Spicy Eggs – Dangerous Assaults – Drug Corner – Passerby – New Estate – Danger in Drayton – Rural Ruminations
Tuesday 9th July
I wasn’t going to be getting home for over 10 hours, so when I passed the Two Old Goats café in Market Harborough and found it was open at the early hour of 8am, I popped in. I’m glad I did as the marsala scrambled eggs on toast were fiery enough to give me a kick start for the day.
Shoplifting has been a rising problem across Leicestershire and Rutland over the past year or two. We have already been looking into how to tackle this increasing problem from the point of view of the police and the Community Safety Partnerships. But I now thought it was time to listen to the chains of shops, so I had arranged to meet with regional managers from the Co-op at the store in Coventry Road.
We had a wide-ranging discussion in which they highlighted to me how the Co-op is being badly impacted by thefts and by assaults on staff. We also talked about the response from the Leicestershire Police, and how other police forces are working with the Co-op to tackle the issues.
After that I went on a “free range time” around Market Harborough. I find these informal times really useful when it comes to meeting residents, business owners and visitors. This time I began by knocking on doors in Bowden Lane before moving on to visit businesses around Church Square and Roman Way.
The general consensus was that Market Harborough is a relatively low crime town, in part due to the excellent work done by the local police. There were some concerns about anti-social behaviour and drugs. I’ll be taking those up with the local police, Community Safety Partnership and others to see what we can achieve by working together.
Welllington Place was my next stop, for a patchwalk with Sergeant Peter Jelbert. We spent nearly an hour walking around the new estate, discussing the issues around anti-social behaviour and what is being done to curb it by the police and local council.
Cllr Michael Rickman had invited me to meet him in Drayton, so that is where I went to next. Cllr Rickman and the parish council have persuaded the county council to introduce an advisory 20mph speed limit in the village centre. However, there is concern that the location of the proposed speed limit signs are in the wrong place as they are situated on a corner where approaching drivers cannot see them until the last minute.
We had a walk around the village and viewed the signs from a number of perspectives. Cllr Rickman was most persuasive, so I’ll be supporting him in his campaign. Let’s see what we can achieve here to make Drayton safer for both residents and those driving through.
My final stop of the day was to talk to some farmers about the increasing sophistication of the organized crime gangs behind an increasing amount of crime affecting the agricultural community.
And then – finally – I could go home. As I had feared, I’d not had time for a lunch stop so I was very glad to meet my supper on my return.
Rupert Matthews
Police & Crime Commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland
Posted on Tuesday 16th July 2024