Hello,

Since our last update we’ve been focussing on dealing with the empty residential addresses in our area that you have been sharing your concerns about. These addresses serve as useful places for those involved in crime to gather and commit further crime and ASB so it’s important that we keep taking steps to deal with this as quickly as possible. Doing this involves us working with our partners in the council to put measures in place to prevent the issues at these locations from continuing on. We have recently emptied and secured 3 properties on the beat and action has been taken against one of the occupiers due to non-compliance of the conditions of her residing there. There is still more work for us to do so keep the information coming in to us an we will keep acting on it.

We’ve been doing a lot of prevention work with some of the drug users on our beat which involves exploring what support mechanisms they have in place and reviewing if they’re working or not, and if not why not. This has seen us guiding people to organisation such as turning point and doing follow up checks on people of encourage them to use the support that is there to help them. The more success we achieve with this the less crime and ASB we will see on our beat.

More ASB warning letters have been given out and I’m pleased to report that they seem to be having the desired deterrent effect. Some long standing problematic places are now looking a lot better thanks to the incremental approach being adopted.

We are still seeing some reports of unattended motor vehicles being broken in to so please remember to follow our advice and not leave anything in your vehicle. We’ve had vehicles broken into for the most minor items that someone has decided is on value to them and we’ve also seen empty bags taken with thieves hoping to finding them containing someone valuable. 

Stay safe and keep those reports coming in.

The Westcotes Police Team