It’s business as usual for crime fighting in Edinburgh – DCI Graham Grant

DCI Graham Grant looks at the changing nature of offences in the city during lockdown
DI Graham GrantDI Graham Grant
DI Graham Grant

In a similar vein to the last Capital Cops column, I am following on from DCI Sarah Taylor to provide the Edinburgh public with an update and insight into how we continue to investigate crime within the city during these unprecedented times.

I want to start by assuring everyone that for our CID and Community Investigation Units, it’s business as usual. We have reshaped our resource model in line with physical distancing to ensure the safety of our officers. However, we have greater resilience on our 24/7 teams to cope with demand.

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We are just as able to respond to and support investigations, as well as undertake proactive inquiries, as we were prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Police Scotland officers are continually providing a visible presence throughout Edinburgh.

As you can probably imagine, our streets are considerably quieter as a result of our communities adhering to physical distancing measures and this has had an impact on the number public space offences occurring.

Crimes such as assault and serious assault are down and I believe this is largely down to the current shutdown of Edinburgh’s night time economy.

However, I want to make it perfectly clear that we are not celebrating the closure of pubs and clubs. These premises play an important role for the Capital, both economically and socially. The vast majority are also strong supporters of our policing objectives and work closely with us as part of Operation Nightguard and other partnership initiatives.

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The majority of the public are staying home to prevent the spread of coronavirus and in doing so are helping protect our NHS and save lives.

Another outcome of people remaining within their homes is that break-ins to residential properties have fallen. Housebreakers are obviously wary of the greater chance of encountering the homeowner or occupant. A similar picture has been observed in relation to businesses.

What we are seeing, as a consequence, however, is a rise in thefts from sheds, garages and other outbuildings. I would remind our communities to treat these structures as an extension of their homes and take appropriate security precautions to safeguard them from acquisitive criminals. We have a range of useful advice and information on our website at www.scotland.police.uk.

It would be foolish of us to think that, just because we are in the midst of a global health emergency, those involved in serious organised crime will put a halt to their illegal activities. These criminals continue to operate and look to prey on the vulnerabilities of others.

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They may not be relenting their criminal behaviour, but neither will we be relenting our vigorous pursuit of organised crime offenders. In addition to local resources dedicated to tackling organised crime, Police Scotland also has the support of the Organised Crime Task Force, which can provide national assistance to the Edinburgh policing teams.

Every day we continue to gather and act upon intelligence that disrupts organised crime and we now have the added advantage of having additional eyes and ears within our communities during physical distancing. If you see any suspicious activity or believe a person or group are trying to exploit your elderly or vulnerable neighbours, please contact us, or make an anonymous report to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Hopefully, this column has given Edinburgh residents and businesses some peace of mind that we continue to have capacity to deal with the various incidents and offences that arise in the city. I would encourage anyone who requires any advice or guidance on crime prevention to visit our website or contact 101 and should you need to report a crime in progress, please do so by calling 999.

Detective Chief Inspector Graham Grant, Edinburgh CID