LOCAL police are planning to increase their visibility in the community as the town comes out of lockdown.
Increased patrols, regular community drop-in sessions, better engagement with Melksham’s youth, and a police presence as the pubs begin to reopen, were some of the promises made by local community policing team inspector, Gill Hughes, at a Melksham Town Council meeting this month.
“When Covid allows everybody back out, I expect problems may arise more than they have done over the past year,” said inspector Gill Hughes, “and that’s the time when we will look to get more patrols and more regular strategic patrols.”
The inspector explained that improving “engagement” with the community is a priority for the policing team, and that once Covid restrictions are eased, officers will be made more available to attend meetings and drop-in sessions, which could be held in venues like the library or at events like the market in the Market Place. The inspector also welcomed a suggestion from councillors that the policing team visit the youth club, at the Canberra Centre, to build “positive relationships” with the town’s young people.
At the meeting, town councillors raised concerns about anti-social behaviour in the town, highlighting recent reports of youths throwing eggs, shoplifting and the recreational use of nitrous oxide canisters – commonly known as ‘laughing gas’.
In response, inspector Gill Hughes stressed the need for the community to report any concerns they have to the police, and listed tackling anti-social behaviour as one of her ‘top 3’ aims for Melksham.
“Melksham is a really lucky town in one aspect as there’s not a huge amount of problems, which means the smaller problems, that can be really impacting, can be focussed on,” said inspector Gill Hughes.
Concern was also raised by councillors about the risk of a rise in anti-social behaviour as the town comes out of lockdown and pubs begin to reopen.
“When pubs are reopening, our numbers will be increased to act on any issues or concerns – so that will happen,” said inspector Gill Hughes. “Additional patrols will be put on, plus the neighbourhood patrols will be looking to come out and ‘play’ on those days too to bolster the response teams – as understandably they will need to deal with business as usual as well as picking up the additional work that will undoubtedly come back into play.”
