Witney

It was reported from the recent survey that ASB was being committed in the community, specifically in the areas of the town centre, The Leys and Church Green. It was reported that this was predominantly youths and at varying times of day. The ASB included drug use, AS vehicle usage and drunk and abusive behaviour. This would commonly happen in areas frequently used by families and the general public.

NHPT officers have completed patrols of the noted areas under Op Just and Op Purchase; dedicated ASB and shoplifting patrols. We have also added the area to our dedicated hotspot action patrols. This consists of officers completing dedicated foot patrols of those areas, with the intention of disrupting ASB or serious violence. The noted locations have also formed part of a patrol plan which the NHPT have visited during their respective shifts under the Winter of Action campaign.

Members of the public have been engaged with at every available opportunity; involving speaking with parents, schools and retail outlets in the town. Suspects have been highlighted and persistent offenders dealt with robustly. This is in an attempt to deter their activities.

Just some examples of police work so far this month include on multiple occasions, youths being stop searched for drug offences in Witney. Prohibited substances and paraphernalia were recovered by officers, as well as squatters being removed at a disused premises.

These dedicated patrols will continue for the next few months in order to continue combatting ASB, especially over the school leave period over the Christmas period.

The survey returned that the public are seeing drug related activity in the areas of the town centre, Madley Park and Deer Park.

This issue raised by the public has tied in with our work in the previous point surrounding ASB in the town. Although officers have continued to patrol these areas regularly, we have been informed by the public of a noted decrease in drug use in the outlying housing estates suggested to us, such as Deer Park.

As such, our work has been structured around areas being reported as seeing regular drug use, such as Church Lane, Witney and The Leys. Both these areas have seen dedicated patrols across the NHPT and ICR teams across Oxfordshire, with positive disruption involving stop searches, arrests and seizures of significant amounts of prohibited substances.

Examples include a recent large drug raid on a property in Witney town centre, whereby a large amount of class A and cash was recovered by our proactive neighbourhood department for Oxfordshire. This stemmed from information gathered from the public. As such, please do speak with officers on patrol, or contact Witney NHPT if you are continuing to experience or see drug related activity in your area. This information is invaluable to helping our officers.

There have been several reports within the survey and recent Have Your Say meetings surrounding electric bikes and scooters, particularly in the town centre and involving youths on bicycles.

Witney NHPT are committed to completing at least one (usually several) dedicated shifts surrounding electric bikes and scooters each month. This will include several officers and agencies targeting the issue in the locations the public have provided. We have engaged with users to educate them on the laws surrounding electric vehicle usage for some time and have provided several social media posts about this. We have now moved to seizing these vehicles on the first occasion. In recent months we have seized several scooters or e-bikes which with the new legislation are now destroyed rather than returned. Education surrounding their usage is still ongoing as we see many people using them as a mode of transport. Several dedicated operations with both overt and covert staff are planned for the Winter of Action planned in West Oxfordshire. Recently we have also seen these vehicles used in crime, such as drug supply. Recently two e-scooters have been seized following stop searches whereby the riders were later dealt with for drug offences.

This month has seen a significant decrease in ebike and scooter usage and a positive response from the public surrounding the advertisement of this on our social media pages. Witney NHPT continues to act robustly surrounding the dangerous use of illegally modified e-bikes and scooters.