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Northwest Monthly Community Meeting Update December 2020 (Almond)

Addressing violent crime All Serious Violent crime (incl. serious assault/robbery) is down 12.5% across NW compared to last year.

Domestic Abuse crime is slightly up by 5.4 % in NW despite concerns this may have shown greater increase during COVID-19 restriction period. There has been continued enforcement of domestic bail conditions during this period to protect vulnerable victims and an increase in perpetrators charged

Reducing drug harm and targeting supply Drugs (supply, production and cultivation) – Focus of increased activity.

The Proactive LAVRU (Licensing and Violence Reduction Unit) unit are actively carrying out search warrants and disruption to target drug related crime following intelligence gathering and important Crimestopper notifications from communities. Some significant drug recoveries have been made recently.

It is important that local communities are encouraged to report criminal activity by speaking to a police officer ringing 101 or to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Tackling housebreaking and acquisitive crime Housebreaking to domestic homes is down 42% on last year across NW and down 47% in Almond ward. We have maintained focus on the minority of individuals committing housebreaking and there has been continued enforcement of bail curfews for offenders by local and specialist teams.

Housebreaking non-dwellings (sheds/garage) has increased this year both in NW and across the city with a focus on stealing pedal bikes. Operation Agora is the citywide police operation aimed at tackling this and a number of recent arrests/recovery of stolen bikes has been made.

Theft of pedal cycles has increased in NW and across the city. A number of bikes have been recovered and reunited with their owner through bike register - we've held a number of bike marking events which are advertised through our social media pages.

Theft of motor vehicles which includes theft of motorcycles is still down 18% across the city this year to date.

Dealing with disorder and antisocial behaviour

Antisocial behaviour incidents have increased and can be attributed to the COVID-19

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protocols. Calls in this category include concerns about young people gathering, reports of neighbours not adhering to social distancing and noise/party calls.

Our School link officer PC Gill Young and local Community officers PC Martin Crow and PC Donald MacLeod continue to work with the young people in the / and the surrounding areas encouraging positive behaviours in and out of the school.

PC Sofie Young is the community officer for the /Pennywell area. There was an increase in the number of anti-social behaviour calls in December especially around the construction site and MacMillan Square area. An investigation took place and a number of young people have been charged in relation to this. A multi-agency partners group meets regularly to share ideas and work together against ASB

Hate crime is NW is down 4.2% on last year to date, with an increase of 7% offenders charged for offences. Every Hate Crime or Incident is reviewed by a supervisor and allocated for investigation and support.

Making our roads safe Road safety stats - The number of people seriously injured on roads in NW is still down 42% on last year and the number slightly injured is down 63%.

Hawes Pier car park continues to have our focus with regular patrols by our local officers and our Roads Policing colleagues.

The closure of Hawes Pier between 2200 hrs and 0500 hours ceased very recently. Communication is on-going with Council, local residents and councillors to look at this change and monitor any impact.

Other e.g. Events/initiatives/local ward updates or national campaigns Road Safety As part of the Festive Drink Drive campaign, checks were carried out at Whitehouse Road, , where vehicles were stopped and drivers requested to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test.

Additional patrols have also been carried following reports of speeding/careless driving at various locations, including Queensferry Road, Kirkliston, Builyeon Road, South Queensferry and Main Street, Davidson’s Mains. This will continue throughout January.

ASB High Visibility patrols have been increased around certain ‘hotspots’ including Lauriston Estate, Estate, the Scotstoun shops in South Queensferry along with various other areas.

Officers continue to visit local businesses and liaise with local businesses/management

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teams on a regular basis to deter further unwanted behaviour and to identify any offenders.

Community Tensions Officers have devoted significant time to mediating various neighbour disputes and community tensions across all wards within Almond over the past month, working closely with partner agencies to provide all possible assistance to members of the community.

Contact Us:

Email (for all ward areas): [email protected] Email address is not monitored 24/7 or for reporting crime or ongoing incidents. These should be reported by calling 101 (non-emergency) or 999 (emergency).

Twitter: @EdinPolNW Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/EdinburghPoliceDivision

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