What a great month we have had being out and about in your local communities engaging with residents and businesses.
We attended a number of community events including the Hunslet Gala, Beeston Festival and the Cycling Festival. Following such a long period of not being able to participate in these sort of events it has been fantastic to meet people and speak to communities about the work that we do and any issues they may have.
We are looking forward to continue our engagement and are increasing our number of Contact Points across the Inner South area. These are great opportunities to engage with your local Neighbourhood Policing Officer and more details can be found on our website or through our social media.
Looking at these Gala and Festival pictures and sitting typing this on a lovely sunny day it seems strange to turn our minds and write about all things Autumn!
As we see the change to darker nights we have historically seen an increase in burglaries. Over the past few years we have seen continuous reductions in the number of burglaries across the area which is excellent. However, burglary is such a personal crime that every victim is one victim too many. There are ways that you can help to prevent being a victim of burglary.
One issue that we receive numerous complaints about and are trying hard to tackle is drug dealing in and around your communities. This has a devasting impact on communities and is one of our priorities.
Your local Neighbourhood Teams are visible in your communities gathering information and intelligence in order that we can take action. We do this in a number of ways including taking spontaneous action using powers that we have under S23 Misuse of Drugs Act where we can stop search an individual or a vehicle as well as gathering and developing intelligence to submit an application to the Magistrates Court to obtain a search warrant of a premises.
Over the past month we have executed a number of warrants at premises and have recovered drugs, weapons and arrested individuals involved in the supply of drugs. The weapon pictured was seized at a search warrant executed in Beeston.
To assist us with tackling this type of criminality we need the communities help and information. We often hear that residents are fearful of speaking to police or want to remain anonymous, the charity Crimestoppers is an excellent way to report any concerns and they can be contacted on 0800 555 111 and more details can be found at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
This post was written by Inspector Lucy Leadbeater, South leeds Neighbourhood Policing Team
