Shotley Bridge, Medomsley, Iveston and Hamsterley

Anti-social use of vehicles (predominantly unregistered off-road bikes) is a major concern for the community. Frequently uninsured and unroadworthy, the illegal use of such vehicles creates a risk of harm to the public and to the rider.

Supported by Housing Agencies and Landlords, Community Protection Warning Notices are in the process of being issued to addresses where unregistered off-road motorbikes are known to be operated from. Intelligence gathering is being sought from the community around addresses where bikes are being used from. Officers from Consett and Stanley Neighbourhood Teams, Durham Constabulary Special Constables and Durham County Council Neighbourhood Wardens conducted a large operation targeting the illegal use of motorbikes, electric bikes and E-Scooters across the Consett and Stanley area. The operation included targeted patrols and enforcement work focusing on removing uninsured and illegal bikes from our roads, reducing the risks they pose to our community.

This is causing financial loss to local businesses and distress to persons working within those stores, as well as to other shoppers who may witness the incidents.

As well as having a dedicated retail crime SPOC within the neighbourhood policing team, we are working alongside the national Retail Crime Alliance (NCRA) to help prevent and detect retail crime across our communities. Officers are working closely with local retailers to share intelligence, carry out high visibility patrols, and offer practical advice to prevent fraud, and abuse towards shop staff. More recently, PC 9081 interviewed and charged a prolific shoplifter of 6 offences which have occurred within the Consett locality. Following a number of reports of youths causing issues within local retail shops, officers worked closely with Durham County Council’s ASB Team. Officers were able to identify youths from a number of CCTV cameras and are now being dealt with appropriately. During Safer Business Week, reporting packs were delivered to all identified stores that are not currently on the Shopwatch Scheme to provide consistency and quality of information being submitted by retailers when incidents occur.

In our area this has included the anti-social use of vehicles such as off-road bikes, incidents between residents living in close proximity to each other. The area also has a number of buildings that are currently empty, attracting young people as a place to congregate and explore.

Our officers are pro-active in the tackling of anti-social behavior within the community. We work closely with housing providers and the anti-social behavior team in Durham County Council.
In the past year we obtained a partial closure order on an address in Blackhill where there were numerous reports from residents of anti-social behavior causing distress to the community and liaised with the housing provider, the person in question has now been evicted from that property.
In the last 3 months we have issued a number of referrals to the anti-social behavior team in relation to under-18s causing anti-social behavior and investigated a number of reports of anti-social behavior between residences in close proximity to each other.
We have also completed inputs with a number of local schools around the dangers of going into disused buildings.