New police chief vows to tackle drug crime in South Ayrshire

And he is calling on the public to help protect the community by reporting suspicious activity after a number of house breakins recently.

Chief Inspector Brian Anderson was appointed as the new Area Commander for South Ayrshire Police last week, but he has already set sight on addressing some ofthe community’s biggest problems.

Chief Inspector Anderson told the Ayr Advertiser: “It’s early days for me, I’ve already got some observations on some of the things we need to focus on.

“I’ll be very much focussed on those priorities the public have identified through our local policing plan and the consultation we do around that.

“The main problems in that were violence, disorder, anti-social behaviour and drugs - they’re the ones that stick out for me, the ones that cause publicconcern, particularly around drugs and issues that causes like acquisitive crime that generates from those involved in drugs whether that’s shoplifting, house breakins or the couple of robberies we seen over last weekend.”

Speaking of these issues, the new Area Commander said it’s not just South Ayrshire that have concerns.

He added: “My experience is those are issues right across Ayrshire and beyond but it’s very much a focus of all the area commands in Ayrshire, so I don’t think it’s a bigger problem here than anywhere else, “But it’s clearly an issue that causes concern in the community across decent law abiding members of the public who have had their house broken into or become a victim of crime from that.

“As a result of that, that will be our focus.”

Chief Inspector Anderson highlighted the two parts of tackling crime through enforcement and prevention, and that information from the public is vital in assisting police.

He said: “We rely on the community to reportthings to us.

“So I would very much stress the importance of members of the public if they see something suspicious to contact us at an early stage to let us know about it “And if it turns out it’s nothing other than a window cleaner or something like that like someone that’s maybe locked themselves out their house then fine.

“I would much rather our officers come to something like that and it turns out to be nothing than somebody that hesitates about phoning us when actually there is somebody acting suspicious and trying to break into a house.”

With 23 years of experience under his belt, the new chief is looking forward to working with the community in South Ayrshire which he knows will.

He said: “Ayrshire is without doubt a great place to live, work and visit and I look forward to leading the dedicated team of officers and staff across South Ayrshire.”

You can follow Chief Inspector Anderson on Twitter @ChiefInspBrianA or South Ayrshire Police @AyrshireSPolice

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