Neighbourhood Priorities

The new priorities for the period of April 1 2024 to July 28 2024

Issue Date Monday 1st April 2024

Road Safety & Road Traffic Offences, Vehicle Crime, Burglary

Action Date Monday 1st April 2024

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Road Safety & Road Traffic Offences

Issue Date Friday 1st December 2023

Dec - Mar
As a Neighbourhood Team, we have responsibility for engaging with all of our local schools across
all year
groups. We receive many reports relating to the use of vehicles around school times from the public
and chools themselves. These reports are followed up by ourselves, or by us linking in with partner
agencies nd enforcement will be undertaken where appropriate. We acknowledge that many schools are
located within tight road networks and that societal changes are often the cause of sheer volume of
traffic utilising these to get children to and from school. Therefore, much of our work
in tackling issues will be educationally based in order too, disrupt and deter issues.
Enforcement will be a last resort but is always n option for persistent issues.

n December 2023 during the Force’s Drink and Drug Drive campaign, an operation was carried out
during a night in South Northants. This resulted in 27 people submitting to breath tests, 3 arrests
for drug drive, disqualified driving and handling stolen goods (diesel). 18 offences were
identified, 5 vehicles seized nd a quantity of stolen property recovered. For anyone believing
that it is unfair Police targeting motorists clearly this proves that notion to be misguided.
Criminals use our road network and drive vehicles also.

Action Date Thursday 28th March 2024

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Vehicle Crime

Issue Date Friday 1st December 2023

Dec - Mar
Nationally there is a trend in stealing load and diesel from HGVs parked up overnight. Currently these offences are low in number in South Northants and affect major trunk road predominately. Thefts of tools from vans is more problematic and officers aim to follow up all offences of theft from a motor vehicle with a call or visit to the victim, completion of any CCTV enquiries, house to house where appropriate and a media report for witnesses. These offences are opportunistic in nature and hard to second guess where they may occur. Vans are a particularly vulnerable target for stealing tools however these types of vehicles are parked in most streets and activity around them doesn’t always draw attention. We encourage
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van owners or operators to invest in lockable options for items within the van and consider marking tools to make them less attractive for onwards sale.

Action Date Thursday 28th March 2024

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Rural Crime

Issue Date Friday 1st December 2023

Dec - Mar
The rural crime team has seen a much quieter start to 2024 than 2023 with far less thefts and rural
crime
activity happening. We have noted an increase in plant machinery thefts and building sites
are proving favourable. The team have been busy with numerous warrants alongside the RSPCA for
animal welfare related incidents as unfortunately we are seeing an increase in people
abandoning their animals or just not caring for them. We have had several arrests for rural crime
which are progressing at this time and cross border working with our neighbouring forces
where we see offenders committing crime across several counties. We have delivered training
inputs to all the young farmer groups across the county which have been well received. We have also
been on training inputs with the other regional forces in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire on
wildlife crime matters and to the LAMMA show at the NEC where we build working relationships
with other forces and manufacturers as well as engaging with our own rural community who attend the
event. We have recovered several stolen items and returned them to their owners and are
continually developing intelligence around offenders. We’ve also had several reports of
livestock worrying and where we had a particular problem which resulted in a warrant being obtained
and the dogs seized and eventually rehomed. We will continue to support the rural
communities through attending events and being visible and ask that any information no matter how
small you may think it is,
report it as it may be the missing part to a wider problem.

Action Date Thursday 28th March 2024

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Road Safety & Traffic Offences

Issue Date Tuesday 8th August 2023

Aug to Nov

During this period and to improve the awareness of road
safety amongst the younger members of our community, officers have visited a number of schools and
children have been provided with information and inputs on the topic. This is particularly
relevant during the darker nights with, reduced visibility, and we will continue to
deliver these inputs to maximise the safety of our next generation.

Some of our communities have experienced a particularly challenging time due to
simultaneous major road and infrastructure works (such as HS2, M1/A43 improvements at junction
15A, Roade bypass etc). The accompanying closures and diversions have forced traffic
from the major arterial routes to divert through villages, increasing traffic levels in
some cases by several hundred percent. Several communities requested support, with some locations
of note listed below:

Blisworth – heavily affected by closures on the A43 and A508, saw traffic levels rise
at time to over 200% higher than their normal levels. Enforcement was conducted in relation to
speeding (particularly along Towcester Road and Northampton Road), and patrols to curb
large vehicles exceeding the weight limit (Stoke Road).

Brackley – speed operations continue Burwell hill, with fewer offences detected than in the last
reporting period.

Kings Sutton – as above, we continue to monitor and enforce speed limits in this village too, and
there appear to be lower levels of offending than in the previous reporting
period.

Action Date

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Burglary

Issue Date Tuesday 8th August 2023

Aug to Nov
This continues to be rare in South Northants, but we are under no illusion as to
the impact this crime can have on victims, and any burglary is one too many! Across the whole of
the South Northamptonshire area there have been 23 residential burglaries in the past 12 months
– a drop of 76.25% on the previous 12 months. Northants Police dedicated Burglary Team
investigates every one of these, and we strive to keep reducing
these numbers further.

Action Date

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Vehicle Crime

Issue Date Tuesday 8th August 2023

Aug to Nov
Vehicle Crime: This has been a persistent problem, with the most common offence being
theft of tools from vans. We have seen a total of 236 offences, which is a reduction
of 3.1% from the same reporting period the year before (December 2022 to November 2023). We
are hopeful that some recent enforcement successes will significantly reduce further
offending, although we accept that this is small consolation to those whose livelihoods have
been impacted by loss of tools, time, income, and increased insurance premiums

We believe that most offenders use our major road networks to travel into
Northamptonshire from other counties, offend and then leave and we encourage
people not to leave tools in their vehicles overnight.

Action Date

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