Clydebank to be focus of police attention, says top cop

Kirsten McLatchie, West Dunbartonshire’s area commander, told the Post that the town will be one of the force’s main priorities in an effort to tackle emerging trends including anti-social behaviour and the illegal use of dirt, trail, and e-bikes.

Chief Inspector McLatchie explained that there is an “action plan” in place with community cops set to patrol hot spot areas such as Drumry and Whitecrook at peak times of anti-social behaviour.

These time frames have reportedly been identified through the use of evidence-based policing which uses statistics, crime trends, and analysis to work out where issues may arise and to pinpoint them.

Chief Inspector Kirsten McLatchie (Image: Newsquest Staff) Chief Inspector McLatchie said: “Our focus will be turning for the summer months towards emerging trends in both Operation Ballaton [Balloch] and the wider Clydebank area.

“Data helps us to understand the emerging trends and any kind of correlation between them. It also allows us to compare and contrast and then plan our approaches.

“We’ve got a kind of action plan in place where our community police will patrol hot spot areas like Drumry, and Whitecrook, particularly at peak times of anti-social behaviour in conjunction with regular town centre patrols.

“The public can expect to see high-visibility patrols within key hot spot areas or indeed areas which have a high level of public footfall.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that we are expecting any concerning behaviour it’s just police out doing proactive patrols where we feel they will be of assistance to the community.

“We want to provide reassurance to the community that there is a police presence and that we are there to facilitate their safety and enjoyment of public spaces rather than inflating any fears of crime.”

Local concerns over incidents involving dirt, trail, and e-bikes are also to be “robustly” tackled where possible.

Chief Inspector McLatchie noted that there have been some difficulties in identifying offenders however there is ‘information coming in’ about these incidents.

Earlier this month we reported that a man was expected to appear in court after allegedly biting a police officer following reports of anti-social behaviour involving e-bikes.

Chief Inspector McLatchie said: “One thing I really want to stress is that we are at the behest of the public giving us information.

“We want to make sure they are comfortable in reporting incidents and making us aware of things as and when they happen.

“So with the best of intentions, we would like the public to step forward and give us that. A good example of what we are looking for information on is the dangerous use of dirt, trail, or e-bikes.

“We talk about it in terms of legal use as there are e-bikes that are absolutely legal and allowed and we don’t want to dissuade people legitimately using them.

“However, there are occasions where a minority of people have been riding illegally on pavements and without the proper safety gear which is causing an issue.

“It’s very difficult to identify these individuals because they are masked up and we are asking the community to let us know descriptions of individuals so we can make the place a lot safer.

“Having been in Clydebank a fair amount I’ve seen it with my own eyes and it can be quite frightening for someone to whizz by you.

“We’re trying in every instance that we are able to, to apprehend these individuals and to reassure the community that we are doing as much as we possibly can to try and bring anti-social behaviour down.”

Police will also be tackling issues on transport in the area alongside British Transport, ScotRail, and First Bus as well as anti-social behaviour in a “cohesive” approach with West Dunbartonshire Council.

CCTV operators in West Dunbartonshire will continue to work closely with cops to monitor and assist in identifying offenders as well as any emerging trends.