Speeding offences recorded in south Highland area up almost threefold according to police report
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A police report shows a dramatic increase in speeding offences and shoplifting recorded in the command area including Nairnshire.
Speeding offences detected went from about 350 in the period between April 2022 and November 2023 to almost 920 in the same period in 2023/2024.
The report, which was presented by Chief Inspector Ross McCartney at last week's Highland Council Nairnshire area committee, also reported a jump in detections of people driving carelessly (225 last year compared to 185 in 2022/2023) and mobile phone offences (58 compared to 28 in the previous year).
However these figures for the South Highland Area Command (which includes Lochaber, Skye and Lochalsh, Badenoch, Strathspey and Nairn) were indicative of an increase in police checks according to CI McCartney.
He said: "The significant increase in speeding offences compared to the previous year – I put it solely down to the fact that we are out there.
"We are working closely with the safety camera partnership and our colleagues with road policing units across the Highlands."
He noted the role of operation CEDAR (Challenge, Educate, Detect and Reduce), which involves proactive multi-agency enforcement operations on the roads, in the higher figures of offences detected.
According to the report, cases involving using a motor vehicle without test certificate and driving without a licence have significantly reduced (173 from 231 and 25 from 35).
The full report is available on the Highland Council's website. It also showed a rise in assaults detected – 426 offences detected in total from 365 the previous year, ranging from serious assault to common assault.
Shoplifting was also reported as a crime on the rise – 157 offences were reported in the past year, well over double the previous period of 60.
CI McCartney said that the Co-op in Nairn had raised concerns over the increase in cases and their general manager had met with a police representative to see how to try and tackle the issue.
