POLICE officers use their regular meetings with advocates to advise on trends in reported crimes and incidents that have been submitted by the public either online, through the web chat or 101 phone service.

Since lockdown, comparing year against year, one would expect that the number of reported incidents had fallen and this is true, right across the board from anti-social behaviour to shoplifting, vandalism, burglaries and much of the other criminality that is normally experienced.

However, that isn’t to say police offers have been idle, far from it.

One of the major increases was seen around domestic disputes and this was thought to be due in part to the isolation and lockdown procedures that were brought in.

Officers also were involved in executing warrants, dealing with information related to drug supply and use plus dealing with reports of C-19 regulation breaches.

The road traffic policing team and others were deployed to check on vehicles and were successful in many instances in removing those off the road that had no tax, insurance or MOT.

This was achieved by using vehicle number plate recognition technology and the exercises were carried out in both marked and unmarked police vehicles.

It was interesting to listen to some of the excuses that drivers presented officers with when stopped. An example was one driver who was stated that he thought that it was okay to use his vehicle which been officially declared as being off the road (SORNed) as it was during lockdown and he considered the rules no longer applied. A costly mistake as the vehicle was seized immediately.

Officers reported however that this particular driver did not learn by his mistake as within a couple of weeks another vehicle was stopped for similar reasons and it was the same man behind the wheel. Another vehicle off the road!

One of the greatest local concerns for officers has been the apparent increase of graffiti which is blighting Newton Abbot and the surrounding area.

This action is classed as criminal damage and locally, resources are being deployed to address his issue, thereby offering reassurance to councillors, residents and businesses that is activity is not acceptable.

At a very recent meeting, advocates were advised that since the easing of lockdown restrictions, the year-on-year reported incidents were still down but when looking at the last 28 days there had been a minor increase in various illegal activities.

These included shoplifting, minor criminal damage, an increase in anti-social behaviour and of course – one of the major problems still going on in the area – the theft of catalytic converters.

This, however, was not just a local problem but was affecting forces nationally.

It was pointed out however that although the statistics showed a minor increase which, when taken on their own would normally be of concern, because of the previously low levels even a small increase of one or two incidents has a greater impact, so we should not be concerned at this stage.

At one of our recent meetings, we were joined by Chief Superintendent Nikki Leaper, Police Commander for South Devon, covering Torbay, Teignbridge and the South Hams.

This gave us the chance to meet and for the Ch Supt to see, first hand, how the advocate scheme functions locally and the benefits it brings to the locally officers, councilors, residents and businesses of Newton Abbot.

Since its inception, by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner who saw the potential benefits of such an initiative, it has without a doubt, in my opinion, proved to be successful and opened up a line of communications between councillors and officers that benefits everyone locally.