APRIL was another busy month for the Wellington Neighbourhood Policing Team during which we received 331 calls from members of the public relating to the town.

Changes in Covid-19 restrictions on Monday, April 12, saw the re-opening of non-essential retail, personal care premises, outdoor hospitality and more. In the main things have gone well.

Wellington Police Team have noted a slight increase in demand though as a result of some of the town centre licensed premises re-opening.

Officers have been carrying out regular checks at licensed premises and reminding licensees of their responsibilities to enforce Covid regulations to address this and together we have helped to keep alcohol-related incidents at licensed premises to a minimum.

There were four separate incidents of catalytic converter thefts from Honda Jazz motor vehicles while they were parked in Wardleworth Way, Longforth Road Car Park, Wellesley Park and Foxmoor Industrial Estate.

In recent months there have been a high number of catalytic converter thefts in other parts of Somerset and we have used the Wellington Neighbourhood Policing Team’s Facebook Page, which has close to 2,400 followers, to encourage vehicle owners to take additional security measures and to appeal to all members of the public to remain alert to any suspicious activity around the underside of vehicles – Honda, Toyota, Lexus and Hybrid models in particular – to help us prevent any further thefts of catalytic converters in the Wellington area.

Any ongoing suspicious activity should be reported to the police immediately by calling 999.

April saw an increase in incidents of criminal damage and anti-social behaviour in and around Wellington Park.

The Wellington Police Team have been carrying out high visibility patrols in these areas whenever possible assisted by neighbourhood and patrol officers from Taunton.

We have also tried to reach the small minority of youths involved by visiting schools and asking staff to help us send a clear message to all students that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.

We encourage all members of the public to keep their eyes and ears open when they are in these areas.

Should anyone witness anything untoward, we appeal to them to call the police immediately. While we try to be in these areas as much as possible, we can’t be there all the time.

With the help of the people of Wellington though, we can be there when there’s a problem and do all we can to hold those responsible to account.

We carried out a number of Covid-safe community-based events during April. We held a community neighbourhood surgery and bike-marking event at The Wellington Basins which was well attended by members and families from across the area.

We used the mobile police station for this event, which is a district resource we have booked for use in the Wellington area at community events and across a number of weekends throughout the rest of this year to maximise or visibility and engagement in the community.

Sgt Daniel Bishop 3258

Neighbourhood Police Sergeant for Wellington