Priority: Drug dealing and use particularly around residential properties being used to facilitate this.
You Said: Those involved in drug dealing/use are a concern for you, particularly where properties are being used by them in residential areas near where you live.
What we are going to do: We will continue to take action against those who allow their properties to be used by drug users and dealers using the powers we have along with our partners and we will ensure the properties do not fall back into the same situation.

March saw us continue with our efforts to combat drug production and distribution in Westcotes. We have been working alongside the council to issue another prohibition order on the property that was being used to facilitate drug use. This acts as a deterrent to landlords who do not closely monitor the properties they are responsible for and allow for this to happen.

A person was stopped in a proactive, intelligence led stop search by our team that led to them being arrested for possession of class A drugs with intent to supply. This is a serious offence which this person is now the subject of an investigation for and will be seeing their day in court.

There have been numerous positive stop searches for drugs which has led to a range of outcomes from referrals to support agencies, warnings and arrests with casefile being submitted to court. We have had a lot of help from the Neighbourhood Policing Team who have been deployed into Westcotes and are doing their bit to keep you safe and bring down crime.

We are continuing to work with our partners to prevent empty addresses falling into the hands of drug users/dealers. These properties allow for homeless drug users to gather and take their drugs and can also act as meeting places for the dealers to supply their drugs out of sight. This has led to a concerted effort by the team to stop these addresses being used. Meetings are being organised with our partners to establish how we can speed up the process of removing people from empty properties and what we can put in place to prevent them from returning whilst respecting the legal obstacles.

We are always building our intelligence picture and taking action when we are satisfied that we have enough information to indicate that illegal drugs are present at a location. We rely on our community to tell us what they see so please keep the information coming in. Use the main channels such as 101 or report online via the force website, avoid reporting through social media because the likes of Facebook is not regularly monitored and any information may be missed.

Priority: Theft of Motor Vehicle
You Said: Theft of Motor Vehicles has a big impact on you and you want piece of mind when you leave your cars unattended at night.
What we are going to do: Continue to closely monitor the crime trends along with the information you provide us to stay a step ahead of those committing these crimes. Be present at the right times in the right places to prevent as many crimes as we can. Keep you as informed as possible so you know the best measures to take to prevent yourselves and those around you from becoming victims.

Whilst we work on our new priority, see below how we got on with last months;

March has seen us intensify our efforts to combat some of the worst hit areas for ASB, largely centred around the communal areas of blocks of flats which is where the majority of our complaints have come from. We’ve handed out more Acceptable Behaviour Contract’s (ABC) to some of our persistent offenders. An ABC is a step in our incremental approach which is designed to give a perpetrator an opportunity to improve their behaviour with repercussions if they do not. Repercussions include escalation of various measures up to a court order preventing them from attending at a location.

We regularly engage with the people who have been issued with warning notices for antisocial behaviour to ensure they do not fall back into their ways and are reminded of the consequences of offending. Just last week an individual who was given a warning about his behaviour at Tesco reoffended just a few days later leading to an immediate escalation of his warning and he is now quickly heading towards formal legal action. A lot of the people we have engaged with reacted well to some verbal advice however for those who didn’t we will be revisiting the areas and if they are found there again we will be escalating our approach to them.

The team is continuing to drive down the ASB at Ashleigh Gardens. We appreciate the nuisance you have had to put up with but we have been working with our partners in the council and we are seeing good progress, work on the new gates has started which is going to go a long way to preventing the ASB from occurring.

Priority: Burglary of Residential Dwellings.
You Said: We have had some burglaries recently and this is causing you concern.
What we are going to do: We know who the burglars are, the repeat offenders who keep coming to our attention, we are going to do what we can to prevent their reoffending. Whilst this is easier said than done, it doesn’t stop us putting in every measure we can. Alongside the rehabilitation and support mechanisms we always push, we are going to act on the patterns that make it clear to us who is committing these crimes and when we collate the evidence we need we will put the offenders back before the court again. Burglary is a very intrusive crime that leaves a lasting impact on those who are victims of it and it does not sit well with us that the people who commit these crimes are out there causing harm to you. To that end rest assured that we are working tirelessly to stop them.

We are continuing to see a lower level of burglaries compared to recent months which is great news and a testament to the hard work that has been put in, however that does not mean it is time for us to take our foot off the gas. Those who we successfully convicted will inevitably be back out before we know it and we must have robust measures in place to prevent them causing another spike in burglaries. To that end you will see us running beat surgeries around Westcotes where we will be giving out crime prevention advice and letting you know what we are doing, so please pop along – details are on the relevant section of this webpage.

You will also see our PCSO’s visiting addresses to advise about current crime trends to help us all stay one step ahead of those committing crime and enable us to stay vigilant for the right things and look out for each other. If you see anything unusual then pick up the phone and let us come and bottom it out rather than risk members of our community becoming victims of crime.

Have a look at the event section of this page where you will see times and locations that our officers are out providing crime prevention advice.

If you have any concerns or suspicions always reach out to us so we can look into it. If we keep working together we'll stay one step ahead of those who are committing these crimes.