Neighbourhood Police Team Sergeant Mark Edwards continues his regular blog on Aycliffe Today…
Hello everyone and welcome to the next edition of Aycliffe Blue.
I would just like to take a moment to remind you all of what this blog’s about.
Basically it’s intended to raise some awareness of who your local Neighbourhood Police Team (or NPT as we like to refer to ourselves, or even The Beat Team) are and what the Police in Aycliffe are doing to address those issues that impact upon the communities.
I also try and incorporate a few court results to finish with to also show the outcome of our efforts.
We are constantly looking at how we can get our message out and about there at raising awareness of our activities.
If you’re reading this, then this particular method (I hope) has been a success. Other mediums we use are Facebook, Twitter, local media including Aycliffe Today itself, letter drops and so forth.
I am sure many of you have heard of PACT (Police And Communities Together) which is an invaluable community engagement forum where members of my team can meet local residents face to face and discuss problems that affect the community.
Representatives from other agencies also attend as only through partnership working can many of these issues be resolved.
Priorities are set and agreed by all and it is these priorities that we are held to account for.
We provide updates at the next meeting as to what our partners and ourselves have done to address the issues. On that note:
One of our PACT priorities involves inconsiderate parking in and around the area of Simpasture Shops.
This has proven quite topical recently on our Facebook page with opinion divided.
I would like to reassure residents that action has been taken, patrols have been taken at ‘hot-spot’ times and appropriate action has been taken against offending vehicles.
Members of the team have attended the area with local councillors and representatives from the Highways Department of the Council.
Various options have been discussed and will be explored involving the possibility of extra parking bays amongst other things.
Local shopkeepers are also ‘on board’ and have placed posters up in their respective shops to highlight the problem to customers.
We will always try an educational approach first but if that fails then we will resort to more vigilant measures such as issuing fixed penalty tickets.
There has been several comments of criticism against this course of action. I won’t repeat them however all of them were things I first heard when I joined the Police 16 years ago…and they weren’t original then!
Think what you will, however, this has been raised as a significant problem for the local community, it is a PACT priority, and we WILL address it.
I would always encourage residents to attend PACT meetings and you can find details on our Force website, via our Facebook and Twitter pages or ring 101 and ask for the team.
So, now onto court results…
James William Patton, 25, from Shildon, was committed to prison for six weeks by Aycliffe Magistrates on 21st March after he was convicted of stealing diesel from vehicles in the Newton Aycliffe area.
Ian Lawrence William Sale, 40, from Aycliffe, appeared at the town’s Magistrates Court on 20th March charged with breaching the conditions of a restraining order. He was fined £165, ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge, and must pay £85 costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Barzan Mehamed, 29, from Bishop Auckland, was convicted of driving without due care and attention whilst in Newton Aycliffe. He was fined £95, ordered to pay £15 victim surcharge, £85 costs to the Crown Prosecution Service, and had his driving licence endorsed with 5 points.
David Gibbons, 50, from Spennymoor, appeared before Aycliffe Magistrates on 13th March charged with drink driving on roads within Newton Aycliffe. He was found guilty and committed to prison for 12 weeks that was suspended for 12 months. He must also pay a £80 victim surcharge, £85 costs to the Crown Prosecution Service, and disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for 60 months.
Don’t want information overload so I will leave it there for now. Take care everyone, and until next time….
Be good!
Mark J Edwards
Aycliffe NPT Sergeant