Dunbartonshire's new top cop wants to get tough on crime

Nov 28 2008 by Amanda McKendrick, Lennox Herald (main ed)

DUNBARTONSHIRE’S new top cop has vowed to clean up our streets by targeting violent criminals and drug dealers.

Chief Superintendent John Thomson has only been in the job a week but is pledging a blitz on crime with more police on the streets.

The area commander for L Division, which includes Dunbartonshire and Helensburgh, said: “Drugs, weapons, violence. These are things that we will not relent upon.

“I want to tackle people who carry knives and put them before the courts where they will be dealt with; those who habitually gather in public areas and consume alcohol; those who perpetrate violence, both within a relationship behind closed doors or violence out on the street.”

In a frank interview with the Lennox Herald last week, Chief Superintendent Thomson promised that dealers will be nailed.

He said: “For communities blighted by drugs, I will give them my solemn pledge that we will do whatever it takes. We will impact on dealers’ ability to obtain drugs and impact on the supply chain and de-rail these franchise systems – and I will use legislation to seize their assets including heritable, moveable property and cash.

“They will be subject to my very close scrutiny on an on-going basis and I will utilise high profile community police officers, response officers, detectives, the road policing support unit, horses and the dog branch.

“I want my officers to be role models for the people of West Dunbartonshire, not someone driving about in a high performance car.

“I will target these people and use every diligence and every resource at my disposal. If I need to go to other divisions for support I will.

“There is no quick fix but what I want is to have a conjunct effective approach to dealing with it.”

In January, West Dunbartonshire was named one of five crime hotspots in Scotland and the area is officially the second most violent in Scotland

Figures on recorded crime published by the Scottish Government revealed that for offensive weapons and serious assaults – per head of the population – West Dunbartonshire was beaten only by Glasgow for the third year running.

West Dunbartonshire Council has provided eight additional community police officers in a bid to change that and Scottish Government funding has boosted police numbers in the area.

Mr Thomson added: “I’m looking at getting as many police officers in uniform out on the streets.

“I want to release as many officers as possible from office duties and have them front facing on operational patrol. That will enable us to maximise our presence in the community and also to have additional response officers who can go to incidents as they occur.

“These community officers will be in areas where there are known hot spots and they will not only be a presence, they will be arresting people as they commit crimes and searching them for drugs and weapons.

“It’s not a soft option it’s a measured interventionalist approach.

“The people who read the Lennox Herald live locally and work locally and that’s who I am appealing to.

“Get in touch if you have information about crime – any crime.

“Let us know and then judge us on our success.”