North Yorkshire Police are continuing to investigate the suspected drugs-related death of a 16-year-old girl in York.

Paramedics were called to a house in the Tang Hall area at about 11.25pm on Thursday (19 April 2012). The girl was taken to York District Hospital where she was pronounced dead in the early hours of Friday (20 April 2012) following attempts to resuscitate her.

A 21-year-old local man, believed to be connected to the incident, is in a serious but stable condition. He was taken to York District Hospital by a friend.

A 23-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman, both from York, have been arrested in connection with the investigation and remain in custody for questioning.

Police enquiries have been ongoing in and around the address at Tang Hall as officers work to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

Witnesses or anyone with information that could assist the investigation are urged to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101 and select option 1.

Information can also be passed on anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Please quote reference number 12120062307.

Safety warning…

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North Yorkshire Police’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) team have again proved why the technology is one of the most effective tools available to the police service.

In the last financial year, the force’s ANPR team have seized £1,350,160 worth of stolen property, vehicles and drugs, summonsed 1,588 people to court and have made 88 arrests.

•1,025 fixed penalty notices have been issued by the team, mainly for motoring offences.
•523 vehicles have been seized for having no insurance, or because the driver using the did not have a valid licence.
•88 people were arrested for offences including theft, drugs, burglary, motoring offences and people wanted on warrants.
•Over 700 vehicles or people have been searched.
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Having messed up the introduction of a new system which allows residents to use smartphones to report issues (see http://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/03/28/not-so-smart-red-face-as-council-leader-flunks-it-test/) it is disappointing to report that the system isn’t producing results.

We have reported fly tipping using the system on several occasions over the last 3 weeks. Automated reports assured us that the tipping had been dealt with.

But today, far from being cleared, the tipping is still there and growing in size (see photo right).

As we said when the system was introduced, the problem with tackling street level problems does not rest with reporting systems. The web based channel advertised on the Council web site as “report it” works well. The issue relates to having the right level of resources dedicated to identifying and eliminating the root cause of fly tipping and the like.

In the past the Council had a dedicated team of Street Environment Officers who followed up issues like these. They were particularly effective in dealing with problems on private land. But it seems that they are now being starved of resources.

The Council needs to get control of the fly tipping, fly posting and graffiti problems before they reach a level which could permanently debase the image of our City.

It’s just part of the continuing decline in public services in the Acomb area. It makes the “love York” publicity stunt, which is being covered by sections of the media today, look increasingly out of touch with reality.