Aycliffe Neighbourhood Police Team Inspector Mark Edwards returns with the Aycliffe Blue Blog…
Hello all, from out of the void comes another blog from yours truly here at the Neighbourhood Policing Team. I’ve been quiet of late and for that I do apologise.
THE NEWS: I return with some doom and gloom news unfortunately. You may have seen from other media forums – including our own Facebook page, that we have seen a rise in the occurrence of burglaries over the last couple of weeks in Newton Aycliffe. So far in March we have had 6 house burglaries reported – the streets ‘hit’ have been Wolveston Close, Walcher Road, Rylestone Close, Beechfield, Sharp Road, and Lockyer Close. These crimes all – bar one, have a common theme and that is that entry was effected by the suspect (s) with the minimum of effort. In other words, the properties were insecure. Those responsible have entered via unlocked doors or windows, conducted their searches, and then left with items stolen.
The only crime where the modus operandi has differed is the offence committed at Wolveston Close where the suspect has forced open a locked metal door to the garage using some form of flat bladed instrument. Once inside the garage entry has been secured into the house itself via an internal door adjoining the two – unfortunately, the internal door had been left insecure also. Having selected items of interest the culprit/s have left via a patio door into the garden where a handbag and contents, a ceramic piggy bank, and cardboard packaging from some alcohol were discarded (subsequently recovered by Police). This crime took place between 11 pm on Thursday 10th March and 7 am the following morning.
I do not want to scare-monger but it is very clear that at this time we have person’s wandering the streets of Newton Aycliffe who are opportunistically trying doors for private homes. Your local Neighbourhood Policing Team are working very closely with our CID at reviewing all available information and evidence gathered so far – including the findings from CCTV exploration, house to house enquiries, and forensic opportunities. This is one of the primary focuses for Police in the town at this time and – rest assured, I am monitoring progress daily.
THE APPEAL: When investigating crimes of this nature my Officers are regularly discovering new households where private CCTV is owned and some of you may have seen previous appeals where the NPT have requested all owners of such security to contact ourselves in order that details can be added to our database to support future investigations. That database is quite comprehensive now in content and I again appeal to anyone reading this – and who may have CCTV, to make contact with myself or the team either via 101 (Durham Constabulary switchboard) or through private message to our Facebook page.
THE TEAM ITSELF: On a less daunting note now, there have been more changes to the make-up of the Neighbourhood Team. In two weeks time we will be welcoming PCSO Daniella Jones to our ranks. PCSO Chris Noble was recently successful after undergoing the recruitment process to become a regular Police Constable – well done Chris! There is no date yet as to when he will be leaving us to take up his dream job so for now let’s keep him busy while we’ve still got him!! Pc Paul Rogers has temporarily left us on secondment elsewhere for 12 months. PCSO’s Steven Gill and Michael Crawford are well integrated into the team now after joining us late last year.
On a personal level I stepped into the Neighbourhood Inspector’s shoes almost one year ago with the tragic passing of Mark Hall – that role has recently been advertised at long last and a worthy replacement will be taking on the pips in the coming months, which means that I can revert back to my former role as Team skipper. I can only hope that I have done half as good a job filling Mark’s shoes as the top man himself did. Further details will be revealed once the lucky person has been identified.
And that’s where we are at this time.
Be good!
Mark J Edwards
Aycliffe NPT Inspector (soon to be Sgt again!)
