Submit your questions – what do you want us to ask the local police inspectors?

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  • #140278

    R T
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=140270]Question –

    There is much talk of cybercrime and knocking out criminals gangs using special policing methods over the internet. Surely this is the stuff for specialists in HQ not general Officers who should be out and about. The whole community, not just older people appreciate seeing Police on the ground and surely a visible enforcement presence is a potent deterrent for those with a criminal history and those who are teetering on the brink of committing a crime of some kind.

    Crime, including drugs crime is run not just by supply, but via the laws of supply and demand. I realise that demand is not necessarily knocked out by arrests and cautions, however this does make people consider their actions more seriously and jail time does give people further opportunities to consider the serious consequences of their offences to their lives and the lives of others and make a U-turn.

    Does NWP really think that a softer approach to drugs crime is really going to help communities marred by it and for that matter those struggling with addiction. After all, addiction to a drug comes from an initial wrong choice to take a substance that is addictive. If the consequences of making a wrong choice are minimal then the probability of having a go is increased.[/quote]

    Taking this in two parts as to us we think its worth splitting, so asking on the cybercrime then drugs.

    PW: The face of crime has changed. We have had to go with it. We have had to skill up.

    SO: Local officers will always provide the first service. If there is a need to pass to specialist officers based on cybercrime or the police online investigation team, we will, they are a force wide resource.

    Second section…

    PW: I dont think we are taking a softer approach.

    SO: HMP Berwyn has a rehabilitation approach to offenders, and are doing ground breaking work to try and realign the men within the establishment.

    #140283

    R T
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=140276]And finally –

    Things are worse than the good old days. Compared to when you started out, is there more crime, more being acted upon, more awareness of whats going on with mobile phones and social media, or are things bad?[/quote]

    PW: The face of crime has changed. Social media has changed expectations, I cannot imagine our predecessors doing this (webchat). The public expect to know what is going on immediately via social media, often we can not tell them imediately as to do so may prejudice our enquiries. That then creates a social media storm that the ‘cops are doing nothing’ and I find that very frustrating.
    No one could have foreseen for example cybercrime exploding the way it has, we have seen the emergence of organised cyber crime groups, because it is so easy to contact people electronically.
    Traditional crime, burglaries, thefts and criminal damages do go up and down every year but over time it is flatlining. The increase is in cyber and drug related crime.
    Safeguarding has altered the face of policing. The way we deal now with domestic disputes, is to arrest the offender, but also to ensure the victim is safeguarded in the future. We did not used to get involved in that, but now quite rightly we do.

    PO: People may think that Modern Slavery is not an issue in North Wales. It is such an issue that the PCC office has employed someone to manage that single issue. We have dedicated staff inside North Wales Police to help deal with the demands of Modern Slavery. That would never even have come on our radar a few years ago.
    The overall aim of all these separate initiatives is to reduce harm.

    #140284

    R T
    Keymaster

    Twenty seven minutes over time… so had to wrap it up there!

    Thanks to Inspectors Steven Owens (Rural) and Inspector Paul Wycherley!

    #140306

    Nen
    Participant

    Thanks to Wrexham.com for hosting this web chat and to Paul and Steve for answering all the questions and not shirking the difficult ones!

    #140309

    LadyK
    Participant

    Really helpful Q and A session hosted by Wrexham.com. Thank you to our dedicated NWP who took time to answer a wide variety of questions. Well done Wrexham.com. Looking forward to the next one once all the Difficult Decisions are out of the way!

    #140325

    Matt
    Participant

    [quote quote=140206]

    Why are people being allowed to openly drink alcohol and take drugs in Wrexham Town Centre despite there being a PSPO in force? Why is this not being effectively enforced by yourselves?

    PW: The PSPO is owned by the council. We play an active part in supporting the council as crime and disorder partner. Drug dealing is obviously something that is a p0lice matter to resolve and I appreciate at times it looks like we have not done anything as there are alot of people from a challenging background in the town centre. The penalty for breaching the PSPO is a monetary fine so on occasion it is a pointless exercise to arrest them for breach, because that cohort do not have money, so we escort them to third sector service providers to provide assistance to them. We have issued over 100 PSPO tickets since it came into being, so it is not that we do not do any, it is one of a range of methods available to us.[/quote]

    I missed the Q&A yesterday due to commitments. However, I went to the Chinese Buffet (under old Woolies) this afternoon with my partner and kids and that end of town is an absolute disgrace. My partner felt very uncomfortable for our 1 and 3 year old as people were just slouching off their heads on spice in the middle of the street. Another 3 drinking in a doorway and another group of about 7 or 8 congregating around a bench on Queen’s Square with some slouching or drinking and another 2 lads playfighting which turned into a real fight. There was a dealer/user checking his stash or something in the phone box up towards tge bus station.

    I mean it was absolutely unreal, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, it was like skid row in the 80s. It is no surprise that Wrexham gets such a bad rap and that hardly any businesses want to set-up as it is not a safe or friendly environment for families, shoppers or workers.

    The fact that both the police and council are holding their hands up and saying they can do f*ck all to stop it is a sad indictment on our part of the world. Massive shame – I want to spend my money in Wrexham, but think I will go to Broughton in future.

    You’d actually be able to see al the druggies on the Council webcam if it ever updated –
    Not updated since early October.

    https://www.wrexham.gov.uk/webcam/indexwinter.html

    The fact that it’s happening right outside where all the councillors and councilworkers operate from and must see it every day is even more shameful.

    #140533

    Matt
    Participant

    Very pleased to hear that the phone boxes are now being removed, as I’ve never seen anyone use them to make a phonecall in years, but looked like a hotbed for dealer activity.

    #140535

    bubble
    Participant

    [quote quote=140533]Very pleased to hear that the phone boxes are now being removed, as I’ve never seen anyone use them to make a phonecall in years, but looked like a hotbed for dealer activity.[/quote]

    It bothers me greatly that a lot of expense, from various quarters, is having to be incurred to mitigate the effects of the drug problems in Wrexham. In this case BT are having to remove phone boxes (I assume at their own expense or otherwise at the council’s). My understanding is that there are businesses in the town centre and on the technology park who have hired contractors to remove undergrowth from around their buildings to deter rough sleepers from pitching there and intimidating staff (I know of one organisation where this has definitely happened, and was told there were others). As well as the financial costs, cutting down on the vegetation has implications for wildlife. Then there was the Groves – the portaloo and the work done and fencing brought in to “prevent any future settlements”. Handing out free needles. A hotline for reporting discarded needles. PSPOs (that appear to be only sporadically enforced). Changes to the interior layout of the bus station. There are bound to be other examples.

    Yet the authorities (council, Welsh Government, Betswi Cadwaladr, etc) don’t appear to put in anything like the same amount of effort to solve the drug problem in the first place. Their inaction on this issue impacts on us all.
    I just don’t understand how the authorities in Wales, and the addiction/homeless services, cannot get together and put some joined up, meaningful and effective policies into place to deal with the problem. It should not be for others to have the expense and inconvenience of dealing with the resulting mess.

    #140562

    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Policing from 1500 feet will never work

    #141947

    Huw
    Participant

    [quote quote=140223]

    Wouldn’t be a webchat without a question about the speed cameras. So here’s two..!

    Could you please ask Inspector Paul Wycherley if they intend on setting up any speed enforcement on the A5156 Llan y Pwll Link Road in Wrexham?

    If the answer is no then why not? There is speed enforcement on the A483 almost daily but on the A5156 Llan y Pwll, that runs directly behind hundreds of peoples homes, where cars and especially motorcycles thrash their vehicles at silly speeds every single day and night there is nothing.

    AND – Why do we never see the Arrive alive speed camera van on the Llanypwll link road. Some evenings and weekends it’s like a racetrack.

    PW: These vans are situated on key routes where statistical data shows speeding is an issue. Thank you for the information I promise I will get this to our Go Safe team this afternoon to assess if they can attend there.[/quote]

    I can’t stop laughing! Like GoSafe will ever do anything useful. If it ain’t the A483 forget it!

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