A new neighbourhood inspector has been appointed to manage the St Albans Central, North and West, Harpenden and Rural and London Colney, St Stephens and St Albans East wards.

Inspector Neil Morehen took up the role from Inspector Mark Loveday, who has retired, on Tuesday, April 22.

Inspector Morehen started his career in the Metropolitan Police in 1987 as a police constable. He joined Hertfordshire Constabulary in 1993, where he was promoted to sergeant in 1995 and inspector in 2000.

Inspector Morehen said: "I’ve spent a lot of my career in St Albans, including the post of neighbourhood sergeant, and roles covering St Albans in the ‘old’ Central Area (St Albans, Welwyn Hatfield and Hertsmere) and I live in the district. 

"I want to use my extensive neighbourhood experience, try new ideas and build on the great work that Inspector Mark Loveday has done to ensure that St Albans remains the best place to live.

"St Albans, Harpenden and London Colney are great places to live and work and we have low levels of crime.   One of the main problems is purse dippings and anti-social behaviour." 

He continued: "New legislation coming in later this year will influence how we work.  Some of it will involve residents having their say in how offenders are punished, so instead of them receiving custodial sentences, they may be given the option of repairing the damage they have caused, like clearing up graffiti.  

"We will also be working closely with parents of young people involved in anti-social behaviour.  By dealing with issues of anti-social behaviour early on, we hope it will reduce more serious anti-social behaviour and crime. There are lots of partnership opportunities, which I want to further explore to make sure we are collectively doing everything we can to keep residents in the St Albans district safe."

Talking about highlights in his career, inspector Morehen has received a Chief Constable Commendation and two Area Commander Commendations through his service and was pleased to convict some Class A drug dealers in St Albans in 2008 when he was the tactical team inspector.

Inspector Morehen said: "After 27 years, I still love coming to work.  We have a fantastic team in St Albans who are all committed to improving the quality of life for residents in the district." 

Inspector Morehen joined the police at the age of 22 after working as a care assistant at a home in Enfield and obtaining an HND in Chemical Engineering at Teesside Polytechnic. 

While working for the Metropolitan Police in intervention and their Territorial Support Group inspector Morehen then moved to Northumbria Police for two years before joining Hertfordshire in 1993.  He spent two years in Watford and was promoted to sergeant in 1995 working in Hitchin. In 1997, he became the St Albans neighbourhood sergeant and worked in the Probation Training Unit.

He was an inspector in the planning team when Hertfordshire took over Hertsmere from the Met in 2000 and returned to St Albans and Hatfield in 2003 as an intervention inspector.

In 2012, he covered St Albans and Dacorum as intervention inspector before becoming the North Herts inspector.

Inspector Morehen lives in St Albans, has four children - two boys and two girls - regularly cycles and supports his son’s football team in his spare time.