Community council concern over disorder and shoplifting

Largs Community Council received a monthly round-up of crimes in the town from Police Scotland, which included a spate of shopliftings.

Members also believe there is a wider problem which needs to be addressed involving youths using free public transport and causing disorder.

According to the report, a shoplifting and an assault on a member of staff took place on August 2, within Geraldo's Gift Shop, near Largs Pierhead.

It was one of seven shoplifting incidents to happen within the town during the reporting period of mid July to mid August. The second incident reported in the town centre in which a retail worker was 'assaulted' after an arrest took place at MacAulays Bar on July 19.

The other shopliftings took place in Co-op twice - with a recorded police warning given out for one of these incidents - and four times at Morrison's Supermarket in Largs.

Concerns over the rise in incidents over recent months were raised at the recent community council meeting held at the Vikingar!

Community councillor Jamie Black said: "What is the root cause? Is it youths coming in from elsewhere, is it drugs related to get money, or is it gangs?

"These are the three issues we have heard of and the police do not appear to have any strategy as we have been raising this for months. We have been raising disorder on the trains as kids seem to go roaming by, skipping the fares on the trains or it is free bus travel.

(Image: Newsquest)

"We need the police to get a grip on this and it is not just a local situation, it is a nationwide problem, and it needs a nationwide solution."

The police representatives responded at the meeting that there was no one particular group causing the problem and it was a combination of all three.

The officer said: "It is maybe a struggle for money or someone going in to steal a bottle of rum in a shop which might be for addiction issues. It might be just people are struggling for money and steal what they can. It is a mixture of all these things."

Community councillor Margaret Woods raised the concern that some shops were not reporting smaller shoplifting thefts to police as they didn't think it was worth the bother.

And community councillor Frank Alexander asked about security within supermarkets, following reported disorder in Morrison's Supermarket earlier in the summer.

Community councillor Jamie Black called for a wider scale look into rise in crime including disorder and shopliftings (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Black also suggested a summit involving the police and North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership and North Ayrshire Council to address the matter going forward.

Another member Wendy Low Thomson asked how many police were visual in Largs on a daily basis.

She was told there was a total of four, sometimes in car or on a bike or walking on patrol, two by two, but they still get tasked to calls and ongoing issues.

The police pointed out that they had canvassed all the shops with direct numbers and email contacts and told traders to phone them and that they could be 'there within five minutes'.

They also reported that there were a couple of detections through that method, including incidents at WH Smith and Morrison's Supermarket over recent months.

Mr Black asked that his public transport concerns with the ease with which youths are able to access areas and cause disruption be raised with police command.

Police said at the meeting that they were sure that it had been raised, but they will raise it again 'higher up the chain' with their command unit.

Community council chair Jim Philips supported Mr Black and said: "It won't do any harm to raise it as we do have concerns as residents of Largs and we want everyone to feel safe."