19th March 2009
19th March 2009, Insp Mark Chell
I am the Local Policing Unit (LPU) Commander for Blaby District. There are fifteen LPU Commanders responsible for delivering policing across Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. Each of us will be posting updates of how we deliver this in your area, keeping you in touch with what's happening.
Blaby District is situated south west of Leicester and adjoins the City boundary from Eyres Monsell round to Kirby Muxloe and Glenfield. The majority of crime, about 60%, is committed on this northern part of the District where there are large populated areas which form part of the Greater Leicester Area. Braunstone Town, Thorpe Astley and Leicester Forest East are the busiest areas for policing.
On our web-site you will find the crime statistics for the last year, broken into categories and shown by Ward areas. I will give you an explanation surrounding the most significant areas of crime.
Enderby and St John's Ward
This area covers Enderby, Fosse Park and Grove Park. Enderby is a priority neighbourhood for the Local Authority and is the pilot area for the scheme called Partners and Communities Together or P.A.C.T. This is a problem solving group at a local level, chaired and run by local people, including police and partners.
Fosse Park is one of the largest retail parks in the area and Grove Park is a growing business estate including the popular Marriott Hotel.
This ward has an above average level of vehicle crime associated with the large numbers of vehicles which travel into the area during the day. The neighbourhood team and Fosse Park management team work together to tackle this and are looking to the future for a bid for CCTV in the area.
This Ward is showing as having a high overall crime rate. This is linked to vehicle crime and retail theft or shoplifting, but overall crime has risen slightly by 4% in this area. This may be due to the productive neighbourhood team at Fosse Park and their excellent results in dealing with shoplifters.
Winstanley Ward
This area covers the Meridian business estate and the Thorpe Astley housing estate. There has been an increase in burglaries in this area and anti social behaviour (ASB) linked to the night-time economy. The neighbourhood team, PC Aston and PCSO Dedmen-Ert have had some excellent results in tackling ASB and burglaries. A series of broken car mirrors was linked to a group of young people who admitted 28 offences. Effective management of known offenders has also resulted in a number of arrests for burglary and successful prosecutions.
Cosby and South Whetstone Ward
Fairly self-explanatory, this covers the areas of Cosby and South Whetstone. There has been an above average rate of vehicle crime in this area although crime overall is down by 20%. There have been some successes in detecting the vehicle crimes and some arrests have been made in relation to these incidents.
Forest Ward
This covers the area of Leicester Forest East including the M1 and M1 services. There has been an increase in crime of 47.7% in this area linked also to levels of crime over the road, so to speak, in the Braunstone estate areas of Hinckley Road Local Policing Unit. My officers have been working with colleagues from the City to tackle local offenders committing burglaries and vehicle crime. The Parish Council have been instrumental in helping us to address this especially through the Joint Action Group, a larger problem solving group at District level which I chair.
Neighbourhood watch is being renewed with assistance from the Parish Council and I would encourage residents to become involved or speak to my neighbourhood officers PC Ahmed and PCSO Malik.
Millfield Ward
This areas covers part of Braunstone town but also the Hilton Hotel on the edge of the Meridian Business Park. There has been an increase in the number of burglaries in this area, linked to other trends on the northern side of the District where it borders the City or Hinckley Road Local Policing Unit.
Overall there has been a decrease in crime of 33.3% here.
Braunstone Town Council has been staunch supporters of my neighbourhood team, purchasing bicycles for them to use. The council and neighbourhood watch are regular attendees at the Joint Action Group and I thank them for their strong partnership in tackling local issues.
Normanton Ward (Blaby)
Blaby is situated in the heart of Blaby District and has a local shopping centre outside of Fosse Park. It has two beat officers, PCs Ward and Taylor, who work with PCSO Frain to tackle local issues.
The crime mapping figures indicate this is a high robbery area. I want to reassure residents that these numbers are small but one robbery is one robbery too many and my officers will deal firmly and quickly with anyone committing this type of crime. They are usually linked to theft of mobile phones or bicycles. The area has had a general decrease in crime of 8.7% and across the District there has been a decrease in robberies by 33.7% since 1st March 2008 compared to an equivalent period the year before.
Summary
My officers, including neighbourhood officers, local officers, police community support officers, police staff, special constables and community volunteers have worked tirelessly to tackle the things that matter where you live. We will continue to do so and I would encourage you to contact us if you have concerns about crime in your neighbourhood.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer Special Constable or joining my national award winning community volunteers team, I would be keen to here from you. You can contact me via our web-site.
You can contact your neighbourhood officers via our web-site or e-mail me at Blaby.LPU@Leicestershire.pnn.police.uk
Regards.
Inspector Mark Chell,
Blaby LPU Commander.
