Police in Levenmouth ramp up protection for the vulnerable with new campaign

The ‘Signposting to Safety’ campaign, which launches this month, aims to identify and help residents who might be subject to fraud and theft through national scams or local criminals.

In February, members of the Levenmouth community - shocked by the murder of Leven pensioner Mary Logie (82) and other recent incidents, including an 81-year-old woman being robbed of her handbag – called on local representatives to improve safety in the area.

Chief inspector Adrian Annandale, Levenmouth area commander, announced the campaign, which will involve input from Fife Council to identify vulnerable people, to the Levenmouth Area Committee last week.

At the meeting, Cllr Ally Hunter said: “I know of an attempted fraud on a Leven woman in which a person posed as a Fife Council agent.

“She suffered terrible health consequences - is that something we are dealing with from a criminal perspective?”

Chief Insp Annandale said he believed that case was an isolated incident, but vulnerable people were being targeted by professional gangs .

“To deal with a national scam we can’t just deal wth it at a local level and send out a local officer.”

Information was collated by the national fraud squad and shared internationally.

He added: “National crime does not stop so we have to continually throw the message out there.”