Neighbourhood Policing Priorities agreed for St Albans district

Following feedback from residents and analysis of data, Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) in St Albans, Harpenden and London Colney have set their new policing priorities for the next four months.

NPTs work alongside partners to focus on solving long and short-term neighbourhood issues, such as anti-social behaviour, theft, speeding and drug-related crime.

They set local policing priorities three times a year to provide a specific focus on the issues which are currently causing the most concern to residents locally.

Residents will see their dedicated team of PCs and PCSOs working alongside partner agencies to address the agreed priorities below, through an increased police presence, engagement events and targeted enforcement.

The new priorities for St Albans Central, North & West are:

• Anti-social behaviour, drug use and drug dealing on the Alban Way between Morrisons and Charrington Place between 12 noon and 4pm.
• Anti-social behaviour involving vehicles and young people at Cottonmill Community Centre, Old Oak between 7pm and midnight.
• Anti-social use of motorbikes in Batchwood open space/New Greens between 6pm and midnight.

The two previous ones were:

You said: ASB in City centre, St Albans specifically street drinking and associated crime

We did: We issued several Community Protection Warnings (CPWs) and Community Protection Notices (CPNs) to those causing anti-social behaviour.

Conducted regular proactive and high visibility patrols in the city centre.

Worked with retailers and other partners to help address homelessness and support those that need it.

 

You said: Speeding – A1081 Harpenden Road, Beech Road, Batchwood Drive and Marshalswick Lane

We did: We carried out regular speed enforcement.

 

The neighbourhood priorities for Harpenden and rural remain the same remain the same as more work needs to be done in these areas.

• Tackle drug and alcohol use and associated anti-social behaviour in parks including Rothamsted Park.

Over the last four months, officers have been proactively patrolling the park on foot patrol and on bikes.

Officers have seized alcohol from anyone underage, engaged with numerous members of public and provided crime prevention advice. On 31 July, there was a report of a robbery at knife point.  Officers quickly attended and arrested four men aged in their 20s and recovered a weapon. Enquiries continue.

• Tackle speeding mainly in Redbourn Road, Marford Road, Station Road, Lower Luton Road, Brewhouse Hill and The Hill, Wheathamstead Road in Harpenden, St Albans Road in Sandridge, The Common in Kinsbourne Green and Piggotshill Lane.

 

In the last four months, the proactive speed van has captured 463 drivers speeding. 

The NPT have also been out with the speed gun in the last two weeks and issued five traffic offence reports for speeding, where drivers can expect points on their licence, fines or they can be summonsed directly to court for excessive speed.

• Tackle thefts from insecure vehicles and theft of motor vehicles.

The proactive door handle operation has continued to help prevent thefts by reminding drivers to lock their vehicles and remove all valuables.

Regular offenders have been identified and proactive work to find, stop and search taken place. A man aged in his 40s from Luton was arrested for theft from motor vehicles and fraud in June and he was sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment.

 London Colney, St Stephens and St Albans East neighbourhood priorities remain the same for at least the next four months.

• Speeding, mobile offences and HGVs using restricted roads.

 

The NPT has been working with the Road Policing Unit. As a result, 21 traffic offence reports have been issued for speeding where drivers can expect fines, going on driving improvement courses or being directly summonsed to court. Two vehicles have also been seized.

The NPT carried out a multi-agency operation with road policing unit colleagues and Trading Standards in Chiswell Green in August to deal with rogue traders and fly tipping.  Eleven traffic offence reports were issued under Operation Kendal for various offences, including insecure loads, vehicles being overweight, using a mobile phone whilst driving and having no MOT or tax. A vehicle was also seized for having no tax and two vehicles were clamped and drivers were required to pay £80 on the spot fines.

We have focused our efforts in Colney Heath and Mount Pleasant Lane to address HGVs using restricted roads. 

• To tackle the anti-social use of vehicles at Starbucks, North Orbital Road, Chiswell Green and the surrounding roads including racing on the A405 and A414.

 

The NPT, Intervention and Road Policing Unit have been patrolling the area at highlighted hot times throughout the summer at various times. A high visibility police presence had helped deter anti-social use of vehicles in the area and we are pleased to report that no traffic offence reports or section 50 warnings have been issued. Local NPT officers will continue to work with Starbucks, who now are undergoing some refurbishment, to further disrupt drivers acting in an anti-social manner.

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Whilst there will be a focus on the local priorities, officers will continue to respond to daily business as usual, as well as forcewide priorities and any emerging issues which require more immediate action.

The area is also policed by Intervention officers who respond to emergency calls, the Local Crime Unit which investigates the more serious crimes such as burglary, robbery and assault, and specialist units such as Operation Scorpion who work to tackle acquisitive crime. In addition, they can utilise officers from central teams which work countywide.

St Albans district Neighbourhood Inspector Paul Caro said: “I’d like to thank everyone who gave us their views, your feedback is so important and helps ensure we’re focusing our efforts on what matters most to local people.

“We’ll be working to tackle these issues over the coming months, alongside our usual daily business. You can keep up with what the teams are doing via our social media channels and our community messaging system Herts Connected.”