Exeter is expanding and making permanent its community safety team (CST). A report to a meeting of the city council on January 13 stressed that ‘the CST is there to address low level activity and to support the police in gathering evidence’. A budget of ยฃ335,390 has been agreed and eight new roles will be created โ a Community Safety Partnership Manager, a Community Safety Team Supervisor (to cover sickness, holidays and training, so officers are not lone working) and six Community Safety Team officers.
The team, as featured in the March 2025 edition of Professional Security Magazine, has been operating since July 2024 to undertake visible foot patrols across the city centre. As the report told councillors, the uniformed officers ‘actively engage with members of the public and the business community to address persistent ASB’. They number four: two officers moved from Car Parking to CST, on a secondment until March 2026. Their Civil Enforcement Officer roles in car parking, included ASB within car parks, picking up stray dogs (which they still do), issuing notices on encampments across the wider city; as well as undertaking patrols to check customers had paid for their parking. Two other officers have been recruited through an agency, with a temporary contract until March.
The CST wear overt Body Worn Video Cameras to gather evidence for any ASB activity they encounter. If the officers encounter ASB, this is called into the city council’s control room, so that CCTV cameras can be focused on the location. Devon & Cornwall Police are called if ASB escalates and if illegal activity is encountered. CST officers patrol ‘hotspot areas’ for a total of 90 minutes each day; and wear police issue trackers to ensure they are patrolling in the targeted areas.
Some 496 dispersal notices have been issued since October 2024 within the PSPO area, ranging from six to 24 hours; typically for bad behaviour (also shouting and swearing).
The team started with money from the local business improvement district (BID) InExeter and the Police and Crime Commissioner; however PCCs are nationally being abolished in 2028. For the first nine months of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, recorded crime in the city centre reduced by 9.7 per cent. Geographically, the added numbers means CST officers will patrol parks and open spaces and neighbourhood shopping precincts; as asked for by residents when surveyed. Among the reasons for the expansion, the report points to the Labour Government’s ‘Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee’.
CSAS
During 2025, the CST as well as Exeter City Council were accredited for the city centre under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS), as managed by Devon & Cornwall Police. The CST officers being CSAS accredited have the power to require name and address for a case of anti-social behaviour, or where they intend to issue a fine, such as under the city’s Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) covering the city centre and St Thomas.
Laura Wright, Deputy Leader and Lead Councillor for Community Safety and the City Centre, said: “Exeter is a very safe and welcoming city, but people often highlight anti-social behaviour as a concern, and this is something we take very seriously. Weโve listened to the concerns of residents and local businesses and are acting on them.
โThe council and its partners InExeter and the Exeter policing team have instigated important and effective projects to improve how people feel about safety in the city. These include our city councilโs actions to increase the number of CCTV cameras and staffing within the control room, continuing the use of our Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) and introducing the yellow Need Help? signs.”
Photo by Mark Rowe: Exeter city centre.
