Best behaviour warning ahead of Edinburgh derby

Police are reminding football fans that a ‘robust policing operation’ will be in place at this weekend’s derby match to identify anyone in possession of alcohol, fireworks or flares.

Over 15,000 spectators are expected to attend Easter Road Stadium for Sunday’s Hibs v Hearts clash, and fans are being warned that anti-social drinking in the surrounding streets will not be tolerated and the relevant by-law will be enforced.

Police will also assist stewards to carry out searches outside the stadium to prevent illegal or prohibited items being brought into the ground.

Superintendent Liz McAinsh said: “Like any derby day, this Sunday promises to be a great atmosphere with thousands within the city coming along to the match or watching it in the city’s pubs.

“The vast majority of supporters demonstrate exemplary behaviour and are a credit to their clubs – however, we will have a number of resources in place to target the minority of individuals whose behaviour can put both themselves and others at risk. This includes officers visiting local pubs and areas where groups gather.

“Officers and stewards will be carrying out searches of fans entering Easter Road and anyone found with illicit or illegal materials will be prohibited from entering and may face further police action.”

Three assaulted by knife-wielding robbers

Police seek witnesses to Ferry Road Drive knife attack but say #StrongerNorth initiative is producing ‘significant results’

Police are appealing for witnesses following an aggravated burglary in a Ferry Road Drive flat this morning. The attack comes just two days after community safety leaders hailed ‘significant results’ in the battle against crime and antisocial behaviour in the area.

Two intruders, both brandishing knives, broke into the property at around 6am and threatened and assaulted three male occupants before making off with cash, phones and other items. The victims were take to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for treatment but their injuries are not thought to be serious.

The first suspect is described as white, skinny build, malnourished appearance, 18 – 20 years old, 5ft 3 – 5ft 4in tall. He has short, dirty blonde hair and was wearing a light grey cotton Adidas tracksuit with blue stripes.

The second suspect is described as white, 24 – 26 years old and a heavier build. This man has a round face with short dark hair that is receding at the front. He has a Scottish accent and he was wearing a black Superdry style jacket with dark jeans.

Police are appealing for the local community to come forward with information to assist their investigation into a terrifying incident.

Detective Constable Ryan Lee said: “This was a very distressing incident for the victims, who were assaulted by the two suspects within their home. We are appealing for anyone who saw any suspicious behaviour in the area of Ferry Road Drive at around 6am this morning to contact Police Scotland on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

This morning’s incident is the latest in a series of acts of violence and antisocial behaviour that have blighted the area over recent months. It’s a setback to the #StrongerNorth initiative, which was established last October following the attempted murder of local takeaway restaurant owner Jie Yu during a car robbery.

The perpetrators of that vicious attack were jailed last week and on Friday it was announced that senior law officers will be invited to visit the area to see first-hand the effects of what many local residents see as ‘soft sentencing’.

Last Friday, the agencies behind #StrongerNorth – Police Scotland, the city council and local community organisations – said the initiative is making progress but more needs to be done.

In a statement, Police Scotland said: “Preventing crime and bringing those responsible to justice remains a top priority for Police Scotland. There have been significant results with violent crimes 16% lower than the five-year average which means that in North Edinburgh, 130 fewer people have been victims of violent crimes.

Additional CCTV has been added to the area with further plans to bring more cameras to West Pilton. There has also been a sustained drop in the level of anti-social behaviour in the local community.”

Community Safety Leader, Councillor Cammy Day – who is also a councillor in the Forth ward – said: “#StrongerNorth is making real progress and I continue to be very grateful to the local community, who have rallied round to help make the north of the city a safer place.

“Information from local residents is helping us, along with Police Scotland, to combat antisocial behaviour and they have led the way on community clear ups to create a more positive environment.

“I am confident that, based on the positive reaction so far from residents, we will reach our goal of reducing crime to build stronger, safer communities.”

National resources from Police Scotland continue to assist North Edinburgh officers, with additional support from local Violence Reduction Units and the police helicoptor. Police horses have also been frequently deployed.

Inspector David Happs said: “The message from Stronger North remains clear – criminality in the local community will not be tolerated. While we have made significant steps tackling crime, we accept that there is still more work to be done.

“Our aim remains the same as it was six months ago: to create a better community for the people of North Edinburgh.”

Jail for PIlton attempted murder pair

Two men have been sentenced for the attempted murder of a Chinese takeaway owner in West Pilton last year. Gary Reid (19) was sentenced to seven years in a young offenders institution and James Hogg (24) was jailed for eight years three months at the High Court in Aberdeen.

Reid and Hogg last month admitted attacking Jie Yu, 38, near his takeaway restaurant in Ferry Road Drive on 1 October last year. Mr Yu suffered a near fatal neck wound during the vicious attack as he tried to stop the pair stealing his car.

Reid and Hogg had stolen Mr Yu’s delivery vehicle from outside his Peking Garden takeaway after he left the keys in the ignition. Mr Yu then chased after the men on his daughter’s bike. When he caught up with the pair and remonstrated with the men, he was punched, kicked and repeatedly stabbed by both men in what was described as a ‘vicious and unprovoked attack’.

Both Reid and Hogg, who both have previous convictions, pled guilty to attempted murder when they appeared at the High Court in Glasgow last month. At that hearing Reid also admitted his behaviour was racially motivated: his older brother John was jailed for the high-profile killing of Chinese takeaway driver Simon San in Edinburgh in 2010.

Soapbox: Fixing North Edinburgh

Muirhouse man and award-winning film maker Garry Fraser gives his take on his community’s current problems …

It’s kinda ironic that the police put out their chopper every night and day, costing some were like £400 grand per month. The aim of this chopper is to catch the young team in their stolen cars and bikes. A’m sure the figures are out but North Edinburgh has the highest crime rate in Scotland. They have evicted folk, jailed folk, issued community sentence orders and then cut off another generation to jail as they are too old.

None of their policies work, which leaves the System scratching its head wondering ‘what are we doing wrong?’ You have a massive college in North Edinburgh where folk from around the world come to study – but only two streets away it’s another world. They shipped everybody out of Muirhouse when knocking down the Pennywell flats. Over the years they took away most forms of economic growth: i.e. the pipes and the gas works even Granton’s fishing boats.

Every local MP & MSP & councillor get in to their comfy seats and forget about this and do nothing, apart from sit over an HIV & smack epidemic that of course lasted through the 80’s & 90’s – now comes weed & legal highs.

Its like south central Edinburgh.. How many police stay in the area were they enforce the morals? How many of those wee guys, if trained in whatever, would probably take a job or go and study but only if they were helped and supported through the college system. Every brickie or trades guy who makes it from Muirhouse, Pilton, Royston or Drylaw ends up being one of the best on the site – that’s a fact …

Most folk down there who get a real chance and opportunity in work or education grab it with both hands as they know what the alternative is … that’s robbing, stealing, dealing and living within the chains of masculinity. That is now, because there are no real opportunities.

Ye need to empower a community and let them come up wi’ their own solutions. You need to invest in education to reduce the gap in equality.

You need to have a rehab or treatment centre bang in the community to get three generations of methadone and other daft prescription drugs clean: ye can’t sell green to addicts through drugs policies then jail folk for selling weed to pay for food, power and for some their own smoke.

Ye can’t put shops with pubs chippy’s and bookies then wonder why folk get addicted to putting bets on! Fatty foods, drink then say ‘Oh, why are they dying of preventable illnesses well before their time?’

When I went to college they say I saved them £1.6 million over three years in the social return on investment – imagine what these wee guys now are costing?

See whoever gets elected for the North Edinburgh do you think they will do anything about these injustices while they say they wish to cut austerity?

I taught maself to read, taught maself to write, love ma people and these rich folk take take take & give nothing back apart from academic reports done by their pals.

The system is rigged …

Two plead guilty to West Pilton attempted murder

Two men have pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow for attempting to murder a Chinese man in Pilton last October. Garry Reid (19) and James Hogg (24) pleaded guilty of the attempted murder of Jie Yu, who was attacked in West Pilton Park on Wednesday 1 October.

The incident sparked outrage in the local community and residents demanded action against crime and antisocial behaviour at public meetings in West Pilton. That community concern instigated the formation of the multi-agency #StrongerNorth initiative, which is ongoing.

The two men were swiftly apprehended after the attack. Police followed a positive line of inquiry and, acting on intelligence and local information, Reid was arrested and charged on the day after the attack; Hogg was apprehended the following week.

Mr Yu suffered stab wounds and his injuries gave cause for concern at one stage. He was treated for serious injuries at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and then at St John’s Hospital in Livingston but he was later released and now continues his recovery at home with his family.

Hogg pleaded guilty to attempted murder, while Reid pleaded guilty to attempted murder with racial aggravation. They will be sentenced at a later date.

Detective Inspector David Pinkney said: “This was a brutal attack on a well liked and regarded member of the West Pilton community. Officers worked quickly in order to bring Reid and Hogg to justice for their crimes. Now that Gary Reid and James Hogg have pleaded guilty, I hope Jie and his family can move on from this ordeal.”

Community Inspector David Happs said: “This was an incident that shocked residents in the West Pilton community and led to the launching of Stronger North.

“This is an ongoing initiative, which has seen positive changes in the local area. While there is still work to do, we are committed to working with our partners to create and maintain a better community for the people of North Edinburgh.”

One local resident, who has supported the #StrongerNorth initiative since it’s launch, said: “That attack was one of the blackest moments in this area’s history, it was an awful incident but some good has come of it. It is good that we can move on from this now and work together to ensure that Pilton is known as a welcoming place for everyone to live and work”.

PEP’s minibus fleet attacked by vandals

Drivers turned up at Pilton Equalities Project’s yard for work this morning only to discover the organisation’s minibus fleet had been wrecked by vandals overnight.

Minibuses were broken into and goods were stolen during the incident. At least three minibuses are now off the road awaiting replacement back windows – drivers and volunteers have made running repairs to others to ensure essential pickups can go ahead today.

PEP manager Helen Tait said: “I am angry and I am upset. This is so pointless, there is nothing to be gained by doing things like this. We now have to get three buses out to Newbridge today to get their windows replaced – if we don’t, we will be forced to cancel jobs and let people down next week.

“As well as the inconvenience, there is the cost involved – like all voluntary organisations money is tight and this is expenditure we could well do without. We’re now forced to spend a lot of money – hundreds of pounds – on repairs, that’s money that should have been spent on improving services for our clients. It’s sickening.”

If you have any information on the incident please contact Police Scotland on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Talking tagging in community shop

Steve Harte, Young People’s Service Manager attended the shop this week. Steve works a lot with the Police and Youth Offenders.

He brought with him electronic tagging system and shown residents how it worked.
Nearly 800 tags in Scotland are monitored 24/7 by G4S.

This is all part of Muirhouse Community Shop raising awareness of #StrongerNorth

Link to pictures here

Robert Pearson

Operation Quarterlight: cracking down on car crime

Quarterlight update: six arrests last week

Operation Quarterlight is a Police Scotland initiative aimed at tackling motor vehicle crime in hotspot areas. Since the start of the initiative in January 2015, local officers involved in the operation have made 24 arrests and solved 68 crimes related to motor vehicle offences.

In the last week officers in Edinburgh have arrested five men and one woman for various offences related to motor vehicles crimes. Of those arrested a 22-year-old man has been remanded in custody on multiple charges.

Additionally in the last week there has been 15 stop searches in hotspot areas and 41 bail curfew checks completed on some of Edinburgh’s most prolific offenders.

Police have also charged a 41-year-old woman with the theft of a pedal cycle. This had previously been advertised as for sale on a website. The bike has now been recovered and returned to its owner.

PS Tom Mallinson, who runs the Quarterlight team, said: “We have solved almost seventy crimes since Quarterlight began and well over half of these relate to vehicle crime. We are quite clear with offenders – we will continue to investigate all crimes linked to vehicles across the city.

“Many of these individuals will be involved in assaults, hate crimes, vandalisms and serious driving offences while in the commission of motor vehicle offences and our team has prioritised access to forensic services, CCTV and national vehicle crime experts to combat the challenge of autocrime.”

Chief Superintendent Mark Williams, who oversees Operation Quarterlight locally, pressed home the point about car security and improving results. He said: “We have seen a week on week increase in detection rates, as well as a driving down of car crime as the message gets out.

“We have increased preventative night time patrols in hot spot areas and officers have conducted over a hundred searches resulting in numerous arrests.

“We still want car owners to be careful – secure their vehicles, park in well-lit and overlooked spots and ensure valuable items are removed or at least not on show in their vehicles.”

#StrongerNorth: Action Update

Steady progress on tackling community concerns

How has the #StrongerNorth initiative been performing?The latest figures, compiled at the end of January, are very encouraging:

Housing

• 17 housing enforcement actions taken against residents in response to behaviour

Including 13 warnings, 1 Final Warning, 1 Notice to Quit, 1 Notice of Proceedings for Recovery of Possession, 1 ASBO under consideration.

Offending

· 7 Young people identified and targeted due to offending (Police, Council, Social work etc)

· 3 charged as adults, 2 in Children’s Hearing system and 2 in court system (last four all reducing offending)

· 4 young people subject to Movement Restriction Condition

· 4 young people placed in secure accommodation in last 12 months (2 twice)

· Calls to Police have really reduced between October and December 2014 (209 to 119 calls)

· Reduction in offences committed by the most problematic young people – including a significant drop by one prolific housebreaker.

Youth Work

• Positive engagement over a number of weeks with group working on bothy at Towford

• Conversation cafe with Positive Prison organised for 30 January.

Employment and Training

• Employment experience and training programme developed by Council, Urban Union and Edinburgh College. First group ready to benefit.

Pre-School and School

• Respect programme expanded to Craigroyston and Forthview Primary Schools

• Youth Engagement Programme at Crewe Road Fire station – participants selected from Craigroyston Community High School.

Physical Improvements

• Community clean ups in backgreen at West Pilton Gardens/Crossway and roadside verge along Granton Mill well-attended.

West Pilton/West Granton Community Council

• Community payback team cut back bushes in West Pilton Park where motorbikes were being hidden.

Communications

• Regular daily tweets and 1,343 followers

• Over 230 Facebook likes.

Community activity

• Community survey planned to track community views about local action

• Tenants and Residents in Muirhouse #StrongerNorth campaign – Community Shop window display

• Weekly lunch time drop in sessions at Muirhouse Community Shop and Pilton Community Association flat – six week programme started 19 January

• Community feedback event 4 February.

Balancing Act

Council strategy aims to balance safe drinking with economic development

A report that highlights the need to reduce alcohol-related harm in Edinburgh while supporting economic development will be presented to councillors next week.

The report to the City of Edinburgh Council’s Health, Social Care and Housing Committee on January 27 2015 will state that in the capital:

• the cost of alcohol-related harm to the Council’s social care services is £29 million;
• the impact on economic productivity is an estimated £85m;
• alcohol-related deaths doubled between 1991 and 2004;
• 47% of adults drink more than recommended guidelines;
• 26% of serious assaults committed in public places are aggravated by alcohol;
• Edinburgh’s alcohol-related hospital admission rate is higher than the Scottish average.

The report highlights a proposal to develop a local strategy on alcohol that reduces related harmful impacts while, at the same time, supports the capital’s aspiration for continued economic development. If approved, it will be developed through the Edinburgh Partnership.

It will also highlight ongoing work to deal with these issues by officers from the public and third sectors within planning, economic development, social work, licensing, public health, the police and the fire service.

Committee members will be asked to note the harm caused across the city, note that effective interventions need to focus on reducing harm across the population, and support further talks between Council services, Police Scotland, NHS Lothian and the third sector to develop the strategy.

A presentation on alcohol-related harm within the city will be made to Committee members by the Edinburgh Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, the NHS and the police.

Councillor Ricky Henderson, Health, Social Care and Housing Convener, said: “The negative effects of the misuse of alcohol, on the city as well as on individuals is laid bare in this report. It is clear that these issues have a far-reaching effect on people of all ages and social backgrounds.

“The Council has a duty to promote citizens’ health and well-being, but at the same time, a desire to encourage business development and to support financial growth of the city as a whole.

“Talks are at the early stages between services within the Council about how we reduce alcohol-related harm and support the economic development of our city at the same time.”