The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A report of criminal damage and intimidating behaviour in Spalding wasn’t reached in time by police due to “dynamic prioritisation”.
On January 18, the police received calls about “two men acting drunk and disorderly in public, allegedly smashing a window and showing intimidating behaviour”, a police spokesman said on the day.
Shopwatch members mobilised, but the police response time meant the suspects were gone by the time they arrived.
Inspector Gareth Boxall of Spalding Police said the call came at a busy time. “Our officers were already busy and at the time of the incident and in the period after the incident took place, our officers were very busy.
“Some of the incidents they were attending required more than one or even two officers and amongst those we were trying to find a 79-year-old stroke victim who was missing from her home; transporting a drunk violent man to Boston Police Station who had been arrested for assaulting a member of the public; and attending a serious road traffic collision.
“Our control room spoke with the callers several times. I was busy myself having arrested someone on suspicion of theft who had been detained by shop staff.”
Insp. Boxall said it was regrettable they couldn’t attend sooner but the volume of calls was unusually high.
East Midlands Operational Support Services were also busy.
“Our force control room prioritise our incidents dynamically and this is what occurred that day,” Insp. Boxall said.
