Reasons police have been called out to shopping centre

POLICE were called to West Orchards shopping centre for everything from crime and anti-social behaviour to missing people and crashes.

Officers attended the city centre shopping centre almost 200 times in the past two years for a variety of reasons between April 2018 and March this year.

Unsurprisingly, crime was the top reason with 79 of the 192 incidents recorded as criminal offences, with public safety and welfare - such as missing people and domestic incidents - the second highest with 59 during the 24-month period.

The data, released by West Midlands Police following a Freedom of Information request, also show police were called to aid with traffic disruption on five occasions.

These incidents included huge queues at the West Orchards car park which saw drivers stuck for hours at a time with some even making the decision to simply abandon their cars and walk home.

The problems rear their ugly head every Christmas as shoppers look to get their festive shopping done in Coventry city centre.

In December last year, the usual queues were worsened by temporary traffic lights by the Belgrade Theatre in Corporation Street.

Other incidents which saw a police presence required at West Orchards included antisocial behaviour, missing people, concerns for safety and a traffic collisions.

The shopping centre is in the news at the moment as the work of its security staff is subject of a Channel 5 documentary following the workers as they battle against shoplifters and those who abuse staff.

In the latest episode, one member of staff revealed he suffered a stab wound after he and his colleagues fended off a large group of youths.

Full list of police call-outs to West Orchards shopping centre between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2020:

administration cancel/exit/ error - 1 administration duplicate - 4 administration lost/found property or found person - 1

administration message - 25

anti-social behaviour nuisance - 1

anti-social behaviour personal - 1 concern for safety - 1 crime/recorded crime - 79 disorder - 1 miscellaneous - 8 public safety/welfare alarms - 11

public safety/welfare civil dispute - 4

public safety/welfare collapse/injury/illness/ trapped - 2

public safety/welfare concern for safety - 16

public safety/welfare domestic incidents - 2

public safety/welfare missing person - 3

public safety/welfare missing person/unauthorised absence - 1

public safety/welfare suspicious circumstances - 20

transport highway disruption - 5

transport road related offence - 3

transport rtc-damage only -2

transport rtc-injury/death -1

Total: 192 (107 in 2018/19 and 85 in 2019/20)