Alfie follows in father’s footsteps

Growing up in Rayleigh, Sergeant Alfie McPhilimey wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps in protecting his community.

Andrew McPhilimey retired as a Police Constable after serving for 36 years with many departments in Essex Police including Roads Policing and Community Policing in Southend, Castle Point and Rochford districts. Here he is pictured in 1978 in Benfleet.

Alfie has managed the Rochford District Community Policing Team since January and has been an officer for almost eight years.

He said: “It feels good to work in the district I grew up in, I know it very well having spent most of my life here. I’m bringing my past experiences in managing two other teams to this role.

“I have a lot of knowledge of the area, however, I continue to work on a fuller understanding of all the issues affecting Rochford district. I host the live Question and Answer sessions on the Essex Police – Rochford District Facebook page to help with that.

“On the last session, I was informed of sites in Stambridge and Great Wakering where speeding had become an issue. We listened and my team have issued five fixed penalty notices for speeding in those areas.

“Since being in this role I’ve increased PCSO engagement with primary schools and plan to expand on engagement with secondary schools and young people in our area through our newly appointed Children’s and Young Persons Officer.

“I have also been working on a project with our partners in youth services around stop and search.”

Alfie’s team have also had success by executing drugs warrants in Rayleigh, Hockley and Canewdon – with six people arrested and two others interviewed.

Almost 1,000 cannabis plants with a street value of up to £500,000 have been seized following these incidents, as well as a substantial amount of cash and drugs paraphernalia.

“We are working closely with our districts drugs team Op Falcon, to tackle drugs supply and cultivation and I want to be clear that there is no place for this activity in our district,” he said.

His team reunited a tortoise called Victor, who was lost in Rayleigh on VE Day, with his very pleased owners, this was just a month after stolen Shetland Pony, Violet, was found and brought back to her yard in Ashingdon.

Alfie added: “This was a great bit of work by the team and shows the variety of the job and I’ve been enhancing our contact base of farmers and rural contacts.

“With the theft of Violet and some other more historic farm animal thefts, I really want to create strong links so I can keep the rural community updated about our work and any crimes or advice they need to be aware of. We’re listening and we’re acting.

“Your reports about anti-social behaviour, about speeding and about drug activity are being responded to with numerous results just this month.”

To help tackle these issues please call 101 or report it online. You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The CPT team, consisting of Police Constables, PCSOs and a Children and Young Persons Officer, publish their activity on the ‘Essex Police – Rochford District’ Facebook page. Please visit to view the work of the team.