ON THE BEAT CCTV agreed to tackle antisocial behaviour
In June this year, I invited the Wishaw Press to a meeting in Harestone Crescent which had been called by Councillor Sam Love involving myself, Councillor Frank McKay and representatives from the council’s housing department.
This was in response to a rise in disorder and antisocial behaviour and the purpose of the meeting was to identify how each partner could assist to tackle the problems in the area. A number of options were discussed and since then there have been improvements made to the area such as upgraded lighting, overgrown trees and shrubs have been cut back to improve visibility and bins have been moved to eliminate a fire risk. We have been sharing information regarding antisocial tenants and NLC have issued a number of warnings.
Last week I spoke to Matt Costello from NLC and was delighted to hear that the plans for CCTV cameras in the area have been submitted and approved and they will be installed and up and running very soon. The antisocial behaviour in this area has not been an easy issue to tackle as the layout of the street made it difficult to provide an effective police presence and residents were understandably reluctant to come forward through fear of repercussions.
Despite these challenges your Community Policing Team, North Lanarkshire Council and your local councillors have come together to identify and implement solutions which will allow us to target those causing harm in this community and make Harestone Crescent a safe and pleasant place to live.
In the last few weeks a number of properties in the Wishaw area were broken into and had items stolen from them. Officers from the Community Investigation Unit quickly identified a suspect who was arrested and has since been remanded in custody pending his trial.