Greetings from the Neighbourhood Police Team at Newton Aycliffe. Over the last couple of months the team has been very busy addressing a number of issues across the town, some of these are well documented on local social media residents pages . . . I know this as I find myself following these on my days off, much to the frustration of my wife when I should be hoovering!
We find ourselves in a situation where Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) is increasing (it does during the winter months, but is abnormally high at present).
The team have been taking a number of steps to reduce and stop this, but unfortunately this is not a short-term fix. We are working very closely with the ASB Team at Durham County Council to engage and educate youths, and then ultimately enforce the law if they don’t listen to advice. There is an escalation scale we have to follow which does take time, but courts are looking for this process to be followed if they are to back us in granting Criminal Behaviour Orders on youths to give us further powers to deal with them effectively. Make no bones about this, we are committed to dealing robustly with ASB in Newton Aycliffe!
If we need to obtain these orders we will, like many of you, I am sick of the behaviour of this small group of youths that are causing misery for the community and it will stop . . . approximately 10 Acceptable Behaviour Contracts issued so far and more to come . . . the next step is court. We are also dealing with these youths for specific criminal offences and they are being sent to the Youth Offending Team who work directly with them to divert them away from further offending.
On a positive note, our Response and CID colleagues were involved in arresting and dealing with Neil McCormack on the 3rd February for a number of shed burglaries and shoplifting offences in the town. He has recently been sentenced to 14 months in prison.
We have also executed a Magistrates Search Warrant for drugs in the Western area of Newton Aycliffe, a female was arrested and drugs seized. Enquiries are ongoing at this moment in time as drugs analysis has to take place prior to charge. Drug taking and supply causes a lot of harm in the community and we would encourage you to report any concerns to us via 101 or Crimestoppers.
As part of the Western Area TLP (Time Limited Project) which brings partners together to problem solve around youth provision and ASB, we have just been granted planning permission for a Community Garden in Silverdale Place. If you’d like to help with this, please get in touch with Simon Day at Junction 7.
Last month I also had a student from St. Mary’s School shadowing me for the day. Sgt. Annabelle did an amazing job in briefing the team, running custody, taking fingerprints, chairing meetings and representing the team at the Cuppa with a Copper at The ARK.
Please follow our Facebook page to see all that we are up to . . . it might be that you can identify our Proclaimer descendant too!!? As Jerry Springer used to say “look after yourself and each other!”
