A POLICING team has welcomed its new inspector who aims to improve the area.

Inspector Gareth Cust, of North Flintshire, joined the team in July and he said he wants to make his patch a safer place, especially Deeside.

Having been in the police force for about 16 years, he has spent most of his time in the central area of the force and his priorities are to work in line with the Police Crime Commissioner's policies.

These include reducing domestic abuse, modern day slavery, child sexual exploitation, organised crime and delivering a safe neighbourhood.

He added: "These are the things I will continue to work towards and improve.

"Along with that, my personal priority is to increase our visibility in the community. That is through physical visibility and digital visibility which is through social media and the press.

"This creates confidence in police and encourages people to engage more with us. If we aren't visible then people aren't going to have a very good opinion of us."

The inspector told the Leader he aims to work with local partners, making the best of the resources they have, and keeping residents informed via social media.

He said: "There's no doubt about it, the Deeside area in particular has its challenges but our aim is to reduce that and work in line with our partners.

"It's about working best with the resources we've got and improving the landscape of Deeside. It's all about making a safer Flintshire and safer Deeside."