Residents and business owners have been subjected to criminal damage with very little police response, a councillor has claimed.
Cllr Nigel Dix represents the Blackwood ward on Caerphilly County Borough Council, and said the town’s residents are growing tired over a perceived apathy.
Cllr Dix said: “There’s a big problem on the lane off Cliff Road where youths are stealing rubbish bins from the behind shops and businesses and burning stuff on weekends.
“This has been going on for nearly 12 months now, big wheelie bins being melted and just left around.
“People are losing faith in the police and that’s not acceptable. There’s been such a lack of response to people breaking the law, it’s affecting residents and costing the taxpayer a fortune.”
Inspector Steve Drayton said: “We are aware of a sporadic problem on Cliff Road in Blackwood where there have been instances of bins being taken from the locality to a specific area of wasteland on the street and subsequently being set alight.
“Incidents like these have a real impact on the local community and increases demand on the emergency services.
“Our officers regularly patrol the area but we would also ask people to report any such crimes to the police so we can take action. If you have any information regarding those responsible please contact us on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
“Our officers regularly patrol the area” really ! So why don’t we see them ?
If they were really patrolling they’d catch the culprits !
It’s about time you stopped trying to con the public.
Stop the rhetoric and put officers on the beat where the public can see them.
People are not losing faith they have already lost faith in the police. The police are not on our streets anymore. We are left with CPO’s and council wardens on our streets they can’t do anything about these things. But even these pretend coppers have now vanished from our streets. We the council tax payer are paying for 3 tier police service but recieve nothing. Its time the axe fall on these useless departments and the money given to the real police.