Melton Mowbray Policing Area – January 2012"Blog"
Happy New Year if I am still able to say that mid January. I was very fortunate to have had 3 weeks off over the festive period but came back to that long list of e-mails and a full in tray. This blog is going to be a lengthy one so grab a coffee and get ready.
On Monday the funerals took place for Samantha, Genevieve, and Toby Day which was a reminder of the tragic events I finished on last year. Our thoughts remain with the family particularly Adam and Kimberley. There is a memorial service at All Saints Church in Oakham at 2pm on 16th February which will allow friends and family to remember them. I have also been touched by the kind messages I have had from the family thanking my staff who dealt with the tragic incident.
What seems strange is that although 2012 is the start of a new year the performance and budget year doesn't finish until April so there is a big push to finish this year in a strong position. House burglaries continue to be one of the top priorities for the Force who seek to deliver a 10% reduction which has become even more challenging in the economic climate when some of our criminals decide to commit these type of offences which affect people at a very personal level when their privacy is violated. Sadly Melton will not be delivering this reduction despite some hard work from the team here. However to put this in context burglaries over the previous 3 years have seen a 60% reduction which was the greatest in Leicestershire. In April last year we saw a big jump that we suspected was down to one suspect who is awaiting trial for 2 burglaries we have charged him with. Over the Chistmas period we say a significant rise with nearly 16 burglaries in a 28 day period. I can report some excellent police work resulting in a male being arrested and charged with 3 of these and is on remand currently awaiting trial. The town's CCTV was instrumental in this arrest.
The big success story is the reductions in car crime both in terms of theft of and from cars which have seen reductions of 25% and 35% respectively. Some key arrests have been made of males from Nottinghamshire who have been stealing catalytic convertors which are stolen for the scrap value of the metals. Metal prices which include lead are soaring resulting in an increase in thefts of such items nationally. We have continually targeted this crime and have stopped and seized a number of scrap vans over the last 6 months where the occupants aren't complying with the law. On 20th December (you may have seen the headline in the Melton Times) we joined forces with Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to have a day of action that saw 2 arrests during a visit to a scrap yard in Nottinghamshire. We have stepped up our patrols in the rural part of the Borough to target travelling criminality from across our borders which has also seen us working with our counterparts.
The Safer Melton Partnership has allocated a significant sum of money £2000 in the fight against rural crime. They have also funded Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to tackle both crime and road safety.
What is the Safer Melton Partnership you may ask?
This is a collection of partners who address a number of areas which include crime, reducing re-offending, drugs and alcohol services, road safety and much more. We have reps from the fire service, police, Melton Borough Council both elected members and also officers, the Magistrates' bench, County Council, Health, Probation and I have probably missed some. We hold regular meetings and Councillor David Wright chairs the meetings looking at all areas of community safety. We have a budget of around £40k that is allocated to support the aims and this year the partnership has allocated funds to work around tackling domestic abuse, rural crime, road safety, funding was allocated to support CCTV, a Bottesford Youth worker, diversionary activities to reduce antisocial behaviour and underage drinking and the associated problems. Success is measured in a number of ways and Melton is showing some real successes addressing these problems.
I am hoping that you will be able to soon read in the Melton Times about the CCTV in the town which supports the licensed premises and retail outlets as well as tackling other crime related matters.
As well as tackling crime the police do all sorts of other stuff; on my first day back a gentleman suffered a cardiac arrest in our front office and one of my staff Pete Smith was able to save his life on the day that the British Heart Foundation launched their campaign around this topic with Vinnie Jones fronting a video. If you haven't seen this it is well worth a watch. It is so well put together and delivers a serious message which has proved here that it saves life.
I will finish with some justice outcomes:-
At the hearing on 8th December, 2011 at Leicester Crown Court, James Woollastone from the town pleaded guilty to the following charges:-
•
Theft from shop•
Drive motor vehicle when alcohol level above limit•
Theft from shop•
Use threatening words / behaviour to cause harassment alarm or distress
He was sentenced to 34 months imprisonment and disqualified from driving for 3 years – required to undertake an extended re-test
Abstract Electicity / Producing Class B Drugs following a raid on cannabis
You can now also follow me on Twitter –I go under Melton Police and am still finding my feet with how it all works.
Inspector John Gray
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