City Beat: Knife crime remains a clear priority
Sometimes a court case catches your eye and brings an important issue into focus, writes superintendent Ben Martin.
One such recent case involved a 23-year-old man, Raul Maretic-Ramos, pictured, who was jailed for 30 months after threatening someone with a knife in Cathedral Square. It happened in broad daylight, in the heart of our city centre, and was witnessed by members of the public, including young people. Nobody was hurt and he was arrested at the scene.
We have sadly seen, both locally and nationally, the devastating consequences when knives are used, and that is why tackling knife crime remains a clear priority for policing in Peterborough.
We take offences involving knives extremely seriously. Alongside thorough investigations and robust action through the courts, our work to address knife crime is wide-ranging. It includes high-visibility patrols in areas where concerns have been raised, targeted operations to disrupt those carrying weapons, and stop and searches to keep people safe.
Just as importantly, we work closely with partners, schools and youth organisations to prevent knife crime before it happens. Enforcement alone is not the answer.
Education, early intervention and giving young people positive alternatives all play a crucial role in reducing the risk of harm.
As previously mentioned, the additional Government funding for the new financial year to tackle the issue in the city is very welcome. This will allow us to conduct additional patrols and tailored enforcement. The project will also involve problem-solving with partners and youth diversion work.
In my last column I mentioned a new monthly campaign where we publish CCTV images of people we’d like to speak to in connection with retail crime and other offences. The second edition of this again produced some excellent results, with more than 12 individuals identified as a direct result of the two social media posts.
This is one small part of our ongoing work to support local businesses concerning retail crime and we hope it will act as a deterrent to prevent further thefts. On more than one occasion, individuals have handed themselves in after being so embarrassed about seeing their image shared online.
This will be my last column as Area Commander for Peterborough as I will be moving to a new role. It has been an immense privilege to serve the city in this position, working alongside a team of fantastic officers who are passionate about making the city an even safer place to live and work. Challenges remain, but I’m proud of what we have achieved in the last two years, and I wish my replacement every success in the role.
More on this will be announced in due course.
In the meantime, if you’d like to be kept up to date with local policing you can visit our website, sign up to eCops or follow our Policing Peterborough Facebook page.