Police Scotland Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 12 December 2023
Back to Helensburgh & Lomond Area Committee — 12 December 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Police Scotland Update Fraud Prevention and Awareness Our popular and educational Scam Savvy Quiz inputs have continued with our vulnerable groups as crimes of fraud are still of concern. Locally there was an input provided at Centre 81 in Garelochhead in partnership with Helensburgh and Lomond Carers, Centre 81 and Garelochhead Station Trust focussed on digital safety. This had a fantastic turnout with members agreed the input was very educational and let the audience know about the scams that are going around but also how to spot and therefore avoid falling victim to this. These talks continue to be available for any community group or local organisations including community councils. One of the most common scams we have seen across Helensburgh and Lomond has been around Sextortion. This almost wholly is targeted to young males (under 30 years of age). Sextortion is sexual extortion. It involves the threat of having sexual information, photos or videos shared. This is done to get money from the victim, to control behaviour or to pressure them for further images. Many sextortions start with seemingly harmless flirting on social media or dating sites. Criminals are experts at creating fake profiles that appear genuine. Flirtatious conversations quickly turn sexual and the victim is actively encouraged to remove clothing, perform a sexual act on camera or share explicit images. These images and videos are often recorded without the victim’s knowledge and then can be held to ransom. The criminals will often have already accessed your social media contacts and will threaten to share these images with them unless you comply with their demands. As young males are being told their images will be shared with everyone they know, this is having an impact on their mental health with victims often feeling embarrassed and ashamed they are often keeping themselves isolated rather than reporting to Police and reaching our for support. Police Scotland would encourage everyone to share awareness around this either through social media, newsletters or in conversation with young males you know. If any members
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have ideas or suggestions on how we can help educate young males on the risk involved with this type of offences. Bereavement Support Local officers meet people affected by bereavement as part of their daily role. Officers are now able to provide family and friends of deceased person with a full support pack which has practice advice and emotional support contacts. Working with Argyll and Bute Registrars, NHS Highland Chaplaincy, Argyll and Bute Citizens Advice Bureau, Change Mental Health and Cruse Bereavement, packs provide those suffering from bereavement with advice they can look at when they are ready to and aims to reduce distress. Road Safety Following a fatality on the Argyll road network involving a towing vehicle, a series of Safe Towing videos have been produced and shared via our social media channels. This follows a change in legislation around driving licence requirements for those towing trailers, caravans, boat trailers and horseboxes. Police Scotland worked with a DVSA approved assessor in Campbeltown to produce these videos. These aim to help people understand legal towing limits, hitching, unhitching and safety checks. A Partnership Approach to Road Safety group is being formed with representation from across West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute. This group will focus on locations of concern and key contributing factors from road traffic collisions where someone has been killed or seriously injured to enable us to prioritise education and enforcement towards key locations or demographics.
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Youth Engagement Our Youth Engagement Officers worked closely with Live Argyll to welcome back the Friday Night Football project which ran throughout the summer holidays. This focussed on deterring youths from ASB and provided them a focus during the weekend. Officers also assisted the Live Argyll GIVE project where youths were asked to volunteer in their community and attend inputs around ASB. Our Helensburgh and Lomond Police Scotland Youth Volunteers (PSYV) visited HMNB Clyde for the day during the summer holidays to see a different side of policing and the work of other emergency services in the area. Police Scotland working closely with Ministry of Defence Police arranged a demonstration from the Dog Unit, Clyde Marine Unit and Defence fire service. This work helps to break down barriers with our younger people with some of our PSYV being from disadvantaged and care experienced backgrounds. Argyll and West Dunbartonshire Police Division have welcomed a new Youth Engagement Officer in the Helensburgh area. PC Haining Gallagher will be focusing her efforts in break
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down barriers with young people at Hermitage Academy and other areas of Helensburgh and Lomond. PC Gallagher will deliver various presentations designed to raise awareness and promote personal safety to young persons as well as working closely with the school pupil support team, looking for opportunities to act as a mentor or role model.