Look at the haul of 1,000 cannabis plants found growing in the flat about a shop on Doncaster High Street: Police column

We were pretty surprised when our officers were called to check on insecure premises above a shop on Doncaster High Street, writes Insp Lynne Lancaster.
These  cannabis plants were found by police above a shop on High Street, DoncasterThese  cannabis plants were found by police above a shop on High Street, Doncaster
These cannabis plants were found by police above a shop on High Street, Doncaster

When they went inside, they discovered someone was growing around 1,000 cannabis plants in the flat above a phone shop there, on one of the main town centre shopping streets.

We are going through CCTV to see if we can identify someone who may have been cultivating the plants, pictured, but what we can say for certain is that we have stopped 1,000 cannabis plants from reaching the streets.

These  cannabis plants were found by police above a shop on High Street, DoncasterThese  cannabis plants were found by police above a shop on High Street, Doncaster
These cannabis plants were found by police above a shop on High Street, Doncaster
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We had phone calls saying there was a strong smell of cannabis in the area, but we could not be sure exactly where it was coming from.

However, we later had a call about the front entrance to a building being insecure. It was when our officers went in to check on that call that the cannabis was found.

If anyone has any information about what was going on, or has seen someone going in or out in the last few weeks, please let us know, and email me on [email protected]  or call 101.

This month saw our officers in Doncaster central taking part in Operation Sceptre, a force wide operation to crack down on knives.

These  cannabis plants were found by police above a shop on High Street, DoncasterThese  cannabis plants were found by police above a shop on High Street, Doncaster
These cannabis plants were found by police above a shop on High Street, Doncaster
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We used two knife arches, putting them in the interchange and at the Doncaster College site, the Hub.

In total, it resulted in 48 people being stopped because they set off the alarm going through the arch.

Of those five people were found to be carrying knives.

Four of those were workmen, who were found to be carrying tools that they worked with for their trades.

But the remaining one was found to be in possession of a knife and nine bags of cannabis at the interchange. They were arrested

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As part of the operation, we also asked people to get in touch if there were knives that they wanted us to collect to be destroyed.

A housing provider rang us up asking us to take a number of knives that had been left in its properties when people had moved out. We also had a call from the warden at Doncaster Minster, who handed in two knives that had been found in the church grounds.

We are continuing to work to prevent antisocial behaviour in the town centre, and we had a success in the courts this week as part of that work.

Frederick Kaye, aged 32, of no fixed address appeared before Doncaster magistrates in relation to a number of offences relating to begging in the town centre, particularly around the parking machines.

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He was given a criminal behaviour order banning him from all town centre parks. The order also means he is not to ask anyone for money or goods including cigarettes or alcohol  Doncaster town centre, unless it is part of a condition of employment, legitimate benefit claim or retail purchase or banking transaction.

The order lasts until March 2022 and if he is found in a car park, he will be arrested and sent back to court.

Some people may have seen Don Street sealed off earlier this month.

The reason was that we had a siege situation at one of the houses.

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We were called out at 1pm on Tuesday March 12 in connection with a reported domestic incident.

But a man living at the property refused to come out, and threatened to harm himself.

Our officers initially spoke to him, but as the situation developed, they called for trained negotiators to come to the scene.

There was a five hour stand-off while the negotiator reassured the man about what would happen, before he was arrested. He also received medical treatment for his mental health.

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The road was closed while our negotiator worked, and the arrested man is now fit and well.

In my last column, I said we were bringing in more speeding and parking patrols.

Since then we have received a lot of calls and emails requesting us to look at these issues in certain areas of the borough.

We have been out to schools including Hatchell Wood, Bessacarr Primary, McAuley, and St Wilfrids.

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Doncaster Central is a big area, and we are pleased that people have been getting in touch to ask us to look at areas, as it lets us know where the issues are – we rely on the public to tell us where we need to go. If you get a Your Voice form from the police asking what you think the issues are, please fill it in and return it to us – this sort of information is what drives our action and can make a difference.

Finally, we are continuing to deal with complaints of antisocial behaviour in Auckley around Hayfield Lane, and have identified 10 people who will be spoken to by our antisocial behaviour team. Patrols around the shops and park will continue. Complaints have including noise, people throwing things, and smashing bottles.