Update from Neighbourhood Police Team Inspector

As we head towards the end of the year, I thought it a good time to be in touch and update on a few things.

As the Inspector for Redcar and East Cleveland Neighbourhood Police Team I oversee 18 different wards, all with their own unique demands.

Patterns of crimes and antisocial behaviour throughout the year are influenced by a lot of things and we are constantly evolving to try to keep ahead.

Our area has been at the forefront in ensuring vulnerable victims go through our Victims First process and risk assessment, then ensuring all the follow up actions to safeguard and protect them are done, making sure we speak to all other partner agencies to protect the most vulnerable in our community.

We have also had more success in obtaining house closures where addresses and occupants cause persistent issues in the community. The one in Brotton last week was the latest one we did, but on average in Redcar and Cleveland we have been closing around one property every month in conjunction with our colleagues from the Local Authorities ASB Team.

On the same lines we have obtained more Criminal Behaviour Orders that restricts the actions of some of those causing the most problems in the community, and then arrested those breaching these Orders and seen them go to prison. We will continue to pursue as many of these Orders as we can as a really effective way to pursue criminals and protect victims.

In recent weeks we have been tackling some of the business burglaries in Redcar town centre and have made several arrests, have people on bail and some already convicted after pleading guilty. We are also aware of series of small business burglaries in East Cleveland and along with our Response Police and CID colleagues are targeting those committing these offences right now.

Also we will continue to target off road bikes and quads that cause issues both on our estates and for our rural community. We have had many successes in terms of seizures recently with a huge part of this down to our increased use of drones.

We have been doing regular checks in licensed premises for some time now with an emphasis on Redcar, Guisborough and Saltburn – these will continue.

A really piece of good news is that in the whole of the last month the reduction in theft from vehicles has continued with just 10 offences reported across the whole month across all 18 wards. Six of those ten were when car door handles might have been tried or no property stolen, meaning just 4 reports of items stolen all month. 

In January I will receive a third extra PC onto the team which is great news and this week I have been talking to brand new PCSOs that will be joining the team in the new year after their initial training and these will fill any vacancies that I currently have. Once they are posted with me they will be out meeting as many people as they can on the wards.

As we move into the new year I will be pushing increased messaging through this platform, issuing more Dispersal Orders and working to close more houses that cause disruption in our community.

We will continue to keep our default priorities as youth antisocial behaviour, tackling off road bikes, tackling community issues such as drug dealing and unexpected spikes in crime and keeping our town centres safe.