The below information was obtained from the Bramley Community Forum Meeting – 17/10/24. Figures shown are incidents logged by WYP in the past 1 Month. Councillors Tom Hinchcliffe (chair), Kevin Ritchie and Adele Rae held the meeting. The crime rate statistics were delivered by Bramley’s local PCSO and then went on to answer any questions along with the councillors, relating to local crime and antisocial behaviour within the community. If you would like to attend the next meeting, we will be posting the event time and location on Crimes in Bramley Facebook group. Alternatively, subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with all up coming crime related local events. HERE.
- Burglaries
- Shoplifting
- Theft from Motor Vehicle
- Theft of Motor Vehicle
- Criminal Damage
- Arson
- Questions and Answers
- Summary
- Leave a Comment
Burglaries reported to West Yorkshire Police in September – 35
Note – Average in previous months is 10 – 15
Out of the Thirty Five residential burglaries, One suspect has been identified for one of these offences. Another one of these offences has been filed by WYP, due to the victim not supporting the investigation.
Twenty Eight burglaries have been filed by WYP as no suspect has been identified yet!
A further Five burglaries are, currently under investigation and WYP do have suspects.
A breakdown and description of what WYP has logged as the Thirty Five “Burglaries” is as follows.
Nineteen of the Thirty Five reported burglaries are logged as attempts, these are typically where someone has tried to gain entry to the property by trying the door handle or snapping the locks.
Two burglaries have been committed where the perpetrators gained entry because the doors were not locked.
Three of the Thirty Five offences were for burglaries on sheds and garages.
All these burglaries were across the ward, with Two to Three clusters seen around Half Mile Lane, West Moors, The Warrells, and Waterloo Lane. Also toward Valley Road and Pollard Lane.
In the past months robberies committed, Five suspects have been identified and currently ongoing investigations with WYP. Another Three suspects have been charged for One offence.
There were Two incidents at Bramley Shopping Centre, one of which took place at Cash Convertors. The suspect was carrying an Angle Grinder which was mistakenly thought to be a Firearm, this suspect threatened to harm staff members unless they handed over Gold. The other remaining offence involved a victim being threatened and hit to the ground, the offender then searched the pockets of the victim.
Another offence took place on the Fairfields, four suspects walked into a victims home and demanded they hand over their belongings.
Also,a member of the public was on his way to work on Back Lane when he was approached by someone riding a scooter and an attempt was made to steal the victims bike.
Lastly, a man was robbed on the Rossfields where he was pinned down and the suspect stole his mobile phone. Both parties are said to have known one another.
Shoplifting
Councillors have been working closely with shop owners to try and mitigate circumstances to reduce shoplifting offences.
The most offences have taken place at Farmfoods and Tesco on Bramley Shopping Centre recently,
Theft from Motor Vehicle reported – 7
There have been Seven thefts from motor vehicles in the past month, Five have been filed by WYP as suspects not identified. Two further offences remain under investigation at this time.
Westover Road has seen Two instances of theft, but the crime wave seems to be more widespread according to WYP.
Theft of Motor Vehicle reported – 7
There have been Seven thefts of motor vehicles, one of these was reported as taking without consent. This is usually a case where the suspect is known to the vehicle owner. There have been Three vehicle thefts around Swinnow Road and around Rosemount Terrace. The other thefts were widespread across the ward.
Criminal Damage reported – 8
Eight Instances of criminal damage in the past month and Eight suspects have been identified. One suspect has been charged, Two where filed by WYP due to evidential difficulties, Two where filed for not having enough evidential support from the victim. A further Four offences remain under investigation by WYP. One was filed as a domestic case where the suspect and victim were known to one another.
Arson reported – 2
Two occurrences of Arson last month, no suspects identified at this time. One case has been filed and the other case remains under investigation at this time.
Question & Answers
Question from Councillor Ritchie
“Please explain what WYP are doing to deal with the spike in local burglaries because I understand there are extra resources available?”
PCSO replied, “Police and PCSO’s are working extended shifts, which has currently resulted in a suspect found to be carrying a Blow Torch in his vehicle and has been detained by Police. This is currently under investigation to gather the evidence required”.
Question from a member of the public.
“There seems to be a lot of electric bikes running about within the community, it’s causing a lot of concern.”
PCSO replied, “There is a concern as to what the people are doing on the bikes, running up and down with balaclavas on. They could be running drugs or other illegal activities. WYP has an off road team which are contacted when we do see someone on the bikes carrying out this sort of activity.. The off road team does cover the whole of Leeds, resources can get stretched.”
Councillor Hinchcliffe commented, “The bikes are a problem, across the whole of Leeds, not just within the Bramley Ward. Our PCSO’s and Police Officers are doing a really hard job in difficult circumstances so the off road team are conducting more operations within Bramley as we understand it. Obviously, we can’t announce when the operations will take place as this would defeat the object”. Any instances of ASB involving riders with balaclavas should be reported to the Police immediately. It is very difficult for the Police when they are wearing balaclavas, we need more regulation frankly.”
PCSO also added “We need more legislation.”
Question asked from a member of the public.
“Has the increase of Burglaries recently, got any correlation with prisoners being released early from prison.”
WYP Reply “ I don’t have statistics on the subject but I can say, for all we know, prisoners have come out and 2 weeks later we have an uptake in crime. It will have some effect I’m sure.”
Councillor Hinchcliffe added. “Should say that the amount of prisoners that have been released early in Leeds, as I understand it, is pretty small overall. We would have to look into the numbers on that. I wouldn’t be too worried about that to be honest.”
Question asked by a member of the public.
“If someone witnesses drug deals taking place involving an ebike and an individual wearing a balaclava, would it be best to report it to 101”
PCSO Answer “Yes, this would leave a call log for the Police to look into the matter further.”
Councillor Hinchcliffe added “Yes, report to 101, thats the message that we give out, directed and advised by the Police to report everything, no matter how small because this builds up a log for the Police to divert resources accordingly.”
Question asked by a member of the public.
“Shoplifting, it would be interesting to me if we broke it down by the Independents, because I know Tesco’s and Farmfoods get the most incidents, but the little independent shops are more vulnerable to shoplifting.”
PCSO Answer “They are, it’s just a matter if they report it to the Police,I know about Farmfoods and Tesco because they put the reports in. If the independents don’t report it, don’t put a report in, it is very difficult to deal with it.”
Councillor Hinchcliffe Added “We started Bramley Business Forum at the shopping centre, Tesco host the forum. Councillors actually delivered the invites to local businesses on Bramley Town Street. Meet up and share intelligence and emphasise on the importance of reporting shoplifting. There is so much under reporting of shoplifting that goes on, when we get the reports from our PCSO’s, it says that Tesco’s has been hit loads and Farmfoods is three in the last 6 weeks. We know that is not accurate. All the independent shops have to report shoplifting. The forum increases dialogue between businesses. It’s going OK, there has been a decrease in crime and ASB at the Bramley Shopping Centre.”
Councillor Ritchie Stated, Just like to remind people that we can report crime online to WYP on their website instead of 101, although the call wait times have been reduced. There are specific online channels for reporting specific drug dealing offences etc.
He was then informed by a member of the public that online reports submitted to WYP have not been dealt with by WYP on multiple occasions.
Councillor Ritchie then went on to agree that some reports to WYP were not getting actioned, including a 999 call that he witnessed and was aware of.
PCSO response, “We was unaware of any issues but would give feedback to WYP for the issues to be looked into.”
Summary
After attending the meeting and writing up these notes, a question springs to mind.
Has the early release of prisoners contributed to the sharp spike in burglaries in Bramley or any other areas for that matter?
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