Week in policing

Shock crime snapshot

Emergency services were stretched to the limit last week as the Beast from the East swept across Lanarkshire.

On Monday Police Scotland tweeted a staggering snapshot of the past week in policing in Lanarkshire. From February 26 to Monday, March 5, Lanarkshire Division received 3595 calls resulting in 663 crime reports being recorded.

Police responded to 188 road traffic collisions during the extreme weather conditions – a threefold increase.

A total of 39 reports were taken involving drugs and alcohol and 58 assaults were reported to police.

Meanwhile, local officers dealt with 375 requests to assist members of the public and 167 reports of concern for a person.

Over the last seven days 130 domestic incidents were recorded and 156 disturbance calls were made to cops.

Missing person reports totalled 28 in the county, with six people’s whereabouts still unknown. Alarmingly, 109 false calls were made to police during this time.

PC James Higgins, who collated the figures, told the News that aside from a “significant” increase in calls and road crashes, the crime snapshot illustrates a typical week on the beat.

PC Higgins said: “It is perhaps no surprise that there was a significant increase in general calls from the public, including a near threefold increase in road traffic collisions.

“What is perhaps surprising, however, is that in practically every other aspect call levels were broadly similar to normal demand, which presents a challenge in the extreme weather we all experienced last week.”

Central Scotland Tory MSP Graham Simpson commented: “What comes across from the statistics is how hard our local officers in Lanarkshire work to keep us safe. Sadly, one stat that stands out is the false calls made, over 100 that have to be investigated before being dismissed as a hoax is a disgrace, especially given the issues we faced across Lanarkshire last week.”

Central Scotland Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: “I commend Police Scotland on dealing with such a high volume of calls from the Lanarkshire area. Our officers do an excellent job keeping our community safe. It is concerning that 130 domestic incidents and 39 reports involving drugs and/or alcohol were recorded.”

Our officers do an excellent job...