THE ‘AYCLIFFE BLUE’ BLOG

Newton Aycliffe Neighbourhood Police Team Sergeant Mark Edwards continues his regular blog on Aycliffe Today…

Hello all, I thought it was about time that I did another edition of my blog so here we go…

Readers of Aycliffe Today and other local media will be aware that there was an incident that occurred on Friday 23rd January 2015 at Woodham Academy where two males who weren’t pupils at the school entered onto the grounds and made threats to staff and pupils.

Firstly, I would like to reassure everyone that incidents of this nature are rare, that said I do realise that those occasions where it does happen are very alarming and the implications don’t bare thinking about.

The two males – a 16-year-old and the other been 24 years of age – were arrested after making off on foot from the scene upon the arrival of Police Officers. Both were later released on bail pending further enquiries and are due to reappear at the Police Station in the very near future.

Officers from the Neighbourhood Team have been at the school daily over this past week collating statements and piecing together the full sequence of events.

I will provide an update once the investigation has reached its conclusion. I would like to commend the actions of staff at Woodham Academy whose response to the situation was first rate having the safety of the pupils first and foremost.

You may have seen that PCSO Michael Hutchinson did a media release on Aycliffe Today recently promoting a new CCTV Database that the Team are setting up and requesting that any owners of private CCTV make contact to allow us to fully populate the system with invaluable information.

House to house enquiries are part of the bread and butter work associated with crime investigation and this database is not intended to replace that – I’ve seen comments of late on various social medium where this idea has attracted criticism that Police are expecting the public to do ‘their job for them’.

This database is intended to be a quick point of reference for Officers on receipt of a reported crime.

If we can see that CCTV exists at a nearby location Officers can reduce the time that would ordinarily have been taken going door to door and go straight to that location thereby minimising the time taken to build up a full picture of the crime. At the end of the day it’s not about us wanting the community to do our work for us, it’s about us working WITH the community.

Our community safety project continues to roll on and we regularly have members of the public attending the front office enquiring about what items of crime prevention we have available.

This is an opportunity that continues to apply to residents of Newton Aycliffe and Middridge and has been made possible thanks to the support of GAMP.

Community engagement is the name of the game for the Neighbourhood Police Team in Newton Aycliffe and it is only through effective engagement that we will make a difference when tackling volume crime.

If you want a mission statement then that’s more or less it!

Until next time,

Be good!

Mark J Edwards
Aycliffe NPT Sergeant