Police Scotland Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 6 November 2024
Back to Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Community Planning Group — 6 November 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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OFFICIAL Page 1 of 7 OFFICIAL Area Planning Group Report for Oban, Lorn, Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands November 2024 Local Policing Priority What does this mean for your area? How can you help? In tackling Serious & Organised Crime benchmarks are not straight forward. The nature of the crime type is such that we often see the symptom rather than the cause, i.e. an increase in acquisitive crime if heroin were to become a problem in an area, or an increase in Serious Assaults if rival criminal factions are in dispute. For the year to date we have 127 recorded crimes for possession of controlled substances. This is an increase of 23% in comparison with the same period the previous year. Again, this shows that, locally, your Police are getting better at using intelligence to identify and catch those dealing and using drugs. By doing this we help drive down some of the associated crimes that might be impacted if we were to have a ‘drug scene’ that is out of control. Consequently, we can see a 30% reduction in recorded Serious Assaults, with only 7 recorded for the year to date and a 75% reduction in the carrying of a knife when involved in criminality. These are good indicators that more organised crime is being tackled in your area. Some of the notable incidents that relate to this section include: Your local police request your help in tackling Drug related crime by reporting any suspicions you may have either in person or anonymously via 101 or via crime stoppers online: Crimestoppers in Scotland | Crimestoppers (crimestoppers-uk.org) 0800 555 111 We rely on communities to provide us with the information that helps us tackle organised crime. Your intelligence is essential in securing warrants. Please, if you see, hear or suspect something, link with us directly or use the above information to voice your concerns. As you can see, your inputs help us take action.
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OFFICIAL Page 2 of 7 OFFICIAL • Warrant in Lochgilphead where 48kg of ‘bash’ was recovered. ‘Bash’ is a form of diluted drug to increase profit on the street. In this case it was Heroin; • Warrant in Oban where over 3 ounces of Cannabis was recovered; • Series of warrants in Campbeltown, where a licenced premises was searched in connection with Class A distribution within the town. Acquisitive Crime encompasses all Theft type crimes, including Housebreaking and Frauds. Crimes such as shoplifting sprees or a series of sheds being broken into can quickly distort figures and risk when analysing this group. Housebreaking figures remain stable, normally under one a month and are considered isolated incidents when they occur. There has been an increase in non-dwelling breaks,, with 2 more than usual for the year to date, but this has been part of an identified trend at one location, where suspects have already been idenitified. As previouly reported, frauds continue to be a problematic crime type to protect the public from, owing to the fact that it normally occurs online. The district has seen a 6.4% increase in these crimes being recorded. Again, shoplifting continues to be driven down, with a 50% drop in recorded crime for the year to date and our detection rates being around 77%. Likewise, thefts from motor vehciles have been reduced by 50% with a detection rate of around 88%. Your local police wants members of the APGs to help us by following us on our social media channels to help us spread crime prevention advice and guidance. Fraud Seminars can be provided by the Community Engagement team should you wish. Contct PS Shaw who will pass your details on to the relevant team. Read tips on Argyll & Bute’s Trading Standards Website on practice to protect yourself from the activity of Rogue Traders.
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OFFICIAL Page 3 of 7 OFFICIAL There are many strands to understanding road safety, from the amount of crimes, to the amount of accidents and injuries that occur upon our network. Police Scotland are one of many partner agencies that contribute to trying to improve the safety of local infrastructure. This continues to be a high demand area for your local Police, with both offences on the road networks and the impacts of collisions. As such it is a welcome sight to see that ‘Careless Driving’ offences have reduced by 26%, however, Dangerous Driving has increased by 12% for the year to date at 28 reports. Drink/drug driving continues to be stable in the figures being recorded, after the rise detailed in the previous report. Members of the APG will see us increase our messaging and proactivity over the next couple of months as we move into the festive period. Consequently, expect to see initiatives like road checks on the morning commute or at pub closing times, to prevent and detect drink driving both at the time and legacy alcohol in a person’s system the following morning. Distractions whilst driving contribute to incidents on our road networks. Which means the increase in mobile phone offences is to be noted, with numbers doubling. This is in part to officers targeting this crime type to try and discourage the practice. Recorded speeding offences on our roads have reduced by 67%. Whilst a number of factors feed into this, it would correlate with the reduction in Careless Driving. Patrols by our Roads Policing Units in hotspots help to moderate the activity of road users. You can help your local Police by reporting anyone who is suspected of drink or drug driving within your community either in person, via 101 or via crime stoppers online: Crimestoppers in Scotland | Crimestoppers (crimestoppers-uk.org) 0800 555 111 As said, OLI and MAKI continue to have heightened drink/drug drive figures despite local and national work to address this issue. In light of this, we would like to ask those members of the APG, “What can your local community, organisation or business do to help impact on drink & drug driving?” Recent feedback from a Community Council raised concern around reporting members of the community. Where Community Councils can assist, and some partners, is by helping to spread information and foster a culture to ensure that this crime type, that can impact every road user, is seen as unacceptable. Peer interactions are often far more effective than any other input in moderating harmful behaviours.
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OFFICIAL Page 4 of 7 OFFICIAL Violent Crime covers a range of offences from Stalking, Assaults, Domestic Abuse through to the worst offence of Murder. Those that have seen PS Shaw speak in other forums will be aware that he has sometimes stated that he believes Domestic Violence is often under-reported in our population hubs, with abusive practices inside a household often normalised through learned behaviour or frequency of occurrence. Work by the Police, in conjunction with partner agencies like Social Services, NHS and third sector agencies like Women’s Aid, mean that we are slowly gaining traction in this crime type. In light of this we have seen recorded domestic abuse crimes (against women) increase by 62% from the previous year to date. This is to be welcomed as we lift the lid on this offending area and gain the trust of women to report offending to us. A similar pattern is seen with the crime of Stalking, where increased awareness and training of our officers has seen 12 crimes recorded for the year to date, when only 1 was recorded in the previous time period. Assaults have remained stable, with a 183 reported so far for the year to date, only 4 more than the previous year’s stats. Likewise Threatening & Abusive Behaviour has also started to level out from the last report, with only 6 more incidents than the previous year to date (249). Please help us tackle Violent Crime by reporting any ASB or community concerns either in person via 101 or via crime stoppers online: Crimestoppers in Scotland | Crimestoppers (crimestoppers-uk.org) 0800 555 111 As APG members, if you have identified problem areas, ASB hotspots, or licencees that are not acting in a responsible way, please link with us to advise of the problem. We can set up bespoke patrols and use our powers under Licensing Laws to ensure responsible practice. The sooner we are informed about an issue the less chance there is that it grows into an enduring community issue.
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OFFICIAL Page 5 of 7 OFFICIAL This area of public protection spans a number of traditional crime types, including Child Protection, to crimes under Sexual Offences legislation. We have seen a welcome decrease in Sexual Assaults with a 16% reduction. The Sexual Offence Act contains numerous offences and definitions, which makes direct comparison against historic data complex, but it is good to note that when looking at this grouping as a whole, we have seen a reduction of reported crimes by 1.6%. We continue to be proactive in detecting the sharing of images of abuse of children and those that would seek to communicate indecently with children online. As such we routinely undertake warrants to prevent and detect this activity, with two in the past month in our area. With any warrants the safeguarding of children is paramount and any contacts with those arrested fully explored in multiagency settings to ensure adequate protection. We have previously identified the unseen partnership work that takes place in the background to further ensure public safety. One of these processes is MARAC, which stands for Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conferencing. It is a process that identifies the highest risk victims of domestic abuse. Through multi-agency sharing of information and case discussion, a risk / safety management plan is agreed to assist in reducing the risk to the victim, any children involved and others. This results in a monthly multi-agency meeting where relevant information is shared about each individual case, where support and bespoke safety planning is put in place for each victim. Each member of the conference is invited to Members of the APG can help us by reporting any concerns you may have regarding potential victims of Domestic Abuse or vulnerable persons, who may be being exploited or who may just need additional crime prevention support. Again, this can be reported through the channels previously discussed, but where serious safety concerns are present, better outcomes are achieved by in person reporting so we can properly understand the risks present.
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OFFICIAL Page 6 of 7 OFFICIAL provide input ensuring that the victim and children’s needs are met. This might lead to management plans held in divisions to actively monitor and disrupt an offender’s activity. Ensuring that any new identified risk is quickly identified and acted upon and early information sharing facilitated. Early action and sharing leads to better outcomes for the public. Other relevant news from your local policing teams New Area Commander: Since the last meeting, Chief Insp Lee Page has taken over from Simon Shanks as Area Commander for the OLI and MAKI policing areas. C/Insp Page, a resident within OLI area, comes fresh from working on a project to develop the culture of our organisation in West of Scotland. He has a wealth of experience, especially in the communities arena, and is keen to redesign and better our engagements outside of emergency responses, to ensure the community side of Police Scotland’s service to the public is not overlooked. Many of you will have already linked with him as the former Area Inspector, where he supported this group previously. Those of you that have met C/Insp Page will know that he is committed to delivering a professional and engaged service for the residents of OLI and MAKI. PSYV at Oban: We are pleased to announce that our Youth Engagement Officer, PC Stewart, based at Oban, has reinstated the Police Scotland Youth Volunteer programme. This gives young people of all backgrounds a positive means of engagement with the police service. Through regular training and participation in community safety initiatives, youth volunteers are given opportunities to overcome barriers and discover their talents whilst making a positive contribution to their communities. The programme has grown rapidly since its inception in 2014 and now has a national governance structure with 34 police officers who run local groups across Scotland for 13-18 year-olds. There are currently 43 groups operating, involving over 1,000 young people. Should you wish to know more, please link with PC Stewart at Oban Police Station. Road Policing Safety Day of Action: On 22nd August on the A85 at Taynuilt, in response to concerns raised from our communities, your local Police undertook an operation to review speeding and criminality on the road network. This resulted in 5 offences being identified, the most serious being drug driving.
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OFFICIAL Page 7 of 7 OFFICIAL In analysing the demand within our policing area it has been determined that a large number of calls stem from residents not knowing which agency they should contact, resulting in linking with the Police as the agency of last resort. The below links are to help channel enquiries to the correct agencies: Useful Links/Contacts: • Argyll and Bute Communtiy Directory - https://abcd.scot/ - this excellent site signposts you to all available services in your area, be it advocacy, counselling, debt advice or animal welfare; • Crimestoppers – Crimestoppers in Scotland | Crimestoppers (crimestoppers-uk.org) 0800 555 111 • Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime – www.scottishparc.co.uk • Women’s Aid - Home - Women's Aid (womensaid.org.uk) • Citizens Advice – 0808 164 6000 & https://www.abcab.org.uk/ - Argyll and Bute Citizens Advice Bureau is a local, independent charity which provides free, impartial and confidential advice and information to give you the tools you need to sort out any issues or problems; • Argyll and Bute Council Trading Standards – 01546 605 519 • Argyll and Bute Council – https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/my-council/how-contact-us • Transport Scotland – road related incidents and road closures - https://www.traffic.gov.scot/traffic-information/incidents • Scottish Water - https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Help-and-Resources/Contact-Us 0800 0778 778 • NHS24 (including mental health support) – 111 or https://www.nhsinform.scot/ • Scam Share Bulletin Trading Standards Scotland Bulletin 6 June (mailchi.mp) • Age Scotland- Demetia Information and help- https://www.agescotland.org.uk/ • Neighbourhood Watch - sign up to to receive local alerts and bulletins for your community area - https://neighbourhoodwatchscotland.co.uk/#0 • Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) - https://www.sepa.org.uk/ - for pollution, environmental safety, flooding, waste disposal/carrying enquiries Follow us on Social Media and help share local appeals and education messages: • Facebook - Police Scotland Argyll and West Dunbartonshire • X (formerly Twitter) – PSOSArgyllBute and PSOS ArgWestDunb Report Completed by Sgt Matthew Shaw on behalf of Area Commander Chief Insp Lee Page Email Address Matthew.shaw@scotland.police.uk