop them reoffending.

“We want to help people to change their ways and so far there have been several success stories. We had one prolific offender who had been in and out of prison, but after engaging with officers they have changed their ways — it is nice to see it works, all we can do is try to help.”

Over the years PCSO Rowe has been involved with many projects in the town and was the responsible officer for training members of the public as volunteers.

She was also integral in the development of Community Action Through Sports (CATS) in Holsworthy. Unfortunately CATS disbanded in 2016 but PCSO Rowe isn’t one to give up so she worked closely with the volunteers, in partnership with Holsworthy Community Property Trust, to set up a youth club for the town instead, which is now growing steadily.

PSCO Rowe said: “I have managed the volunteers in Holsworthy for many years, and helped set up the youth club and before that worked with CATS — I do like to keep busy. I had around 20 volunteers who I trained to carry out their own speed watches, but I have handed them over to [PFCSO] Mark James now. It is nice to see something you started flourishing, like the youth club and the volunteers, but it is hard to move on and let that go — but I know they will be in capable hands.”

PCSO Rowe is a former teacher and said she had to employ those skills to help train the volunteers: “I trained the local policing volunteers to do speed watches and it was very rewarding to see them grow as once they are trained they can carry on by themselves — the St Giles on the Heath group is one example of this. I really had to apply my teaching skills. I was a secondary school teacher but I definitely prefer working for the police, making a difference is important to me and that is something I am able to do as a PCSO and will hopefully do as a Diversion Support Officer.”

PCSO Rowe said she was sad to have not had time to say goodbye properly to her community, adding: “I didn’t have time to say goodbye to everyone but I want to thank all the parishes and people I served over the 12 years. Your community becomes part of your family and it will be sad to go but I am ready to move on and tackle this new challenge.”

Amanda Brown, Holsworthy neighbourhood beat manager, expressed her thanks to PCSO Rowe for the work and dedication she has shown over the years. She said: “Raquel has been extremely dedicated to her community and has given her time, on and off duty, in order to facilitate various projects.”

Welcoming PCSO Rowe to her new patch, PS Pennie Channing, neighbourhood team leader for West Devon, said: “I am delighted to have Raquel join the Neighbourhood Team at Okehampton.

“Raquel is a very experienced PCSO and worked with me on my team at Holsworthy for over ten years, so I know first-hand how hard she works to support and safeguard her community. Holsworthy’s loss is Okehampton’s gain!”