REPORTS of anti-social behaviour have increased substantially during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report submitted to Peebles Community Council.

Although overall crime has fallen, anti-social behaviour complaints have “quadrupled”.

However, this is said to be down to people reporting alleged breaches of the COVID regulations.

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Addressing the police report at a meeting of Peebles Community Council, Malcolm Bruce said: “A couple of things that jumped out of the information this month for me is the overall statistics page.

“We appear to have a generally downward trend in crime reported, which I think is something to be welcomed in our community.

“We should be congratulating the police because they presumably play a small part in driving those statistics down."

He added: “Counter to that, is the huge figure for anti-social behaviour. Whilst everything is generally in double digits, anti-social behaviour is in the thousands.”

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Mr Bruce said he spoke with police sergeant Stephen Granger regarding the statistics.

He added: “That particular figure included, during the worst of COVID, many calls from the public in relation to alleged breaches of the COVID protocols.

“However, Sergeant Granger is keen to point out that as we gradually ease ourselves away from the more onerous COVID restrictions, he would fully anticipate seeing that figure showing a steady decline.

“On the face of it, it looks like a horrible statistic.

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“I think it’s somewhere around 3,000 anti-social behaviour reports, but that doesn’t in any way reflect what we discuss around this table as anti-social behaviour,” said Mr Bruce.

The community council was also warned that policing in the community will be impacted by the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

Mr Bruce explained: “The conference is going to have an impact on our policing services. Whilst they are not sending all our police resources from the Borders to Glasgow, they are despatching a significant number. People to be mindful it may take a while longer for the police to respond to incidents.”