Crime in aycliffe north and middridge, county durham

Off-road bikes remain a nuisance in most towns, including Newton Aycliffe. A massive part in assisting us in seizing off-road bikes being used in an anti-social manner is reports from the public.

Over the course of 2026 calls from local residents have been a fantastic assistance in the team seizing several off-road quad/pit bike which have been causing a nuisance to our residents.

Officers from the Neighbourhood Team and response regularly carry out high-visibility patrols, and also on our e-bikes and have conducted a successful amount of stop searches recently.

We pay attention to hotspot locations at all hours of the day and will continue to do so. Most recently the team have had a positive result, whereby whilst utilising our drone, we have followed an off-road bike being ridden illegally by a youth, and have successfully seized the bike and reported the rider for multiple driving offences.

The Neighbourhood Team have ownership of all shoplifting offences within the locality and as such use a blend of both overt patrols to deter and offending and also plain clothed patrols to catch perpetrators in the act.

Through our excellent links with the town centre security and local businesses, we seek to apprehend suspects as soon as possible after any incident to ensure the recovery of stolen property, positive action through arrest and charging of suspects and upholding the confidence of local businesses.

A vital part of this work is via us attending the local Shopwatch meeting, gathering intelligence from our shopkeepers, and sharing any necessary information with them.

In addition to this, we work alongside the Courts and the Probation service to deter future offending through the use of Civil Orders which provide us with additional powers to remove persons from an area based on previous offending history.

The team are regularly out and about in the town centre, and also other places which have been identified as shoplifting hotspots, and will continue to do so.

We see first-hand the impact of illegal drugs within our community and how it links with the exploitation of those who are most vulnerable.

The team have a zero-tolerance stance on the supply of controlled drugs and since July 2025 have made multiple arrests for the offence of possession with intent to supply.

This has led to taking drugs off the streets, disrupting the drug supply line, placing supportive intervention measures to help users navigate away from using drugs and reduce drug related crimes such as shoplifting and other acquisitive crime.

This is and will always continue to be a priority for the team moving forward.

With the help of community intelligence and working with our colleagues regionally, we have delivered several strike days whereby warrants have been executed with excellent results.