Crime downturn is thanks to cops and community team

Fall in violence, drug offences and vandalism in Paisley

Two Paisley areas have seen a downturn in crimes including violence and vandalism.

According to a report that is to go before the Paisley South Local Area Committee, serious violent crime, minor assault, drug crimes, and vandalism have all gone down.

In Ward 6, which covers Paisley Southeast, there was just one serious violent crime in the first quarter of 2017/18 compared to four in the same period for the previous year.

In Ward 7, which covers Paisley Southwest, the figure remained the same at one.

Both wards saw significant reduction in minor assaults over the same period, with Ward 6 seeing a fall of 15 to 13, while Ward 7 went down from 31 to 12. Drug crimes also fell. In Ward 6, there were 23 crimes recorded in the first quarter of 2016/17 compared to 12 in 2017/18.

And in Ward 7 the figures were 28 and 19, respectively, over the same periods.

Disorder and anti- social behaviour fell in Ward 6 from 192 to 149, but Ward 7 saw a hike from 252 to 261.

Vandalism was down in both wards.

In Ward 6, it fell from 17 to 14, and from 32 to 26 in Ward 7.

The report goes on to state that 114 anti-social behaviour calls were received by the Renfrewshire Wardens’ service for the Paisley South Local Area Committee area, during April 1 to June 30, 2017, which is a decrease compared to the corresponding period in 2016.

More than 850 patrols took place within the Paisley South LAC area, many in response to these calls.

A Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: “The council’s community safety team have been working with Police Scotland on a number of successful joint initiatives across Renfrewshire.

“The work of the Community Safety Partnership has been enhanced by the new community policing model, which came into place in April, and has allowed all organisations involved to build up additional intelligence in the local area and target resources accordingly. It also supports robust monitoring across Renfrewshire.

“Over the summer, the council’s wardens and community safety youth team have worked with Police Scotland and CCTV on a number of specific initiatives in the Paisley South area. This has resulted in incident figures going down across the board, except for a slight increase in noise complaints which relates to repeat incidents by one individual, and the council and Police Scotland are working to address this issue together.

“Renfrewshire’s Community Safety Partnership wi l l continue to work closely with communities to support safer and stronger spaces for all.”