Page 2 Op Magnum day of action High Visible Patrols are working Freshers Week Page 3 Focus on ASB Glasgow Pride Saftey4Kids Programme Page 4 Operation Avert Summer Music Festivals Football OP Order Page 5 Theft of Passenger Property City Wide Rail Disruption Youth reunited with parents Clydesdale Cricket Club Page 6 Kirkintilloch Open Day School visits Child neglect at Paisley Gilmour Man charged with staff assault Scottish Area October2013 Issue 4 OP Magnum day of Action Op Magnum day of action took place on the 12/09/13 Officers are stepping up patrols to tackle pick pocketing, snatch thefts and luggage thefts at stations and onboard trains. Our officers across the Force are working to create a hostile environment for thieves, making it as difficult as we can for them to operate on any part of the railway network. The Op Magnum day of action involves us using a range of tactics to deter criminals from preying on the travelling public, including intelligence-led patrols by uniformed officers and plainclothes Dip Squad detectives A total of almost 400 travelling members of the public actively engaged with BTP officers, consisting of the handing out of leaflets, focusing on theft of passenger property and other issues such as mobile phone security, car and bicycle security. Advice was also sought from the BTP officers on a number of issues by members of the public, these officers were able to provide answers and offer assurance to those seeking such advice. A number of station/on train announcements were also made throughout the day. The timing of this OP Magnum could not have been better as there was a Commonwealth Games promotion taking place at Glasgow Central with all the media attention that it attracted. Our own OP Magnum was not overlooked by the cameras, so much so that a couple of BTP officers explained to the media what Op Magnum was about and how important it was to get the message across. Also one of our more athletic BTP officers, yes there is one or two, actively engaged in a game of badminton as part of the Commonwealth promotion, apparently their efforts were so
impressive that they will be featured in a short video on their website. http://www.glasgow2014.com/video/badminton-glasgow-central-station High Visible Patrols are working High Visible patrols at Queen Street Station can be shown to be working. In an Evening Times article on the 10/09/13 it is quoted; Fresher s Week- advice given to students using the Glasgow Subway The area around Glasgow s grandest civic space is far from high crime- despite huge numbers of people passing through Queen Street Station Undoubtedly NP officers at Queen Street have made a significant contribution in achieving this. Glasgow Central postcode area was also noted to have reduced the amount of serious assaults. Again NP Officers at Central Station working towards OP Assure have made an impact on the problems in Gordon Street.. NP and Subway officers have also focussed activity on the Fresher s Week. On 4/9 Subway officers spent the day at Hillhead Station which was very busy with students attending the Glasgow University Open Day. On the 15/9 NP and Subway officers spent another day at Hillhead for the start of Fresher s week. Crime prevention, and raising awareness was the objective, and this was supported by a Twitter campaign promoting the messages each day of this week.
Focus on ASB Offences Glasgow Pride- Stall Stolen Car Boot Saves the Day City Centre NP officers have continued to focus on ASB offences in the station. At Glasgow Central officers have been stop checking people as part of Op Assure, recording details on the background log. At Queen Street, officers have been conducting plain clothes patrols in both Central and Queen Street stations. On the 9/9/13 at Queen Street, officers in plain clothes were approached by a male who asked if they wanted to acquire drugs from him. The male was detained for a drug search and very surprised to have approached police officers. Such incidents all contribute towards creating an uncertain and hostile environment for offenders to operate in. Sgt Bentley attended the Gay Pride event at Glasgow Green on the 10 th August. His account of the day reads; The day had a bad start where on arrival the Police found their stall to have been stolen and taken by others. The up shot of the theft was that the response car was utilised and an improvised makeshift stall was made and was given pride of place at the entrance to the event drawing maximum attention. I was at the event from 11am through to half past 3, during which I had a very enjoyable day with very positive engagement and interactions with the attendees of Glasgow Pride where I promoted Safe Rail Travel, The post 9pm alcohol ban, Railway safety, Care of luggage/op Magnum and Immobilise.com, Text us alerts, recruiting enquiries for both the regulars and Special Constables along with the giving out of numerous freebies of which by far the most popular was the rainbow coloured fury stick on Goncs. Safety4Kids Programme Recently a Safety 4 Kids event is a multi agency event, taking place over two weeks from 02 nd 06 th and 09 th 13 th September. It was run by Ronnie Harper EEI Coordinator West Dunbartonshire Council. This event was originally run by Tullochan Trust (Des Fik) however in recent years Pulse which is coordinated by Ronnie and Dumbarton Council have organised this event. Between the dates identified partners from Trossachs Rangers, Scottish Fire & Rescue, Red Cross, Police Scotland, Environment Health to name a few attended this event held within Territorial Army HQ,Latta Street Dumbarton and educated approximately 986 primary 7 pupils from West Dunbartonshire. Thanks was passed to Mark Henderson Network Rail Community Safety Manger Scotland for obtaining /supplying funding streams for this worthwhile event in raising awareness towards Railway Safety prior to each pupil moving forward into Secondary education and concurred in achieving each of their Curriculum of Excellence Awards.. The programme is able to run through the kind auspices of Network Rail and in-kind support of many local agencies. Each session will allow the children to go round 10 separate learning stations where they will be able to participate in activities themed around Community Safety, Fire Safety, First Aid, Internet Safety, Litter Control, Rail Safety, Road Safety, No Knives better lives, drugs and alcohol awareness, domestic gender stereotyping and Water Safety.
The aim is to get core safety messages over to children in an effective way that they will remember and understand, and through this to influence behaviour and reduce the risk of harm. This will be achieved by combining short, high impact workshops where children will learn through hearing, seeing, saying, doing and reflecting followed up by the opportunity for further reflective learning when back in their school environments. Operation Avert- Fatalities and Disruption Operation Avert is a national BTP operation aimed at reducing disruption to the rail network caused by fatalities, trespass and other disruption related offences. The operation will run from 10 th September 2013 (National Suicide Awareness Day) until 30 th October 2013. A high volume of fatalities and disruption related incidents were recorded by BTP in September and October 2012/13. In 2012 there were 61 incidents resulting in fatalities and persons struck by trains which accumulated 75,201 Network Rail disruption minutes. Trespass incidents in October 2012 were recorded as 1/103 and resulted in 42,067 Network Rail delay minutes. Summer Music Events There were three big music events during August. Officers from the city centre were deployed in response to the concerts that occurred; 15/08/13 Kings of Leon 17/08/13 Avicii 20/08/13 Eminem These concerts brought large numbers of youths into Glasgow Central and Queen Street, and high visible policing was maintained throughout the day to reassure public and staff. The current trends suggest that fatal incidents and trespass may rise in September and October 2013/14. During the operation the Scotland Area will engage in high profile patrols of locations where suicides, suicide attempts and trespass incidents occur. Research and consultation with stakeholders have revealed the certain locations where there have been high levels of suicides and suicide attempts over the last four years. The objectives are; preservation of life, raising awareness of suicidal behaviour and vulnerability, proactive intervention on pre-suicidal behaviour, and minimising disruption. Prevention/Enforcement High profile patrols are to be carried out at the above locations by both Response and NPT officers in order to prevent incidents and detect those involved. The Area Crime Reduction Officer has been requested to carry out surveys of these locations in order mitigate future trespass and suicide attempts. Duty Sergeants are to consider the use of CCTV at key locations to identify vulnerability. Football Op Order NP Officers were kept busy on the 14/09/13,deployed as part of the Football Op Order for that day. Large numbers of travelling Motherwell and Aberdeen supporters required police to travel with them to reassure public and staff on these services, and prevent high sprits from becoming out of hand. A further sectarian incident has been reported. Enquiries are still continuing, and it is expected that two people will shortly be charged with offences relating to this incident.
Theft of Passenger Property French Youth Reunited with parents Officers have been carrying out on-train patrols, warning passengers about the dangers regarding theft of property. On the 2 nd August, and the 12 th August, leaflets were handed on board several services between Queen Street and Falkirk which saw increased passengers due to the festival. Queen Street officers were challenged by dealing with a 13 year old French girl who had become separated from her parents. She did not speak any English. Officers used inventive means of communicating through GOOGLE Translate website whereby they established parents details and were able to contact them and reunite them with their daughter. Central officers supported Op Magnum by conducting train walk- trough s on departing intercity services and work by Pc s Duffy and James continues liaising with the LPO s, in attempt to identify stolen property and reunite property with owners. Clydesdale Cricket Club BTP were approached by the Clydesdale Cricket Club to participate in the youth group to promote the rail safety message. The officers reinforced how important safety on the railway is, the club is situated between four railway stations therefore it is important that the children are educated on the dangers and how to stay safe. Working with the youths helps to instil confidence and promote a positive attitude about interaction with the police. The Officers received an excellent reception and the rail message was passed to all. The Clydesdale Cricket Club is great to be associated with due to it s location. City Wide Rail Distruption On the 19/08/13, there was large citywide rail disruption. Queen Street and Glasgow Central officers responded and high visible patrols were maintained throughout the peak evening rush and into the evening to support staff at the station informing frustrated commuters that there were no train services for the entire Low Level network for the rest of the day. Despite hundreds of commuters prevented from entering the station, there was no reported disorder or abuse towards staff.
Kirkintilloch Open Day School Visits Officers have been invited to give a series of presentations to first year pupils in Hamilton Grammar School over the coming term. Blantyre primary school has also requested a safety talk. Working relations have been re established with South Lanarkshire active schools team. They access all schools and sports clubs in the area and are happy to assist BTP with safety talks and in investigations where prudent. On the 25/08/13 Officers held an Open day in Kirkintilloch. This event saw NP officers from Kilwinning and Paisley coupled with CCTV vehicle and dog officers engage in the open day with a vast number of members of the public Giving out information and rail Safety advice. Officers have completed a number of community engagements throughout the month, there has been various PACT meeting in Paisley, Paisley- Weymss Bay and Kilwinning to Ayr. Child Neglect at Paisley Gilmour Street There was a bad incident where a mother was unfit to look after her 3 year old child through alcohol, leaving him alone at Paisley by boarding a service to Central. Thanks to rail staff who cared for the child until police arrival. A commendation for staff will be put forward. The mother pled guilty to Child Neglect at Paisley Gilmour Street and has been given a 6 month community payback order with a 6 month supervision period. Man charged with staff assault Officers at Kilwinning Charged a man from the town Martin Mackie (39) for an assault on a 46-year-old male train conductor on board a Glasgow to Largs service in May this year. A fine of 650 was issued at Paisley Sheriff court on 17/09/13.