Police Officers reassure residents in Blacon

Officers are reassuring members of the public following reports of suspicious activity in the Blacon area of Chester.

Cheshire Police have recently received a number of reports relating to incidents in Blacon. These mostly involve children encountering what are described as suspicious white vans while walking along the road, or reports of men acting suspiciously in the area.

We would like to reassure residents that we are aware of every report and have been investigating each one.

At this stage in our investigations, there is no suggestion that any of these incidents are linked and currently, no offences have been committed. Most of the reported vehicles have been in the area for legitimate reasons, a number being delivery drivers trying to find addresses and have waved at residents, which has been misconstrued.

For example, one incident included a neighbour of a child speaking to them through the fence of a primary school as they were passing by, but this was misunderstood and initially reported as suspicious behaviour, which was not the case.

However, we are continuing to investigate incidents and are following all lines of enquiry. These reports are well-intentioned, and we would like to reiterate that we take reports of this nature extremely seriously.

Chief Inspector Paul Fegan, of Chester Local Policing Unit, said:

“We have increased patrols in the area to provide reassurance to members of the public and are investigating every report made to us.

“The safety of members of the public is of paramount importance to us so please be assured that we are conducting a number of enquiries to establish the full circumstances of each report and provide advice and support.

“We have been able to establish most of the incidents have not been as perceived, and we would like to remind people to avoid sharing speculation on social media which fuels misinformation.

“If you do have any concerns or spot anything suspicious, including on CCTV, video doorbell or dashcam, please refrain from posting on social media and contact police immediately in the first instance. Do not hesitate to report any suspicious activity – the sooner you report it, the sooner we can assist."

Please call 101 or report information at: 

https://www.cheshire.police.uk/ro/report/ 

In an emergency always call 999.