Summer City has proved a festival success - Neil Wilson

Locally in the North West of Edinburgh we have seen an increase in antisocial behaviour linked to young people during the summer months. Tackling this type of behaviour remains a priority for us as we are aware of the effect it can have on our communities.

In order to target those involved we have been working closely with a number of partners including the City of Edinburgh Council, Youth Organisations and retail management to focus our resources in key areas at key times, with officers conducting patrols in uniform and plain clothes.

We constantly look for ways to engage young people and divert them to other activities. We are fortunate in the North of Edinburgh to have a plethora of youth providers as part of the local youth consortium, and a fantastic number of community clubs and groups, providing opportunities to all ages.

As the schools return for the start of a new academic year, our School Link Officers play a vital role in supporting our partners in education. Over the years they have formed strong working relationships with staff and pupils on a variety of topics from knife crime to hate crime and internet safety.

Last term officers ran a number of successful programmes including ‘Junior Cop, Good Citizen’, geared towards primary schools and both the ‘Pitchin In’ and ‘Switching Play’ programmes at a number of high schools, targeted to break down barriers and encourage engagement with police. We are looking to continue this work.

As summer draws to a close, planning is already well underway towards Halloween and Bonfire Night. We will be encouraging the local community to be involved in preparations, including community clear-up sessions in the run up to bonfire weekend. Further details will be published nearer the time. Look out for relevant updates on our social media channels.

Work is also ongoing to refresh the current Locality Improvement Plan for the 2023-2027 period. The plan aims to help coordinate how key partners best use available resources to meet changing demands across our communities with a view to achieving better outcomes for communities and individuals across the North West of Edinburgh and to reduce the gap for those experiencing the greatest inequality of outcome.

Should you have any information in relation to crime or antisocial behaviour in your area, please report this by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency. Alternatively, you can report matters anonymously by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Follow our local Twitter account @PSOSNWEdinburgh for the latest updates on our work in the communities of the North West.

Chief Inspector Neil Wilson, North West Edinburgh Local Area Commander