Police have issued an update following public concerns in the rise of anti-social behaviour in the town centre.
Recently patrols have been stepped up where problems have occurred such as the graffiti on St. Mary's Church in Melton.
Posting on their Facebook page Melton Police said: "A quick update on recent weeks on the Melton Town which as many will be aware including ongoing ASB issues involving the youth element including the spraying of Swastika’s on St Marys Church and the spate of shop thefts with the town during December and January.
Melton Police issued an update on their Facebook page following recent issues. Photo: NEMM
The operation dealing with the youth is ongoing and as with all things we need and always welcome the support of the local people. All occurrence’s, no matter how small, need reporting via 101 or online at Leicester Police. Likewise, we have gladly accepted the invitation to attend a meeting with local interested parties to endeavour to address these issues and working together find long term solutions.
It is in everyone’s best interest to work together and perhaps make this a roadmap going forward to achieve mutually shared aims.
In general, the town is slowly emerging from all the COVID regulations and everyone is looking forward to a more enjoyable year than last year. The town centre beat is looking forward to getting involved in the Queens Jubilee celebrations and welcoming tourists back to the rural capital of England."
Recently patrols have been increased at problem hotspots such as McDonalds, Morrisons, British Legion and Melton Cinema due to on-going ASB issues.
St Mary's Church in Melton following the clean up. Photo: Melton Police.
The post continued: " We have been concentrating patrols specifically targeted at our Beat Priorities which are:- ASB, Drug Dealing, shoplifting etc and also engaging with the community.
We have increased patrols focusing on McDonalds, Morrisons, The British Legion and the Cinema due to the ongoing anti-social behaviour from youths and general ASB in the town centre."
"With the recent increase in shop thefts a specific operation was set up focusing all our available resources during the hours of darkness, with both mobile and foot patrols, marked and unmarked cars and plain clothed officers. This was to act both as a deterrent and endeavour to catch the bad guys red handed. This proved highly successful and several individuals were arrested being caught both in the act and as a result of forensic evidence and CCTV. The latter was invaluable and as a result of teamwork between both Police and local shops and business’s suspects were identified and are now behind bars.
As with all Operations it came to an end but on this occasion the op was renamed and reconfigured to deal with the youth issues the town has been suffering for some time but this had spiralled over recent months. Again, by channelling our resources numerous members of local ‘gangs’ were both targeted, identified and being dealt with as we go to print. It was during this Operation that St Mary’s Church was desecrated with Swastika’s and other graffiti which struck at the very heart of the community. It goes without saying that both Meltonian’s and your local Police were horrified and appalled at this act and it struck a shared nerve. Within four days however and thanks largely to the Grapes Public House CCTV, who were also targeted with graffiti damage, we were able to identify the culprits for the Church, Grapes and Town War Memorial damage and these have been and are being dealt with robustly. The Beat team has also been in talks with various Council Members, Councillors and the MP in order to address the ongoing ASB in our town."
Melton Police say they also had a successful Beat surgery and public engagement that was held at the Melton Town Library on Friday 4th February. Local issues were discussed and neighbourhood link sign ups were completed. They added their to those who signed for the free messaging service and engaged in making their concerns heard and also to the staff at the library that made us welcome.
Other updates from Melton Police include a male who has been charged with 7 offences and remanded to court for an incident that took place in Melton town on 13th February and as a result of working in partnership with the Hope Centre and neighbourhood beat officers, they have achieved a permanent home placement a homeless person from the town.
This week it was also announced that Melton officer Lindsay Booth would take over the reigns at Melton's station in King Street following her appointment as NPU Commander. Read our story here.
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