ASB tackled in Heckington

The parents of children we have identified as being involved in anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Heckington have been spoken to by officers this week.

The offences included vandalism at St Andrew's church and banging and kicking on a resident’s doors causing them fear, alarm and harassment over the past week.

Officers in the local Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) initially became aware that ASB was taking place in Heckington following a report from the Parish Council of the vandalism at the church.

The team then received four more reports between 30 May and 5 June.

When PC Christopher Green from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team visited the resident affected, he was told that others in the village had similar issues and that the behaviour had escalated over the past month.

Unfortunately, these incidents had not been reported to the police, which meant we didn’t know about them and had been unable to form a plan to tackle the problem until the first report was made.

Once we knew about the incidents, officers were able to come up with a plan to deal with the issue promptly, reducing the impact on the community.

Our PCSO’s initially spoke with the caller to provide advice and reassurance, and we then increased patrols within the area, especially during the evenings and weekends when the incidents were happening most often.

In one case, PCSO Ironmonger was able to stop two suspects following an incident being reported to police. He obtained their details and following a further visit from PC Green and the North Kesteven District Council (NKDC) ASB officer, we were able to obtain CCTV and identify others believed to have been involved.

The children and their parents have now been spoken to by police, and this will be followed up by NKDC with unacceptable behaviour warning letters. All the parents are aware they will be receiving letters.

We would appeal to anyone who is a victim of ASB, or witnesses it taking place, to call 101 and make a report. Always call 999 in an emergency.