Acting inspector James Twyford, head of the Melksham and Trowbridge Community Policing Team
HERE is the latest crime update from Melksham’s police sergeant James Twyford.
New Year passed largely peacefully and we start 2023 in a better place than we’ve been for quite some time.
Monday 30th January will mark the arrival of an additional member of the team. PC Ben Coombs will join us from one of the response teams at Trowbridge. He’s been working in this area for a number of years, so he’s already familiar with a majority of the community. He’ll be focussing on establishing his network of community contacts and getting to know the town in even more detail.
We’ve also been joined by PCSO Vic Rolph, who’s taking on responsibility for both Melksham Town and Melksham Rural Beat Areas. Vic brings with her a huge range of skills from the private sector and is following in her mother’s footsteps in joining the Melksham team; many will know her mother Mel was the Melksham neighbourhood sergeant for a number of years.
In other news, we’ve seen a few online reports of dog thefts / attempted dog thefts / suspicious incidents being reported in the Melksham area over the last fortnight. None of these were reported; at least two were found to be misunderstandings when we looked into them. We’d like to reassure you that we take the issue seriously and that we understand that anything involving a pet can be an emotive topic. We’d also just like to caution against believing everything you may read online.
On a slight tangent, the police deal with dogs which are dangerously out of control, which includes situations where they’ve bitten people or put people in fear of being bitten. Incidents where dogs have attacked other dogs, or a preventative approach is needed; it’s a matter for the dog warden at Wiltshire Council. We work closely with the dog warden and we’ll generally pass on reports on your behalf; however, it’s always best to report directly to the dog warden as it’ll yield a faster response.
The next two weeks will bring some proactive work that we’ll publish in due course. We’re also arranging visits to some community groups who are interested in the work we do, as well as working with the local Pubwatch scheme to keep licensed premises as safe as possible.