New Chief Constable for York and North Yorkshire

Some good news from the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Lisa Winward named as preferred candidate for Chief Constable

Elected Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire Julia Mulligan has today announced that Lisa Winward is to be put forward as her preferred candidate to become Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police.

Lisa Winward, currently North Yorkshire’s Temporary Chief Constable and Deputy Chief Constable since February 2017, was chosen following a rigorous two-day interview process, including taking questions from members of the public and partners in a Question Time event and panel interviews, on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 July.

The Police and Crime Commissioner will now put her preferred candidate to the North Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, who have a statutory duty to hold a confirmation hearing to consider Temporary Chief Constable Winward’s suitability for the role. This will take place on Wednesday 15 August.

Campaign launched to reduce anti social behaviour

Cllr Sheena Jackson points out a damaged cycle barrier

Problems with anti social behaviour usually increase at this time of year but recently problems have reached new levels.

A cycle barrier at the entrance to the Thanet Road sports are was knocked over last week. Although there were signs of corrosion on part of the barrier, the responsibility has been placed at the feet of vandals. A temporary barrier is being installed this week,.

Elsewhere in the Foxwood area, noisy mopeds and cars trying to do hand break turns on amenity areas have been reported. We would expect that the police – who didn’t attend a residents association meeting yesterday – will be able to deal quickly with vehicle related issues like these.

Anyone spotting anti social behaviour or potential vehicle offences should report them to 101.

NB. The number of Police officers in the area has reduced over recent years. Crime levels are creeping up.

Call for increase in neighbourhood police profile in York

The next York Council meeting will discuss four motions put forward by the political groups represented on the authority.

  • Liberal Democrat Ashley Mason is asking for more funding for neighbourhood policing. He will get a lot of support for his proposal with PCSO patrols now distinctly thin on the ground in much of the City. 41% of respondents to a recent survey thought that policing in the City was “poor”.

Many highlighted issues with drugs and moped gangs as increasing areas of concern.

The York Council has no direct powers over policing policy (that rests with the Harrogate based Police and Crime Commissioner) but it can be more active in using its powers of scrutiny.

The motion also opposes any reduction in Fire cover. The service has recently been taken over by the PCC.

  • A Labour Councillor wants to close the outbound traffic lane which currently runs under Micklegate Bar. The actual amount of traffic using this route is already regulated with “green” periods at the adjacent traffic lights already relatively short. However, the main criticism of this proposal is that it is being made without any consultation with local businesses or residents. Local road junctions are already congested at peak times so the consequences could be significant. The plan comes from the Lendal bridge closure school of transport planning. Proposals like these need to be considered as part of the next update to the Local Transport Plan. (NB. The Council video, outlining plans to improve the railway station frontage, portray an, almost miraculously, traffic free inner ring road in this part of the City!)
  • The Conservative Councillors have gone to the trouble of restating that they are in favour of free green bin emptying. Many residents would settle, currently, for just having their present green bin emptied.
  • ……& finally, the Green party has come out against, what they term as, “food poverty”. It will probably be difficult to find anyone who thinks hunger is a good thing. The Greens disingenuously suggest that Council officials should write a report saying how the issue can be resolved. Sadly, this is another problem where most of the levers are well outside the control of a local Council.

Council meetings these days are sterile and predictable affairs with all sides posturing and the real issues, that affect street level public service standards, rarely being highlighted.

This can party be traced back to a decision by the last Council which withdrew the option for Councillors to submit written questions (and get a written response).

A limited amount of time is reserved for verbal questions, but these rarely uncover any new facts.

Answers to verbal questions are not recorded in the meeting minutes. The minutes are, in any event, published several weeks – or months – later.

By then the issue has usually moved on.

Anti social behaviour meeting in Foxwood a success

Cllr Sheena Jackson organised a meeting with Sergeant Danny Leach and Police Constable Andy Pearson at Foxwood Community Centre last night.

10 residents took the opportunity to discuss ongoing issues in Bellhouse Way/Willoughby Drive area re cars and mopeds.

Sheena reports that residents feel a bit more reassured in terms of how incidents are reported and Sergeant Leach is more than happy to attend any other meetings that are organised.

“It is good that he is happy to listen to residents issues and get something done”.

NB On the same eveing the police tweeted to say that two moped riders had been stopped and served with vehicle offence notices in the Westfield area.

 

Anti social behaviour on the increase. Residents urged to complete policing survey

click

We’ve commented before, that the number of high profile PCSO patrols in the area  does have an effect on anti social behaviour problems.

With lighter nights, and dry weather, now with us problems are increasing.

There have been more problems recently particularly in the Foxwood area where misuse of mopeds has become endemic in at least the Bellhouse Way area.

It is a similar picture in Chapelfields, where a poll currently being undertaken by LibDem Councillors has revealed that “moped gangs” are now the most serious crime issue on the estate.

71% say they are a problem.

Its clear though that the local police force simply don’t have enough officers to be able to offer reassurance patrols as often as residents would like.

There is still time to respond to the Police and Crime Commissioners survey on neighbourhood policing. It is she who ultimately is responsible for Police budgets in York and North Yorkshire.

It is she who will have to allocate more resources to tackle neighbourhood issues.

Residents should make these points when they respond to the survey. Click here

It is also vitally important that residents, who witness anti social behaviour of any kind, do report the issue to the police (via 101)

Front Street racial abuse incident – Police seek witnesses

Officers are appealing for information and witnesses following a hate related public order crime.
The incident occurred at Morrisons on Front Street, Acomb when a man was subjected to threatening and racially abusive language.
The offence occurred at around 3pm on Wednesday, 20 June.
Anyone with information which could assist the investigation is urged to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, selecting option 2, and ask for PC David Ellison. You can also email david.ellison41@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk
If you wish to provide information anonymously then information can be given to the independent charity Crimestopper on 0800 555 111.
Please quote reference 12180110039 when providing information.

Contact details: DAVE ELLISON david.ellison0041@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk Incident reference: 12180110039

Crime survey started

click to go to survey

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has started an “on line” survey which she says is aimed at getting residents views about neighbourhood policing.

In some ways this is well timed as the summer period invariably brings a peak in some forms of crime – notably anti-social behaviour.

We have already seen an escalation in complaints about the “mad moped” brigade while environmental crime (e.g. dumping, dog fouling) are still at high levels. However, they are yet to reach the heights seen last year when the police presence was very low.

Since then there has been a gradual and welcome improvement with more patrols by PCSOs evident.

The survey begins by asking about satisfaction with a range of public services. There will be a suspicion that this will be to allow the PCC to say that the quality of policing is more highly rated than, say, road maintenance. The real comparison is with historical performance.

The effectiveness of policing  has never been the same in sub-urban parts of York since anti-social behaviour activities were centralised into a “hub” at West Offices. Almost overnight communication channels between residents and named police officers were broken, losing a valuable channel of information about the causes of crime and those responsible.  The boundaries of the neighbourhood policing units seem to have been in a constant state of flux.

Lists of local officers need to be regularly updated and included on public noticeboards, social media pages etc.

The local activities web page for York South famously is only updated a couple of times a year, although there are many more things going on than are publicised.

The survey fails to probe whether residents have confidence in the criminal justice system in its entirety. Many reported crimes go undetected while courts seem to lack effective powers to deter repeat offences.

The police seem reluctant to publish performance stats at a neighbourhood level. Information is available at https://www.police.uk/ but accessing it is awkward. Residents Associations no longer routinely receive information. Many Neighbourhood Watch organisations have folded in recent years.

We hope that the results of the survey will be published at neighbourhood level.

Reporting poor driving – “Operation Spartan”

It is two years since the North Yorkshire Police launched “Operation Spartan”. It provided concerned residents with the opportunity to give the police details of poor driving practices across the county.

In York concerns about poor driving have concentrated on misuse of mopeds and well as the modified cars. Some roads like Bellhouse Way have seen problems for several months but when routinely reported to the police for enforcement action, the drivers have usually long since departed the scene.

Residents are being requested to submit details of instances of dangerous or anti-social driving they have witnessed to the Police using this “on line” form (click)

The police Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/NorthYorkshirePolice/