Safety and security are the key messages for shoppers to Woking town centre in the lead up to Christmas and a passive drugs initiative started the 2008 campaign to keep the townโs shopping areas an environment to enjoy.
On Saturday,13 December officers from the Safer Neighbourhood team were outside the railway station with drug detection dogs screening people who were coming off trains into the town centre.
As a result there were 10 stop and searches with four seizures of Class C drugs. Four young adults subsequently received a caution. Neighbourhood Sergeant Chris Smith said the action had been positively received with numerous members of the public saying how the action made them feel secure.
The proactive initiative also saw the neighbourhood team providing crime prevention advice and anti-purse theft lanyards to visitors to help keep the items secured safely.
Officers will be regularly patrolling the busiest shopping sites, including The Peacocks, Wolsey Walk and Commercial Way. The reassurance tasking covers the whole of the Christmas period and will continue for the following couple of weeks to include shopping hours between 10am and 6pm and late night shopping events.
The aim of the preventative cover is to provide high visibility patrols in a period where research shows that the town centre experiences an increase in reported crime across the Christmas and New Year periods. Woking Sergeant Chris Smith explained: โThis plan is aimed at providing reassurance for the public as the really busy pre-Christmas revelry gets under way. We shall be acting as a deterrent for any would-be shoplifters and will be able to deal with minor offences as they happen. Another priority is to ensure that anti-social behaviour and any alcohol related issues are stamped out as soon as possible.
โSurrey police wants residents and visitors to Woking to enjoy shopping in a peaceful, friendly environment and will continue to tackle anti-social behaviour.โ
