Covid-19 sees anti-social behaviour become a seven day a week problem says top cop

ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour has become a seven-day-a-week issue due to the impact of Covid-19, according to the Lothians’ police chief.

Chief Supt John McKenzie

Chief Superintendent John McKenzie, divisional commander for Lothians and Scottish Borders, said that the pandemic had changed the types of incidents that were being seen and led to an increase in complaints.

He told a meeting of East Lothian Council’s Police, Fire and Community Safety Scrutiny Committee that while the county had seen the number of anti-social behaviour incidents fall year on year prior to lockdown, this year’s figures could not be compared.

Chief Supt McKenzie said: “We are living in a time where crime will not be comparable to any other time.

“In East Lothian (in relation to anti-social behaviour), the factor which has come into play here is clearly Covid and the impact it has had.

“The pattern is different, it is not a Friday, Saturday night thing, it is a seven-day-a-week issue.”

The meeting heard that police in East Lothian had recorded 37 per cent more anti-social behaviour incidents from April to September this year than over the same period last year.

Chief Supt McKenzie told the committee: “That is not outwith what we are seeing nationally, which is an increase of around 33 to 34 per cent.”

His colleague, Chief Inspector Neil Mitchell, local area commander for East Lothian, said that the number of complaints received from the public rose over the same period by 54 per cent.

However, he stressed that if calls relating to Covid were removed from the number of incidents, the rise would only be 11 per cent.

He gave an example of a call about youths gathering in a local park which would be recorded as an anti-social behaviour report.

Mr Mitchell broke down the number of anti-social incidents by towns, revealing that 34 per cent were related to Musselburgh, Whitecraig and Wallyford, 16-17 per cent in Tranent and in Prestonpans, with 11 per cent of incidents in Dunbar and Haddington, and nine per cent in North Berwick.

The report to the meeting came as a council report from the local authority’s ASB team revealed that they received 57 per cent more calls during the same period.

Marie Sharp , Local Democracy Reporting Service

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