Action on booze to deal with antisocial behaviour in Doncaster village: Police column

It is usually pretty quiet in that area, but there have been reports over gangs of youths in the early evenings. There have been reports of damage to bus shelters and a bin set alight. We have had complaints of people smashing bottles and throwing things. We put extra patrols on after Christmas and our antisocial behaviour team has already spoken to people about issues around Hayfield Lane.

In response to the reports, we are now looking at introducing a Community Alcohol Partnership to tackle the issues around underage drinking, which we believe is a factor. As a start to the work I am obtaining the views and experience of residents in the local area.

It will ensure that we are fully informed of the scale of the problem, and we have an online survey at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/56DFGMB.

We were approached by the team who run Community Alcohol Partnerships, a Community Interest Company who offered resources and assistance to run a scheme. I selected Auckley and Finningley as we have seen an increase in youth anti-social behaviour since Christmas with underage drinking being mentioned as a possible factor.

I shared the survey online and we have already had over 200 completed returns which I think indicates I have picked the right area to target our resources.

We are meeting with key partners from public health and Doncaster Council communities teams at the end of the month to agree an action plan based on the survey results.

Closer to the town centre, we recently ran an operation to check on the legality of taxis in the area.

We did this along with with Doncaster Council enforcement officers, as well as our colleagues from the special constabulary.

Out of the 26 taxis that were checked in the town centre, four of those vehicles were taken off the road there and then.

A total of three were in an unroadworthy condition. And one was no longer a licensed taxi as the driver’s permit ran out in June last year but he had continued to trade illegally. The fact that his permit had expired also invalidated his insurance.

We will be planning more operations of this nature to ensure the safety of passengers who use taxis in the borough.

We have also been busy in Wheatley recently, where we have run a week of action, which has seen arrests and work to speak to the public and find out what issues they feel strongly about in the area.

One high profile aspect to this was a warrant that was carried out on Copley Road, because of concerns over handling of stolen goods.

The raid recovered 64 mobile phones, 46 tablet computers and other electrical devices which were suspected as being stolen.

Two people were arrested for failing to appear in court. and four trading Standards warrants executed

One man was arrested at for a public order offence at Wheatley Industrial estate, and was charged and remanded.

A man was cautioned for possession of cannabis, and another male was arrested on two counts of shoplifting.

We carried out a drugs raid on a property which recovered around an ounce of heroin as well as scales and £500 in cash.

On top of the attests, there were 18 hours enforcement patrols completed. We met 251 residents over the five day day period, visited nine community groups. held eight community engagement sessions, visited five schools, held a community meeting and issued two fixed penalty notices.