York police abandon pop-up surgery – to nab a suspected thief

Police in York had to cut short a pop-up surgery in the city centre – to arrest a suspected thief.

PC Mark Grimes and PCSO Grenville Dowson, of York City Neighbourhood Policing Team, were at Costa Coffee on Market Street at 10am today (Thursday), speaking to members of the public and offering crime prevention advice.

But the officers had to suddenly cut the two-hour event short, after a report of the theft of cosmetics from a shop in Kings Square.

Quick response

PC Grimes and PCSO Dowson responded straight away, and, with the assistance of store staff and York BID Street Rangers, detained a man on Feasegate at 11.10am.

He was searched, and “a large quantity” of suspected stolen property was found.

The suspect, aged 38 and from York, was arrested on suspicion of shop theft and taken to custody, where he remains at this time. The suspected stolen property has been returned to the store.

PC Grimes said:

• Our pop-up surgeries are proving really popular across the city.

  Thanks to mobile technology, we can work from anywhere with phones and tablets, so by spending more time out in the community, we’re more accessible to the people we serve.

  We can also work really closely with our colleagues such as York BID Street Rangers so we can deal with people’s issues effectively.

  Of course, as today’s arrest shows, being able to set up in businesses in the heart of the city also means we are often in the right place at the right time to respond to any incidents.

  I hope we didn’t disappoint too many people by having to cut short the surgery on this occasion, but rest assured we’ll be hosting many more events in the weeks ahead.
  

Dates and times of pop-up surgeries are publicised on the York City Police Facebook page and the @NPTYorkCity Twitter account, as well as via the North Yorkshire Community Messaging system.