POLICE DETAILS
Thames Valley Police - Abingdon Outer Neighbourhood

Violence Against Women and Girls

Making the pubs and clubs environment safe for people, especially women and girls, remains a key focus for the team. Over the Christmas period, we invested a lot of patrol time working with Licensees to focus attention on this area of risk. On a week-to-week basis, incidents are reviewed and offenders are prosecuted and banned from the pubs. Violent offenders are identified as early as possible through CCTV identification and the Pubwatch scheme. Working with the licensing teams, adjustments are made to licensing conditions such as last entry times, door staff numbers and Temporary Event Notice requests. The team not only deal with perpetrators they help promote schemes such as ‘Ask Angela’ and ’Safe Places’ that help protect woman and girls from violence.

Retail theft and financial scams

As a team, we have increased our hotspot patrolling of retail parks in the Botley area and Abingdon Town centre shops to prevent shoplifting. We recognised the reassurance and prevention benefits to the local business community who can feel isolated. Some of the tactics we use include a direct radio communication link with the shops and CCTV operator, which enables fast time prevention and detection. Our work also extends to providing visibility at banks to prevent scammers targeting the elderly who are targeted by bogus charity workers. Thankfully, the team have a good relationship with the local banks and these incidents are now reducing.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB)

The team have been busy patrolling hotspot locations in the continued effort to identify ASB offenders, especially those who prey on the elderly and vulnerable. Local Authority and private CCTV systems, such as Ring doorbells, have proven helpful in identifying those involved. Local schools have identified the majority of the offenders from images and these individuals sent a letter of apology where appropriate. Our focus has been Bury Street precinct, Bath Street and Northcourt Road within Abingdon and Wootton Dry Sandford in the outer locations. The sight of Graffiti has increased in the town and this can sometimes be offensive. We are working with the Local Authority to reduce the incidents and target hardened locations, where possible, as well as remove offensive words and illustrations as soon as possible. Motor bike riding of footpaths and driving in an anti-social manner have prompted many calls from people trying to enjoy winter walks. The team have identified the offending group and Section 59 warning letters issued. Failure to comply with the warning will result in confiscation of the motorbikes.