NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING By T/Inspector Mark J Edwards

Hello again to all at Newton Aycliffe and welcome to my latest report from the front line of Neighbourhood Policing in the town. I have broken this report down into three areas giving you a flavour of what’s happening with the Neighbourhood Team, giving updates surrounding our recent crime spikes, and passing on a ‘thought for the week’.

The Team

I’ll start off with a bit of news regarding the good old NPT itself. This week we will be welcoming a new PCSO to our ranks as Daniela Jones joins us fresh from training. Daniela will be working alongside old stalwart Gavin Laycock over the coming weeks as she gets to know the area and comes up to speed with local issues. Having met Daniela recently I can report that she is very enthusiastic and looking forward to immersing herself with local concerns. I am sure you will get to meet her over the coming months at one of our various community engagement forums.

I myself will be handing over the Inspector’s pips during the coming months as we have a new ‘boss’ taking over – I will leave it to my replacement herself to make the necessary introductions as I would hate to rain on anyone’s parade. For myself that means dusting off my old Sergeant’s chair and retaking that helm. These front line reports will continue however!

Burglaries Update

There is no doubt that anyone following the Team’s social media pages or having read local media will have seen that – of late, we have seen a troubling rise in the occurrence of house burglaries. We have not suffered any such crimes this past week within Newton Aycliffe I am happy to report however the Neighbourhood Team here and our CID colleagues have been working closely together putting various pieces of intelligence together and progressing various leads and that work has paid off.

I reported several weeks ago that a 14 year old male had been arrested on suspicion of being involved in these crimes and bailed. That tenacity didn’t end there….. On the 19th March a 39 year old local male was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the burglaries – he was bailed whilst further enquiries progress regarding his suspected involvement.

And as I type this a 42 year old male – also from Newton Aycliffe, is currently in custody undergoing questioning by local detectives having been arrested last night. Your local Neighbourhood Cops may not be flawless but we are determined!

My Thought Of The Week

I would like to say that the taking of someone’s liberty – aka arresting them, is not in itself evidence of guilt. Police Officers operate in the arena of suspicion and belief. During any investigation suspicion gives us the grounds to make an arrest – subject to necessity, and subsequently interview detained persons. It may be that the outcome of the interview process eliminates a particular person from the investigation and they are released with no further action being taken. Whilst there is no doubt that to many people the removal of their liberty is a harrowing experience it is sadly a necessary evil.

Why do I refer to this you may ask? As part of our continued efforts to engage with the community and highlight our accountability to yourselves (basically, what we’re doing in relation to key crimes/issues) we regularly raise awareness of arrests made and such conversations often generate debate and conversation amongst our followers.

So what am I saying? If you read a post relating to an arrest that has been made, that in itself is not evidence of someone’s guilt – it is an awareness that we are working to address local issues by pursuing all lines of enquiry.

To close, thanks for reading and I hope you tune in again next time, as one things for certain – there’s always something going on in the world of Neighbourhood Policing.

‘Sounds like a plan!

Mark J Edwards

Neighbourhood Inspector

Newton Aycliffe

Durham Constabulary, Protecting Neighbourhoods, Tackling Criminals, Solving Problems…Around the Clock

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