Chief Inspector David Happs: Help police get it right in caring for our communities

As Local Area ­Commander for north-west Edinburgh it is important to me that we are listening to and acting on your concerns at a local, citywide and national level.

Chief Inspector David Happs is Local Area Commander for North West Edinburgh

Community officers regularly attend local community council meetings, hold drop-ins and meet with various groups across the area to hear first-hand what matters to you as residents and workers in the area. Community policing teams also respond to email and phone contact from residents, partners and elected representatives to ensure we meet the needs of the whole community. I’d like to thank everyone who took part in our recent Your Police survey, in which you told us about what ­concerns you have about crime in your area. Local police teams have been working hard with local and national specialist resources including CID and Roads Policing and all our partners to drive down crime in this area and across the city.

We recognise your concerns about homes being broken into, road safety including speeding and dangerous driving, drug-related crime, violence and antisocial behaviour and we have acted upon them.

I hope you will have seen from our regular updates provided on social media and at local community ­meetings of our progress in each of these areas.

The number of break-ins to homes in northwest Edinburgh is down 25 per cent on last year and more than 56 per cent on average over the last five years and our detection rates have also increased.

Local officers supported by Roads Policing have carried out road safety enforcement and education on various roads across the area with a clear focus on casualty reduction.

We have also worked with council departments, Crimestoppers and other partners across the area to drive down violent crime and antisocial behaviour and are working hard to ensure this progress continues.

You can play your part in helping set the future direction for policing in Scotland, ensuring we continue to focus on areas that matter to you. We are consulting now in developing the long term strategy of ‘Policing for a safe, protected and resilient Scotland’ – for more information go to consult.scotland.police.uk Please take part and have your say before the consultation closes on 2 March.

Chief Inspector David Happs is Local Area Commander for north-west Edinburgh.