Agenda item

The Police and the Council’s Community safety Officer will give an update on their activities in the Ward.

PC Varney provided residents with an outline of the area that Spinney Hills covered, and gave an update on statistics for the area for the past 90 days:

PC Varney reported the two street robberies occurred on Humberstone Road and Belgrave Gate, both were mobile phones. He added two males were due to appear in court for the thefts.

PC Varney said there were 33 vulnerable adults in Spinney Hills, four of whom lived on St Matthews.

A resident informed the police that there was open drug dealing on Berners Street. PC Varney informed residents to call 101, which would create a report which would then go on the system. He added there were designated officers for designated areas, and said he would speak with the resident for details after the meeting.

A resident reported anti-social behaviour, with people playing football on Dale Street. PC Varney said this was a common problem, and the police were aware of it. The police recognised that children needed to play, but there was a park nearby.

Residents reported issues on Vulcan Road, with open drug dealing, prostitution, the congregation of gangs, with residents feeling intimidated and afraid to leave their homes. PC Varney said there were issues on Vulcan Road and the police were doing something about it, but could not say what due to operational reasons. He added that there was an increased presence in the area to deal with issues.

Residents said the crime reporting number 101 was good enough for reporting domestics, but not good enough for other issues, PC Varney said people should complain to the Chief Constable if they were unhappy about using the number, which was used nationally.

Residents raised concerns around people parking on double yellow lines, and obstructing traffic in the area. PC Varney told residents to call the Council on (0116) 2527000 to report issues to Vinchy Parking. He said if traffic was obstructing the pathway, then the issue could be dealt with by the police. He asked that where possible registration numbers of the vehicles should be passed on to the police, to enable them to speak to drivers.

Daxa Pancholi, Head of Community Safety & Safer Leicester Partnership, Leicester City Council, was present to talk about work that had been undertaken in the area, with reference to Vulcan Road.

Daxa informed residents that there was a finite number of CCTV cameras for use around the city, but two had been placed on Vulcan Road following resident’s concerns due to anti-social behaviour, and the perception it was an unsafe environment. She added a lot of data sharing occurred between the council and the police, and four-weekly meetings were held, which assisted the investigation of issues.

The Chair said it was important that data sharing occurred, and that people should take ownership of their areas and become actively involved. He asked the interested residents leave their contact details at the end of the meeting for information on Neighbourhood Watch Schemes.

The Chair thanked the police and officers for the update.