A pressure cooker life in West Lothian’s communities has continued to drive the work of local police as it deals with daily life under the covid Lockdown.
And the work is hitting police numbers on the front line.
Sgt Iain Wells told a meeting of Fauldhouse and the Breich Valley Local Area Committee that covid-related figures were driving the numbers in terms of anti-social behaviour.
He attributed this to more people stuck at home and more people working from home “ and a lot of people complaining about their neighbours.”
Sgt Wells added: “We are continuing with our agreed four E’s approach and we are now issuing quite a lot of tickets to repeat offenders.”
The lockdown has also seen a surge in domestic assaults because of lower tolerance within family environments.
Sgt Wells said: “Domestic abuse is very much a priority for ourselves. Every incident reported is robustly investigated to pursue perpetrators and help manage offenders. With our links to support agencies we are finding there are more repeat offenders being picked and also we’re working with the national unit looking a recidivist offenders and contacting ex-partners to see if there’s a pattern of behaviours there.”
Local officers have been working in Fauldhouse with housing manager, Sandy Ross, and the Safer Neighbourhood Team on tackling troublesome tenancies and with the Youth Action Programme on problems in open spaces. This has taken its toll on staffing.
Sgt Wells pointed out: “We are still extremely busy. Covid’s having a significant impact on local policing. Just to put it in perspective we attended one incident which has resulted in seven officers from one team having to self-isloate for 10 days - that’s just due to contact with someone who’s tested positive for covid.
“That’s not an isolated incident. Resources are tight and I am raising that because there is an expectation that police have infinite resources.”
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