Movements in the force for officers

Due to recent moves and retirements there has been a change to the Local Problem Solving Team (LPST) management within South Lanarkshire.

On Monday, January 13, Inspector Roger Bond took over the role of LPST inspector based at Hamilton.

Inspector Bond has 25 years of police service.

He started his career in Grampian before working at the Scottish Police College, then Fife Constabulary and transferred to Hamilton in March 2014.

Also at Hamilton, Billy Sloan has taken up his new role as LPST sergeant, as introduced in last week’s Advertiser.

Tommy Mcauley just started as the new LPST sergeant for Larkhall, Stonehouse, Lesmahagow and surrounding areas. Sergeant Mcauley has over 12 years of police service.

His service thus far has been within Lanarkshire Division, however he has carried out numerous roles ranging from a community police officer, response policing and plain clothes pro-active policing.

We have recently released messages across all of our social media channels informing communities in Lanarkshire that they will see officers out on patrol with mobile devices, informing also of the benefits of these devices and that they should not be mistaken for personal mobile phones.

Training for these devices has begun and they will be deployable from Tuesday, January 21, onwards within Lanarkshire Division.

We have committed to a challenging training schedule and should have in excess of 100 officers trained every week.

As previously reported, we have had issues with youths responsible for acts of disorder, vandalisms and assaults within the area of Hamilton town centre.

Along with our partners, our team has been focusing on this problem, which this week has resulted in the arrest of a male for alleged possession of a knife. Good work by officers in the Hamilton area helped to identify and arrest a 40 year-old male responsible for the shoplifting of items worth over £500.

He is now serving a custodial sentence.

Residents in the Stonehouse area are asked to be vigilant and aware of the security of their vehicles and property after two recent incidents where a vehicle was set alight and another broken into with items stolen. There have also been reports of a male acting suspiciously, looking through windows on Patrickholm Avenue and Hareshaw Place, Stonehouse.

Please contact the police if you see any suspicious activity.