“Just say the word and we will be there to help you” says Inspector over domestic violence concerns

Wrexham’s Inspector Luke Hughes has given the now usual detailed breakdown of a ‘steady weekend’ in Wrexham.

Today’s update also highlights domestic violence issues, with a pledge from local officers on how they will response to reports.

The Inspector also notes the summary of 121 calls gives a flavour of what the local team deal with and the updates should be kept in that context, he adds that the reality is Wrexham “is one of the safest large towns in the North West”.

As always the full update is copied below…

Happy Monday all and welcome to the first day of the school holidays… true to form it’s raining as I type this…. typical…. But the grass is still in need of a good soaking and it will supress ASB a little as we always experience a slight increase over the holiday period.

It was a steady weekend for the Wrexham city staff, I arrived and noted that custody was surprisingly busy for a Monday morning with four people relevant to our area, sadly all domestic related which is always sad to see as I know all too often matters in the home effect young children and the wider families.

Please be reassured that if you have any concerns regarding domestic violence that we are absolutely here to help and support you, male or female, young or old. Domestic violence is and always will be a priority for officers. Just say the word and we will be there to help you. There are also a significant numb er of agencies that are out there that can offer support. Please don’t suffer in silence.

What follows is a general summery of our more eventful incidents over the weekend; I wish to point out that these incidents I report to you need to be taken into context. They are simply typical of events that take place across the county, even in some of the quieter and sleepy areas. Please don’t allow this to influence your opinion of Wrexham. The REALITY as I have said previously is that Wrexham is one of the safest large towns in the North West and try as some of you may to believe otherwise, I certainly take comfort in this.

Anyway… off my soap box and to the summery.

At 23:30hrs on Saturday night our ever alert CCTV operators noticed a male lurking near a parked police vehicle in the city centre… he was in the process of removing the wing mirrors for us… of course we hadn’t asked him to you understand… promptly arrested and charged. The vehicle rendered out of service for the rest of the weekend… thanks for that…

At 01:50hrs Sunday morning a male is stopped on a routine traffic enquiry, break light out don’t all assume it was speeding we do deal with other traffic matters!!

Anyway suspected to be driving under the influence of drugs, drugs located in the vehicle and also a small lock knife in the centre console… states he just drove up from London to see a friend. Charged…

I can also report that a persistent shoplifter has been charged with 6 offences of retail theft over the weekend, also remanded for court this morning, hopefully straight to Berwyn, do not pass go and certainly do not collect two hundred pounds…

Officers are also conducting follow up enquiries today in relation to a few incidents of youths in the city centre that have caused issues for local businesses, this is incredibly frustrating when so many are struggling financially to get their business back on tract. We are committed to supporting local businesses and further to my earlier comments about working remotely I am just looking at finalising a plan that will put a much more visible presence into the heart of the shopping area.

I also need to highlight an incident that occurred on Saturday morning when officers attempted to arrest a wanted male, on seeing them he attempted to leave the property by a window and punched a female officer in the face as he was doing so. What a cowardly thing to do… he remains outstanding but I can assure him not for long…. The officer bravely remained on duty and whilst she sustained a slight cut to her lip she will be fine in time.

In addition to the crime aspects above officers have spent a great deal of time dealing with events where members of the community simply needed help and support, this included a variety of concerns for safety incidents and missing person reports. A number of those being in mental health crisis, all were treated in the upmost of resect and decency, referrals made and support supplied as appropriate.

In total officer received 121 calls for service from 8am on Saturday morning until 8am this morning, they did a fantastic job all around and they will do the same again without hesitation.

Have a great day all and I will speak tomorrow.