It’s been a busy 24 hours for Police in what they call the ‘North Area Command’. This covers the whole of Mid & East Antrim, Antrim & Newtownabbey, Derry/Londonderry & Strabane and Causeway Coast & Glens
408 reports were made to police across the region between 7am on Thursday 17th December 2015 and 7am on Friday 18th December.
A detailed outline of police activity within that 24 hour period was provided by a PSNI Spokesperson who said: “Among the incidents we dealt with were burglaries, robberies, and theft, including the theft of a high value lorry from a local business in Coleraine. Thanks to some excellent police work a man was quickly arrested in Omagh in connection with that incident and the lorry was recovered.”
“A man was arrested in Derry/Londonderry late last night for trading in counterfeit goods after officers on routine patrol spotted a suspicious vehicle in the Collon Lane area. Satellite boxes we believe are fake were found in the vehicle.”
“In Coleraine, we had a man arrested for making threats to kill a taxi driver and for stealing a TV from a local supermarket. There were arrests for drug possession in Limavady and Ballyclare, and another for drink driving in Coleraine. Proactive search operations also uncovered two cannabis factories, one in Derry/Londonderry and the other in Whitehead.”
“We also made two arrests in Ballymena in connection with a Northern Ireland-wide investigation into a series of thefts from parking metres. Between 28th September 2015 and 17th December 2015 39 incidents were reported to us across NI. This resulted in establishment of a dedicated team, comprised of officers from a range of police disciplines, targeting the issue through a specific and proactive operation. Last night this operation yielded results with the arrest of two male suspects and the seizure of a large number of evidential items.”
“Throughout this 24 hour period your local police officers have dealt with violent and intoxicated individuals, responded to crimes in progress, pursued suspects on foot – even through rivers, located missing people, carried out searches, interviewed arrested people, conducted follow up enquiries and seized drugs, weapons and items that we believe may be stolen or which can be used in the commission of criminal offences. This is the kind of work we are out there doing every day in addition to regular patrolling and our community-based engagement projects. In the run-up to Christmas we want people to know that we are here, on duty 24/7, working extremely hard to keep you safe.”