NORTH Wales Police told councillors the force had made 190 arrests in the Rhyl West ward alone since April, recovering class A drugs, replica firearms, weapons and cash.
Speaking at the North Wales Police and Crime Panel at Conwy ’s Bodlondeb HQ this week, officers told councillors of the work carried out as part of a partnership to fight serious violent crime.
Diane Jones from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office (PCC) and partnership manager Alison Watkin gave a presentation on behalf of the North Wales Serious Violence Prevention Partnership.
The chamber heard how the partnership works collaboratively with the PCC, North Wales Police, the six local authorities, prison service, probation, and the fire service.
The partnership’s overarching vision is to tackle violence and make communities safer.
As part of the presentation, Superintendent Owain Llewelyn of North Wales Police addressed the chamber and explained the work that had gone on to tackle drugs and violent crime in the Rhyl West ward.
Supt Llewelyn said a partnership operation known as ‘Project Renew’ had been carried out in the Rhyl West ward as a response to a “serious organised crime threat” in the area led by community intelligence.
The superintendent added that Rhyl West “consistently ranked high” for crime in North Wales with high levels of deprivation and poverty.
“In terms of enforcement activity, I had high hopes for it (the project), but actually they’ve been completely surpassed,” he said.
“We mapped our most prominent threats and agreed that partnership and responded to them in terms of the risk they posed as well.
“By coordinating our efforts, we have made over 190 arrests in Rhyl West since April this year.
“A lot of those being drugs, but actually we were really clear we wanted to target other threats, so we’ve been really hard on targeting our perpetrators of violence against women and girls, domestic abuse, burglary, serious acquisitive crime, sexual offences.”
He added: “So actually there has been no hiding place for people in that ward since we started.
“We seized over 2kg of class A drugs worth a significant amount of money, seized replica firearms, and (conducted) over 400 stop searches based on community intelligence, not our own, resulting in seizure of weapons, no doubt preventing violence that would have taken place on the streets otherwise.”
The superintendent added police had clamped down on street drinking, boy racers, and e-scooters whilst guarding the vulnerable against the threat of cuckooing.
“Overall, it has resulted in a 14% reduction in crime in one of the highest demand wards in the force, something I’m really proud about,” he said.
“But actually, I think more important than that is the community feedback, telling our officers and partners that they feel safer whilst walking the streets of Rhyl West.”
Rhyl councillor Diane King said: “I can attest to the success of this scheme.
“It has been excellent for Rhyl West, and a 14% reduction in crime is really good. I can’t explain how much difference that makes.”
