Our focus is on helping the public

Police Scotland handles an average three million calls to its 999 and 101 service every year.

The demands on this service are changing. Over 80 per cent of calls we receive are not related to crime.

A new Contact Assessment Model will change the way calls are assessed and prioritised, to ensure every individual caller gets an appropriate and proportionate response.

Its aim is to significantly improve the experience and outcomes for the public and empower and enable our workforce to make the right decisions.

What won’t change is our response to critical and urgent incidents, our focus on protecting the public and most vulnerable in our communities and our officers’ ability to engage and be visible in our communities. The new Contact Assessment Model will ‘go live’ in Lanarkshire Division in spring 2019.

This week, we are seeking the public’s help with the following local crimes. At around 6pm on Monday, January 28, a man only described as being bald-headed walked into the garden of a house on Sportsfield Road, Hamilton, in-between two vehicles in the driveway.

He was caught on CCTV and due to his actions it was suspected he may have been there to commit theft or ascertain if any occupants were within the house. The man made off from the garden when a car arrived outside. If anyone spotted anything unusual around this time that could add to the man’s description, contact PC Mcbride at Hamilton Police Office.

At around 10am on Saturday, January 26, at a planned construction site on Wilkie Road/bellshill Road, Uddingston, a white or silver car, possibly a Volkswagen, stopped.

A man wearing a hi-vis yellow vest approached the metal gates and, using a saw, cut the metal gates off at the hinges then placed the gates on the ground, leaving the planned site insecure. The offender was there for about 30 minutes and may have appeared as genuine. The gates have since been repaired and refitted, however it is believed that the offender may have been a traveller looking to create access for caravans. If you have any information, contact PC Anderson at Blantyre Police Office.

At around 3am on January 26, a 19-year-old man was standing outside the ROC nightclub on Keith Street, Hamilton, when he was attacked by three unknown males who had been standing nearby. The offenders could not be described by the victim and after punching him repeatedly on the face they ran off.

The victim suffered soft tissue swelling and concussion and could not recall where the offenders had ran off to.

If anyone witnessed this unprovoked attack, call police on 101.