Controversial West Yorkshire Police leafleting programme could be expanded beyond Wakefield as mayor Tracy Brabin calls it 'blueprint'

Local councillors recently complained officers weren't responding to crime and anti-social behaviour because they were too busy "putting leaflets through doors".

West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin said on Friday that the pilot project, known as Operation Moss Glen, could become a "blueprint" for how police engage with their communities.

She suggested councillors had not been "across the benefits of the scheme", which involved door-to-door calls from officers and a survey of residents' views.

Police insist the programme has given them useful feedback from the community, helps intelligence-gathering and has led to arrests.

But Ms Brabin's deputy admitted communication around the project could have been better.

Speaking at a regional police and crime panel meeting, Wakefield councillor Maureen Tennant-King repeated her colleagues' concerns about the leafleting.

She said: "It's nice to engage with the public. It makes them feel valued.

"But we've had a lot of emails from constituents who weren't very satisfied because they weren't getting responses from officers, because they were out doing this survey."

Police say the operation, which focused on rural parts of the Wakefield district, led to more than 20,000 doorstep conversations and 6,000 responses to the survey.

Deputy mayor for policing and crime, Alison Lowe, said officers had been able to engage with people "who don't normally see the police" and that it had been a "great way to communicate".

But she admitted Labour councillors had felt, "It had not been communciated clearly to them, to the wider public, or in some cases to the PCSOs themselves.

She added: "They felt there could have been a better approach."

"I think there's a clear recognition that communication in Wakefield could have been better."

Local Democracy Reporting Service