Team work helps to cut police calls
The number of police calls about youth anti-social behaviour in northern Livingston was less than half of those elsewhere this year in other parts of the town.
Joint patrols with British Transport Police raised the profile of officers at Livingston North railway station and the neighbouring shopping centre.
There were 134 calls covering anti-social behaviour and youth disorder between New Year and the end of March in the Livingston North ward, Sgt Lee Brodie told councillors on the local area committee.
That compared to 376 for the neighbouring ward in south Livingston, which houses the new town’s shopping centre.
In his report to the committee Sgt Brodie said: “Police, in conjunction with the Youth Action Project and Safer Neighbourhood Teams, have increased high-visibility patrols in ASB hotspots to deter any youth disorder and provide reassurance to local businesses.”
In February officers from the Community Policing team worked in conjunction with British Transport Police, with all officers attending a joint briefing held by Sgt Brodie at West Lothian Civic Centre before going on to carry out patrols of multiple licensed premises, in and around the vicinity of Livingston North station and Carmondean.
Councillor Alison Adamson said: “You’ve definitely all been very busy. It’s very impressive.”
There were 102 anti-social behaviour calls in the first three months of the year and 32 youth-related calls. In most weeks these calls were single figures, apart from a twoweek “blip” in January which saw 15 calls one week and 16 the following.
Councillor Anne McMillan, chairing the meeting, asked: “You were out with the British Transport Police, does that suggest that there’s been anti-social behaviour round the train station area?”.
Sgt Brodie said: “Not specifically. We were having problems in Linlithgow a few months ago and worked with BTP. We found that was particularly successful so we agreed that we would try doing more of the same more widely in West Lothian.”
The officer explained that he covers the eastern area of the county, with railway stations in Linlithgow, Livingston and Uphall. The proximity of Livingston North to the Carmondean shops and licensed premises made that an obvious choice for patrols.
“We did have blips associated with Carmondean in weeks 41 and 42 [midJanuary] so it seemed like a proactive and efficient way to deal with things that were happening,” he added.
Officers also carried out bus gateway checks in February, again riding number 27 and 28 buses throughout Livingston, paying particular attention to the stops near to both Inveralmond and Deans High Schools and the wider Deans and Ladywell area, concentrating around the end of the school day.
The gateway checks were launched last year following vandalism on buses and a surge of reported disorder with the rise in the number of young people travelling on free bus passes.
The patrols are as much about providing a reassuring presence to drivers and passengers as they are about engaging with youths and curbing anti-social behaviour.