PCC welcomes sweeping reduction in ASB thanks to ‘hotspot’ patrols

Police and Crime Commissioner Nicolle Ndiweni-Roberts has praised the success of targeted enforcement patrols to reduce anti-social behaviour after new figures revealed incidents had fallen 20% in 12 months.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) has fallen across all 20 ‘hotspot' locations of the county since the force and its safety partners rolled out extra enforcement patrols as part of a pilot last July.

The initiative has delivered an extra 6,512 patrols across the 20 communities since launching. These have seen overall ASB incidents across the areas fall by 20%. Additionally, 99% of the engagement activity undertaken by patrol officers has been positive.

In August, the last month for which figures are available, the rate of ASB fell by a further 2% which is impressive given ASB incidents typically spike in the summer months. During the same month, hotspot patrols resulted in 11 arrests, eight stop searches, 160 dispersals, 51 crime/incident reports and 69 intelligence items.

The Immediate Justice scheme which runs alongside the pilot to ensure perpetrators receive swift justice and pay back the communities where they offend has received 657 referrals since launching in July 2023.

Remarkably, 79% of the individuals referred did not reoffend after completing their community reparation activities.

In July, the force rolled out Visibeat - a digital tracking tool enabling the force to monitor the live location of officers and their activities to improve efficiency and gather data. The tool, which is now available countywide, has received excellent feedback from officers.

Nicolle Ndiweni-Roberts said: "Anti-social behaviour stood out as a top concern in my recent consultation and is raised consistently by residents during my engagement visits wherever I go across the county. ASB must never be treated as a low-level problem; it can have a devasting impact on people's lives and mental wellbeing.

"These results show that extra patrol hours, increased visibility and partnership working really can make a difference to incident levels and I hope that the communities affected are reassured that everyone is working hard to address their concerns.

"Any reduction in ASB is to be welcomed, but there is much more work needed to support our communities and I will be setting out how we can achieve this by working together in my forthcoming Police and Crime Plan."

Since the project launched, officers and partners have carried out 38,678 engagements. These range from collecting intelligence to advising and moving on individuals and responding to suspicious activity.

Shopkeepers and other retailers and businesses have been particularly positive about the scheme and have praised the patrols and increased visibility across the hotspot areas.