The authorities have promised a summer of ‘blitz‘ policing of high streets and town centres, under Labour’s Safer Streets scheme. A summer initiative is running from June 30 to September.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “High streets and town centres are the very heart of our communities. Residents and businesses have the right to feel safe in their towns. But the last government left a surge in shop theft, street crime and anti-social behaviour which has left too many town centres feeling abandoned. Itโs time to turn this round, thatโs why I have called on police forces and councils alike to work together to deliver a summer blitz on town centre crime to send a clear message to those people who bring misery to our towns that their crimes will no longer go unpunished.
“The fact that 500 towns have signed up shows the strength of feeling on this issue. Through our Safer Streets Mission and Plan for Change, we are putting officers back on the beat where you can see them and making our town centres safe again.”
The launch event, by the Home Office and the English Football League was at Derby County Football Club, which reflected the official stress on professional football clubs offering coaching and other sessions to divert young people from mischief over the summer holidays, a common problem for retail security and town centres generally.
The Home Office, police, retailers and industry meanwhile have launched a new, 12-page Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy – see the document on the police’s National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) website. Supt Lisa Maslen, the new head of the NBCC, described the strategy as ‘about strengthening the vital partnerships between policing and the retail sector to deliver meaningful action’. She said the NBCC received ยฃ2m from the Home Office to support police and partners in tackling retail crime; some of the funding has gone to develop a first national campaign to highlight the amount of work being done to respond to, prevent and detect retail crime offences across the country.
She added: “There will also be increased collaborative community led interventions across sectors such as schemes to keep kids out of trouble during the summer holidays and targeted prevention activity with businesses, to not only tackle crime but prevent crime and anti-social behaviour happening in the first place.”
PCC view
People have a right to feel safe and shop workers shouldnโt have to defend their stores against regular and organised theft, putting themselves at risk of violence, said chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Labour PCC for Merseyside, Emily Spurrell. She said: “โWith our local police forces and other partners in support of the Safer Streets Summer initiative, PCCs and Deputy Mayors will be working harder than ever to target criminal and anti-social behaviour so that people feel safe and have pride in where they live and work. We are determined to deliver real and demonstrable change so that communities and town centres can thrive and prosper.โ
Comment
At the Association of Convenience Stores, ACS chief executive James Lowman while welcoming the Home Secretary’s Safer Streets ‘blitz’, pointed to the need for tackling illicit trading of cigarettes on high streets. He said: โMaking our streets and parades safer isnโt just about police presence, itโs also about ensuring that illegal selling from rogue traders is stamped out through robust enforcement. Responsible retailers are fed up with losing business to these criminals and feel powerless to stop them, which is why we need to give Trading Standards the resources they need to go in and shut down illicit traders.
โWhen someone breaks the law they should face the consequences. For too often, criminal activity that hurts local shops has gone broadly unpunished. Thereโs no point introducing new laws if the ones we have already arenโt being enforced.โ
More in the August edition of Professional Security Magazine.
