Members of the Local Policing Unit will provide a crime update for the area.
Minutes:
PC Dave McCartney, Knighton beat officer from Leicestershire Constabulary, introduced himself to the meeting.
He explained that there had been a spate of thefts of number plates from vehicles. These were then used when driving vehicles away from petrol stations without paying. As a result, Home Office funding had been obtained for kits that contained tamper-proof number plate screws, boxes that looked like car alarms and stickers warning that the vehicle was protected.
The Police would visit people who had had number plates stolen to give them kits, following which the scheme would be rolled out to the community. It was noted that some of the funding would be available before the end of March 2012 and the rest would be received in the 2012/13 financial year.
PC McCartney then gave the following update:-
· A community consultation would be held from 12.00 noon to 2.00 pm on Friday 23 March at Holbrook Hall. At this session, member of the public could meet local Police officers and raise queries. Council officers would be there to fit tamper proof screws to vehicle number plates;
· Over the last three months there had been 5 anti-social behaviour arrests in the Ward. These problems tended to happen in the Tesco / Aberdale Road area. The Police were aware of what was happening and would address any increase in anti-social behaviour as needed;
· There had been 17 burglaries over the area. It was being noted that the number of burglaries across the City was increasing, probably due to the current economic situation;
· Over the last three months there had been 9 burglaries across the area at premises other than dwellings;
· 7 cases of criminal damage had been reported. This could cover a wide range of damage. For example, it could be accidental and could be small or large amounts of damage;
· 4 cars and 12 pushbikes had been stolen;
· There had been 19 thefts from motor vehicles. This included break-ins, as well as number plate thefts; and
· 2 robberies had occurred in Southernhay Road. The culprits had been apprehended.
PC McCartney reminded the meeting that a grant of £300 had been approved to the Police from the Community Meeting Budget towards the purchase of SmartWater to help deter bicycle thefts. The local Joint Action Group also had given £300 for this purpose. The meeting noted that stolen bikes often were stripped and sold for spares. SmartWater could be put everywhere on a bike and a registration code contained in the SmartWater could be seen under ultraviolet light, which meant that parts could be traced. (A registration form was supplied with each pack of SmartWater.)
One session of applying SmartWater to bikes already had been held at Knighton Park and these would be on-going in the Ward. The Fix My Bike shop from Saffron Lane also would be involved in the programme, marking bikes that were bought or repaired at the shop with SmartWater.
In reply to a question, PC McCartney advised that SmartWater could be bought from the company’s website (www.smartwater.com) in various sizes of pack. It was thought that there was not a local stockist, but PC McCartney undertook to look in to this.
The following points were then made during discussion:-
· Approximately 2,600 bicycles had been stolen across the City over the last year. Such thefts always should be reported to the Police, irrespective of the value of the bike stolen;
· Residents had heard that last month animals had been left in the Ward, but the Police had received no reports of this;
· Residents enquired about the level of thefts of lead in the area. It was noted that lead currently had a high value and it was known that it already had been stolen from some roofs in the area; and
· Pink graffiti had reappeared on some street signs and NTL boxes.