Shoplifting - a busy police station - Suleman Nagdi - on patrol with officers - market protestors - street outreach - Cllr Abdul Osman
9am
My first visits was to a fruit and vegetable shop in Leicester. The owner have recognized me in the street a week or so ago and invited me to drop by.
He had told me about the big increase in shoplifting recently, in particular of his high quality mangoes. These, he said, were on display outside his shop with the rest of his fruit & veg. More than once a young man on a bike had dashed up, grabbed an entire box of mangoes and then race off before the shopkeeper could respond.
On arrival, I noticed that the fruit and veg display was outside the shop, complete with several boxes of mangoes. Also outside the shop was a man standing next to the mangoes. The owner was not there, the shop being manned by his son, who was inside at the till. I chatted to him and asked about the shoplifting. He told me I needed to talk to his father. I bought some of the mangoes and left.
I’ll try to catch the owner next time.
9:55am
Spinney Hill Police Station
I parked my car and went into the front office for a chat. A young man was waiting for an interview. I spoke to the man staffing the desk. He said that it was fairly busy today. He also pointed out some cuddly panda toys that had been donated. He was keeping them for younger visitors to keep them entertained if a parent or guardian was being interviewed.
10am
Meeting with Suleman Nagdi MBE
We had quite a long and wide-ranging chat. We started by talking about the Muslim Burial Council, which was highly informative. We agreed that this is what we would put on social media. Mr Nagdi gave me a copy of the guide that the charity had produced outlining burial practices amongst all the faiths in Leicester.
11:15am
Patchwalk with Insp Nadia Rana
After chatting to the front desk staff at Mansfield House Police Station – again it seemed fairly busy – I went on a patchwalk around the city centre with Insp Rana. As we walked she pointed out various places and discussed various issues with me.
The main point she clearly wanted to make was about the lack of a PSPO in Leicester, it having lapsed the previous November. Over the winter this had caused her and her officers some problems. She was expecting these to get worse with the warmer weather and brighter evenings.
On arrival in the market, the owner of a café came up and reported to Inspector Rana that a man, who he pointed out, had been behaving in a loud and disruptive way. Inspector Rana approached the man and called for back up. When this arrived they began to search the man. As this looked like it might take some time, I made my excuses and left to return to Mansfield House to get my car.
On arrival at Mansfield House I met a PCSO on her way out on a patrol of her own. We had a chat about her beat. She raised the issue of the PSPO and repeated much of what Insp Rana had said. She asked if I could help.
I will have to see what action we can take on this?
12 noon
Free range time
I visited several businesses in the area around Charles Street and Humberstone Gate. The general feeling I picked up was that ASB was not too bad recently, and nor was shoplifting. One café owner raised an issue with me that was rather confidential, so I’ll be following that up.
I also bumped into some protestors at the Clock Tower. There was a queue of people witing to sign the petition to Save Leicester Market. Having said that after refurbishment, the market would return to its place the Labour-run City Council now want to shunt the market aside. They have no sense of history & are clearly treating the market stall holders and their customers with contempt.
1:30pm
Caroline Gadsby of Turning Point
This meeting was attended by staff from Turning Point, VRN & Leicestershire Police. Eight people in all. It was a long briefing about the Street Outreach funded by Grip from the Home Office. I was given a research paper from Cambridge University to read.
I promised to return another time for the patchwalk with the outreach workers as we never got to that bit.
4pm
Cllr Abdul Osman
At his request we met at the Casablanca Moroccan Coffee Bar in his ward. Jolly good it was too.
We had quite a long chat about the work he was doing as a councillor. Among the various issues raised was that the Peace Centre on Thurncourt Road had been attacked and vandalized a couple of weeks earlier. He asked if I would be willing to visit to talk to the manager. I agreed.
