Police Report - January 2024

The following report has been received from our local policing unit:

"This report covers progress we have made in dealing with your priorities for the Braeside & Mannofield Community Council over the last month. The report aims to highlight emerging issues in your area, and to provide crime prevention advice and guidance to Community Council members and residents you represent.  Our focus is to reduce crime and disorder, help create safer communities and respond effectively to local concerns.

Community Policing Priorities

Antisocial behaviour, Violence and Disorder: 

On the 9th Dec a resident of Thorngrove Avenue reported a disturbance outside in the street, several Police Units attended and the circumstances were established that a local resident was responsible. Support from other services were requested and whilst Police remained to assist for a protracted period of time, the male was eventually conveyed to an appropriate medical facility to receive help.

There were a number of calls from the residents of Macauley Drive regarding a van that was parked there. Whilst it was suspicious due to it being there for a number of days and not belonging to anyone in the street, the owner was spoken to and advised that it had broken down and she was trying to get it recovered or sell on for “spares or repair”

A resident of Hammersmith Road called and reported that overnight on 14th of December her car tyre had been damaged as a number of screws had been put into her tyre in a line. Enquiries have failed to identify any suspects for this and the victim can provide no lines of enquiry. 

2 cars had the rear window smashed overnight of the 20th December on Cranford Road and St Johns Terrace, nothing was stolen from the cars and there was no attempt to take the vehicle as such it is believed to be vandalism. The rocks that were used are unsuitable for forensic examination. There has been a CCTV trawl in the area but neither incident is captured. 

There were several items set on fire around Hutchison Terrace on the nights of 28 December which resulted in a significant Police presence. Thankfully neither of these incidents resulted in any injury and were quickly extinguished. CID took on the enquiry and 2 local youths were charged and reported to Youth Justice Management and the Procurator Fiscal regarding them.

Acquisitive Crime:

On the 12 December staff at Boots, 475 Great Western Road were alerted to a shoplifter within their store by the remotely monitored security system. A manager within the store challenged the male who became verbally aggressive to the female staff member and attempted to leave. The stock which was stolen was recovered by the staff and the male was allowed on his way. The incident was later reported and the male identified and reported for an apprehension warrant.

On the 9th of December a resident of Morningside Avenue received a call from a male pertaining to be from “scamwatch” where he tried to convince the resident that he had been alerted due to the resident having 400 illegal child abuse images on his computer and that he had to pay a fee to get the images removed. The resident was fully aware that this was a scam and played along gaining as much information as he could and then reported it to the Police.

A student residing at Rubislaw View reported that when she was at her home address over the university Xmas holidays, 4 transactions were made on her “Very” account for a variety of items ranging from clothing to a drone. The delivery address on each was across the UK. No parcels or items had been dispatched, so there was no loss.

The resident in Northcote Park reported that in mid-December the summerhouse in the rear garden was broken into. They had been away for several weeks and as such there was no possibility to establish when it occurred. A window had been removed and entry gained, with the property vandalised. There was nothing stolen from the summerhouse. House to house enquiries were carried out with negative

result. Due to being exposed to the elements Scenes of Crime enquiry was not carried out. 

Road Safety & Road Crime:

There have been several low level collisions across the Community Council area, however none of them met the requirement for Police to attend. 

There has been a significant number of calls regarding the new legislation which makes it an offence to park on the pavements. This legislation is not enforced by the Police and is a Council led issue, similarly to cars parking on double yellow lines, this is dealt with by the Community Wardens. 

Community Engagement & Reassurance

On a more light hearted note, on the 21st of December a resident of Holburn Street reported she was concerned a male was walking along Holburn Street with a Cricket Bat, officers made search for him and stopped him on Great Western Road, where it was established that he was a member of Aberdeen Cricket Club and was on route to there with some new equipment.

Contact Us

I’m sure you are all aware that at present the Westend and Hazlehead Policing Team have a number of different email addresses that the community can contact us on directly dependant on the electoral ward area, and this is replicated across the whole South Aberdeen which has resulted in 14 separate emails to the various area Policing Teams. 

To simplify the contact these have all been merged into AberdeenSouthCPT@scotland.police.uk

Emails to this address will still be dealt with by the Officers of the local policing teams, however it will hopefully make it easier for residents to get to the right area in the first instance.

• Always dial 999 in an emergency
• By phone – 101 for non-emergencies (+44 (0) 141 308 1070 if calling from out with the UK. Network charges may apply).
• Our service advisors spend a lot of time each day answering calls on matters that are not actually the responsibility of the police. Please read the Read this before you call 101 page first to ensure Police Scotland can assist with your non-emergency issue.
• Online – for issues of a non-serious nature using our Contact Us form
• In person – Find your local Police Stations and check the Public Counter opening hours
• Text Relay - 18001101 for deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or speech-impaired callers
• Support for British Sign Language users/speakers
• 0800 555 111 - Crimestoppers."