Monday February 18th 2019
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
More than 30 people have been reported to the procurator fiscal for breaking a court-imposed curfew after community police officers carried out routine bail checks.
The Midlothian Community Action Team (MCAT) carried out checks at more than 330 homes between October and December where people should have been in.
It said 33 people failed to present themselves to officers and were reported for breaching their bail conditions.
A report on the work of the team to Midlothian Police Fire and Rescue Board also revealed that during the same period the team carried out 57 searches of people, as well as more than 20 house searches.
A further 40 people were arrested on warrants and more than 100 breath tests carried out with no positive results.
The report revealed that the team had supported police in a number of high-profile investigations at the end of last year, including catching a delivery driver who took parcels and uncovering a gang who were using rural buildings to carry out vehicle thefts.
It said: “MCAT officers have been involved in a number of significant incidents, including assisting in the arrest of a male employed as a delivery driver who decided to steal rather than deliver a high number of parcels.
“All the parcels were subsequently recovered during searches of two houses.
“Assistance was given to the Community Investigation Unit in searching rural buildings believed to be being used by a gang stealing, breaking up and exporting vehicles. A number of items were seized and the lease terminated by the landlord.”
The board also heard that fire crews in Midlothian were called out to 974 incidents over the last year – a fall of nearly 20 per cent on the previous year.
The number of deliberate fires fell from 378 to 243 on the previous year, with accidental house fires also falling to just 35 over the last year, compared to 45 the year before.
The vast majority of deliberate fires were described as “secondary” with 64 per cent in waste or scrubland, woods or crops and one in three involving bins.
The report said that deliberate fires were frequently linked to other anti-social behaviour.
MCAT officers reported attending a large number of anti-social behaviour calls involving youths over the last three months of last year and said patrols had targeted hotspots.
Their report said: “This activity has been well received within the affected areas providing reassurance to residents who have been encouraged to report incidents.”
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