Summer focus on youth crime Teens cause trouble at fast food shops
Police in Bathgate and Armadale wards are committed to tackling crimes of dishonesty and anti social behaviour through the summer months while maintaining an ongoing focus on violence and disorder related to the nighttime economy in the wards.
In recent months there has been an increase in break-ins and antisocial behaviour, in particular youth calls.
While the increases have been relatively small they are nonetheless impacting on the local community.
Our move to a different policing model now allows our officers in local roles to focus on specific crime trends and patterns in an effort to reduce these incidents and provide a visible presence in the community.
In particular we have seen a rise in youth calls in and around the Bathgate town centre area. This is particularly the case around fast food outlets and other business and commercial premises.
By pro-actively patrolling these areas and liaising with the youth community officer at local secondary schools we were able to identify a number of young people.
In partnership with social work and other partner agencies, we introduced those young people into an early and effective intervention programme targeted at directing them away from offending behaviour and into diversionary activities.
This work has been intensive however we have seen a dramatic reduction in calls to the police by the public. This approach was also successfully introduced in Blackridge when dealing with similar issues around youth offending.
In recent times we have seen an increase in break-ins to garden huts and garages and I would remind everyone to ensure all security measures are taken when protecting your property.
My officers will be engaged in uniform and plain clothes prevention patrols throughout the summer months at various locations in the area. These patrols will be intelligence led and in conjunction with specialist officers from our Pro Active Unit.
Crime prevention advice will be available and the officers will hold a series of engagement events at public venues such as local supermarkets and partnership centres.
Details of these will be posted online in the West Lothian Police page on Police Scotland website.