Police week of action hailed as success

A "week of action" operation by Lothian and Borders Police has ended successfully after the first long-term activity patrolling the Leith area.

By the end of the week, Police had seized quantities of cannabis, £3840 in cash, two stolen pushbikes, one taser and a CS spray, whilst one person has been charged with fire raising and another with 14 counts of vandalism.

Police, in conjunction with the Leith Neighbourhood Partnership, worked alongside the City of Edinburgh Council, a number of other agencies, and local residents to reduce crime and increase positive feelings about the area.

According to officials, the operation, which took place from Monday 13 until Saturday 18 October in the triangle bounded by Commercial Street, Great Junction/North Junction Street and Constitution Street, sought to discover and address the issues most affecting the community. The local community and partners played a major role in ensuring the week improved relations within the community by building networks and partnerships.

Before beginning the patrol, the force sent over 2400 letters to houses notifying residents of the week of action and providing contact details for the Neighbourhood Partnership. Letter also contained a contact number for Lothian and Borders Police for residents to arrange a crime prevention survey and for Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service in order to book a Fire Prevention Survey. 270 of the houses visited took crime prevention advice, and 220 took fire prevention advice, booked a survey, or booked installation of a new smoke alarm.

The Council’s team of community safety officers issued three warnings concerning antisocial behaviour. A decision was also taken to establish a residents’ association in the Coatfield Lane and Giles Street area after residents canvassed by the team expressed a high level of interest.

Almost 20 bags of rubbish were collected in a street cleaning operation around Leith Links involving pupils from Leith Academy. Meanwhile, council staff picked up a further 60 bags of litter, as well as filling two flat bed trucks with larger items of rubbish. The council's graffiti removal squad cleaned up graffiti across the whole area throughout the week.

The week finished with a community fair, with stallholders pitched at the New Kirkgate Shopping Centre.

Inspector Stephen Paul from Lothian and Borders Police said: “Working with the Partnership has allowed us to successfully target crime and antisocial behaviour, and we've got an excellent set of results which reflects this. While there's still to be a full evaluation and feedback from the community, the feedback so far has been really encouraging."

Councillor Rob Munn, convenor of the Leith neighbourhood partnership added: “I am very pleased that the Leith week of action has been such a success. Having spoken to residents and those partaking in the events, I know this has been an important event for the people of Leith.”

“Both Council staff and Police have been working very hard to make sure the week produced these positive results. I hope that both residents and businesses in the Leith area will keep up the good work and inspire other areas of the city to be so proactive in looking after their neighbourhood and taking pride in it.”

A full run down of the results and responses is currently being collated and evaluated, and there is potential to roll this scheme out to other areas of the city in the future.