South Yorkshire Safer Neighbourhood Teams

Throughout April and May, Hoyland Safer Neighbourhood Tearm (SNT) has been running an operation to target off-road biking on streets, woods, private and other public land.

Various locations throughout Barnsley are being used, particularly playing fields in Jump and farmer’s fields in Hoyland. Such activities have caused considerable damage to the landscape as well as creating a nuisance for locals.

In the last week, four off-road bikes were seized by the SNT after continued efforts to enforce a ‘zero tolerance’ message.  Offenders caught for the first time will be issued with a warning that is valid for 12 months. If he/she is caught riding again within the following year, he/she will have their bike seized. It costs £150 to recover a seized bike and £20 a day for storage.

The SNT will continue to carry out high visibility patrols throughout the area to deter and catch offenders and will respond quickly to any information provided by members of the public.

PC Paul Davies, of the Hoyland SNT, said: “Illegal biking is a problem for police in Barnsley because riders pose a great danger to other road users, pedestrians and also themselves.

“Anyone who does think of purchasing an off-road or quad bike needs to ensure it is registered, taxed and insured and where it can be ridden legally and safely. There are no legally designated sites in Barnsley. A landowner must give direct permission for bikers to legally use their land.”

Four off-licences in Darfield, Wombwell and Goldthorpe failed a test-purchasing operation recently organised by Wombwell and Dearne Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT).

On Saturday 15 May, two underage volunteers entered five stores and were illegally sold alcohol in four. The offending stores were as follows:

• Co-op, Barnsley Road, Darfield
• Rhythm and Booze, Garden Street, Darfield
• Kings Road Convenience Store, Kings Road, Wombwell
• Goldthorpe Convenience Store, Goldthorpe

All received an £80 fine for the sale of alcohol to a person under the age of 18-years-old. Offending premises will be closed if they continue to sell alcohol to underage people.

Premier Stores, Snapehill Road, Darfield was the only store tested which passed.

Dearne SNT PC Stuart Leadbeater who led the operation said, “It was very disappointing to find that some premises are still not selling alcohol responsibly. It is clear there is a direct link between the use of alcohol amongst young people and problems with anti-social behaviour. We expect local shops to support our efforts to reduce anti social behaviour in the area, not encourage it.”

The operation was part of Wombwell SNT’s Operation Ballon, a multi-agency initiative tackle anti social behaviour on Snape Hill Road, Darfield, an area which has been a PACT (partners and communities together) priority since Christmas. Large groups of youngsters gather in the area, some of which are partaking in criminal damage, abusive language, noise, littering, underage drinking and general anti social behaviour.

Operation Ballon brought Wombwell SNT together with Youth Services, BMBC, Youth Offending Team and members of the public in a five-day operation run from 10 – 15 May.

• High visibility patrols were carried out to deter trouble, provide reassurance and respond quickly to any incidents.
• A camera van was placed at the junction of Snape Hill Road and Upperwood Road and members of the public were invited to speak with officers about their concerns.
• £20 of alcohol was seizedby SNT officers from underage individuals. 
• Five acceptable behavior contracts were issued to youngsterswho had been responsible for criminal or anti-social behavior within the PACT priority area. These contracts will last twelve months and any breaches may lead to further action by the police and local authority.
• One youth was issued with an £80 fine for insulting behavior and another reported on summons.
• Police seized a 4x4 vehicle being used anti-socially on the Inkerman field, following numerous complaints from the community regarding the driver’s behavior. The owner was charged £150 to have the vehicle returned.
• SNT and BMBC Youth Offending Team, engaged with the youngsters and suggested alternative social activities.
• A static dome camera has now been placed by BMBC Neighborhood Safety, outside of Premier Stores. This has camera has been focused on the shop front and nearby area, with the intention of preventing anti-social and criminal behavior.

Wombwell and Darfield SNT Inspector Alan Simpson said:"For too long, residents on Snape Hill Road, have had to endure anti-social behaviour.  Whilst young people need freedom to socialise, they must do so responsibly and without causing distress to others.

“Wombwell SNT will continue to be pro-active and look to resolve concerns at the earliest opportunity. There will be on-going plain clothed and visible operations that target issues of criminality in the Snape Hill Road area for as long as the problem persists.

“To do all this, we need support and information from the public. You don’t need to give your name and we do not expect you to be able to prove what you tell us - that is for the police to do.

“My aim is ensure that residents feel safe and secure in their homes and on the streets. The SNTs together with our partners will work to ensure this continues."    

To contact Wombwell SNT, please leave a message on the contact line and someone will get back to you, 01226 736408.

Police would like to thank year 11 pupils of Wombwell High School, Roebuck Street, for celebrating their last ever school day on Monday 17 May, peacefully and safely, with no reports of drunken or anti social behaviour being made in the area.

Each year, final year pupils leave school for good after a morning assembly. Perhaps due to high spirits and excitement, police often find anti social behaviour in the area increases on this day with young people using the event as an excuse to get drunk in the local community.

To tackle this, working with Wombwell High School, police planned and implemented  Operation Borrus. The operation saw officers carry out high visibility patrols on foot and on mountain bikes and generally engage with the young people, encouraging them to celebrate safely at home.

Officers visited public parks and other areas of woodland where youngsters often meet to socialise, to ensure they remained peaceful and trouble free.

PC Simon Fletcher said:“It been pleasing to report that this year the young people acted on the advice we gave them and no reports were made of drunken or anti social behaviour in any public spaces. The year 11 leavers acted just as we had hoped, sensibly and maturely and police would like to thank them for a successful day.”

These two quick-thinking PCSOs have been praised for helping free a man trapped in a house fire.

PCSO Kyle Fowler and PCSO Dan Hurst, of the Cudworth Safer Neighbourhood Team, were the first at the scene of the blaze at a house in Cudworth, Barnsley, on Thursday March 4 2010.

The pair were faced with flames licking the front door and one man trapped upstairs.

As PCSO Hurst alerted South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, PCSO Fowler ran back to Cudworth Police Station to collect ladders and two fire extinguishers.

PCSO Hurst attempted to fight the fire with the extinguisher whilst PCSO Fowler climbed the ladder to break an upstairs window and help the man out of the burning building.

Fire-fighters arrived moments later to extinguish the fire completely.  The rescued man suffered smoke inhalation.

To honour their bravery the two officers received a District Commander’s Commendation certificate from Barnsley District Commander Andy Brooke on Wednesday 28 April.

Chief Superintendent Brooke said: “It was my privilege to prepare and present this award to two excellent PCSOs who acted selflessly in saving the occupant of the house from serious injury or worse. They are a credit to the district, I am proud of them.”

Sergeant Stephanie Smith, of the SNT, nominated them.

She said: “The commendation is much deserved. There is no doubt that the actions of these PCSOs saved the trapped man from serious injury. Due to PCSO Hurst’s quick thinking to use the extinguisher from Cudworth Police Station, the fire turned out to be relatively minor.”

Cudworth Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) has seized almost £1000 worth of alcohol from underage teenagers in the last six weeks.

Police have been tackling anti social behaviour including underage drinking in four parks in Cudworth since it was highlighted as a PACT (partners and communities together) priority by local residents.

The parks targeted include Cudworth Welfare Park, Grove Park, Valley Park and Red City Park in Grimethorpe.

Youngsters believed to be aged between 14-20 use the parks as social hangouts, something which is upsetting local residents who have complained of some members of the group using abusive language, partaking in rowdy behaviour and a causing a general nuisance to the area.

Police believe anti social behaviour often originates from underage drinking so extra effort is being made to eradicate the activity in the area.

 Officers have been carrying out high visibility patrols in the area to deter and catch underage drinkers.

Cudworth SNT believe that in the last six weeks, around £935 worth of alcohol has been seized from people under the age of 18. Three £80 fixed penalty notices were issued to individuals who were verbally abusive to officers.

Sgt Steph Smith said: “Underage drinking will not be tolerated and we will continue to focus our efforts on the issue until it is no longer considered a priority by local people.

“As well as the youngsters involved, we will also be targeting any shops in the area who might be encouraging anti social behaviour by illegally selling alcohol to minors.”

Polish young people had the chance to meet officers from South Yorkshire Police last week at an event arranged to help build stronger relationships between the police and the Polish community.

The event, which took place at the beginning of May at the Polish Saturday school in the Deaf College aimed to raise awareness within the polish community, particularly the young people about the role of the police and encourage them to interact with the police more.

During the day, 50 young people aged between 10 and 16 years old, and their parents interacted with police from a number of different services. Safer neighbourhood teams, police dogs, firearms response team and the police vehicles were all there to show the residents how the different services worked.

The young people were encouraged to get involved and had an opportunity to look around the police vehicles, try on police uniform, and learn about the different police equipment used. They also watched a display by the firearms response team and helped officers with a police dog display.

The older children were given a talk by Police Sergeant Steve Butler on the dangers of getting involved with guns and knifes whilst the younger children had a go at drawing a uniform they would like to see the police wear.

The event was organised by District Engagement Officer, Rennie Brown with the help of Kataryzn Socha, a teacher at the Polish Saturday school within the Deaf College. PCSO Monika Abram-Koziel and Paul Berndt from the District Cultural & Faith Independent Advisory Group, provided translation for the young people on the day. 

District Engagement Officer Rennie Brown said: “This interactive event was a fun way for children and adults of all communities to learn about the police and gain important messages around safety. This type of engagement builds confidence in communities and caters for all ages and abilities, it was an excellent day and everyone was very eager to get involved. We will continue to run these types of events to ensure we are engaging with all communities in Doncaster.”

A joint police operation has dismantled a criminal gang that made millions of pounds from high value vehicle crime from victims across the whole of the UK.

John White, (23) was sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment at Preston Crown Court on Monday 10 May, 2010, following an investigation led by the Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU) into a car-cloning and vehicle-theft network.  White was the leader of the criminal network that was finally brought to justice through a joint campaign including Leicester, Lancashire and South Yorkshire Police forces. 

His partner in crime, Shane Deere, was sentenced on Friday 21 May at Doncaster Crown Court to serve 21 months imprisonment for eight counts of handling stolen goods.

It is estimated that high-value vehicle-theft, car-ringing and stolen and forged documentation costs vehicle owners more than £26 million a year.  In the past, the complexities of vehicles stolen in one part of the country and sold in another region have made this crime difficult to tackle.

Operation Vulcan was set up to track high-value vehicle-crime, not on a case-by-case basis, or by location, but as a crime type. 

Members of the RIU contacted Auto Trader and were surprised to learn of the lead the company was taking in creating a network of vehicle online sales outlets, to tackle suspicious transactions. The network included market leaders such as E-Bay, Piston Heads and Exchange & Mart.

Police in Doncaster picked up the investigation as the recovery of stolen vehicles within their area had then led to house searches, which in turn, revealed more victims of the stolen vehicle sell-on scam.  The RIU worked alongside Doncaster officers in tracing further victims of vehicle fraud and tried to find a link through other forces, where vehicles had been stolen and where they were later recovered.  Working with in-force scenes-of-crime officers, the RIU team went on a trail of discovery which eventually covered the whole of the country.

At this point, the Regional Intelligence Unit linked up with other agencies, such as the East Midlands Regional Intelligence Unit, ACPO Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (AVCIS), and in liaison with the DVLA. Through a shared intelligence structure and with information coming through from Lancashire, a series of offences were identified as committed by an offender known as ‘Doncaster John’.

Lancashire Police approached the RIU who were able to immediately identify the suspect as John White, whose name and many guises had cropped up with South Yorkshire Police.

The RIU continued its investigation and the team, together with a Detective Sergeant and five Detectives Constables, two from Doncaster Police, continued to gather evidence, from witnesses, ANPR and CCTV footage. When gathered together, the investigation revealed Mr White’s involvement to be much more integral to the vehicle crime ring than first suspected.  White was arrested during an early morning warrant that was executed at the address of his then girlfriend, Kimberly Jinks. 

Once arrested the teams were able to identify more offenders and executed further warrants.  A further six people were arrested and ten charges given ranging from the illegal use of bank cards, to falsifying addresses – their cases are pending. Twelve cars were recovered and returned to their original owners, or to the insurers if a claim had been paid out, including a Land Rover that was found on the drive at the time of White’s arrest.

Superintendent Wilkie, said: “This is a fantastic result and a great endorsement for partnership working.  The RIU was able to broker the relationship with Lancashire Police and the teams from South Yorkshire.  We were also able to pull in support and intelligence from police in Barnsley, Blackpool and Leicester.

“The gang had been able to operate under the radar by exploiting cross-border offences which were seen at a local level as single offences. By taking a strategic perspective, we were able to pull all of the disparate strands together and in doing so, a very clear pattern emerged, which pointed to John White as the key suspect, and we were able to help build a significant case.” 

Mr Wilkie is convinced that co-ordination and early buy-in from the relevant partners was crucial to building a case. The CPS in Lancashire was convinced by the quality of the evidence and scale of the criminal network to build a prosecution case. 

Support from the private sector, in particular Auto Trader, helped to bring the gang to justice.  Helena Fearon, Customer Security & Compliance Director, said:  “Auto Trader has led the way in working with Police Forces across the UK to stamp out trading stolen vehicles and other related crimes and fraud such as car cloning and odometer tampering.  Using a combination of state of the art software and our highly trained personnel, we were able to assist the Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU) in highlighting suspicious car adverts and uncovering this criminal gang.

“It is very important to us and to the hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers that use our service every year, to do so confident in the knowledge that we are proactively working with the police and other enforcement agencies to tackle the illegal trade in motor vehicles.  We are very pleased to have assisted the Regional Intelligence Unit, South Yorkshire, Lancashire and Leicestershire Police in this instance and look forward to continuing the relationship in the future.” 

A campaign across the whole of Yorkshire and Humber encouraging road users to look out for people on two wheels starts this month.

South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership along with West Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership and Safer Roads Humber are working together to focus on work recently carried out by the Department for Transport in personalising motorbike riders to other road users.

Research has shown that drivers who know a motorbike rider are less likely to be in a collision with one. Messages with slogans such as 'someone's son', 'someone's wife' and 'someone's brother' are to be used to allow riders themselves to become part of the campaign out on the roads.

Across Yorkshire and Humber, 75% of rider casualties result from a collision with another vehicle, most commonly a car. Persons on two wheels make up 1% of traffic but account for 21% of casualties. Over 50% of riders who are injured on the roads are at 'Give Way' controlled junctions.

Dave Glanville, West Yorkshire’s motorcycle road safety officer said: "We’re hopeful that riders themselves will join in with the campaign by wearing the tabards to re-enforce the message to other road users that we’re not just anonymous faceless riders on bikes, we’re real people with family and friends and we all need to look out for each other on the roads."

Steve Betts, Communications Manager for South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership said: "This campaign is the first time that road safety partnerships from across the Y&H region have worked together on such a large scale to target both riders and other road users. People on two wheels play make up a disproportionate number of casualties on the roads of Yorkshire and the Humber, and it’s this we’re hoping to alter."

The campaign is being run across the region and features radio adverts, a 15 foot long advertising van, posters, leaflets, high visibility tabards and a specially commissioned website someone's son.  

Ruth Gore, spokesperson for Safer Roads Humber said: "This campaign has a message to both the motorcyclists and the driver of other vehicles. Our aim is to raise awareness amongst drivers to look out for bikes at all times but especially at junctions.  We need drivers to check once, check twice, check for bikes."

The three road safety partnerships have joined together for an initial burst of activity during May and early June but activities will continue locally throughout the summer. The partnership are planning for a second big burst of activity for September and October to further remind drivers of the need to look out for bikes as the dark nights being to draw in.   

The overall aim of the campaign is to reduce the number of people injured on the regions roads.