Shoppers and businesses in Barrow and Ulverston will see increased police patrols and local action to tackle town centre crime this summer, as the Home Secretary launches a major blitz to support safer high streets.
The blitz – which will see officers in town centres during peak times – has today been welcomed by Michelle Scrogham MP for Barrow and Furness.
More than 500 towns have signed up to the Safer Streets summer crackdown. In Barrow and Furness that will include Ulverston and Barrow.
The towns will see increased police patrols and local action to tackle anti-social behaviour. Increased police presence will be accompanied by stronger prevention and enforcement action by police, councils, and other local partners.
Under the previous government, shoplifting soared to record levels, with a staggering 70% increase in their last two years in office alone. The final year of the Conservative Government alone included a 11% rise in shoplifting in Cumbria, with a 20% rise nationally. The last decade has also seen neighbourhood policing decimated. The number of PCSOs was slashed by half, while Special Constable numbers were cut by two-thirds.
Local Police and Crime Commissioner, David Allen, has developed a bespoke local action plan with police, businesses, and local councils with the aim of supporting town centres to become vibrant places where people want to live, work, spend time. These plans include increased visible town centre policing and ramping up the use of targeted enforcement powers against troublemakers – including banning perpetrators from hotspots.
The blitz comes as part of the Labour Government’s commitment to put 13,000 more police personnel in neighbourhood roles, backed by a £200m cash injection in the first year. In Cumbria that has meant an additional £1.68 million in government funding, to allow local police to nearly double the number of our neighbourhood policing teams across the county – with 26 Additional Police Officers, 12 Additional PCSOs, and 8 Additional Special Constables.
The summer initiative will also support young people, making sure there are activities across the 500 towns for young people to be involved in throughout the holidays.
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.
“It’s time to turn this round, that’s why I have called on police forces and councils 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 Barrow and Ulverston have signed up shows the strength of feeling locally 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”.
Michelle Scrogham MP, said:
“Working alongside our Labour Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, David Allen, and the Labour Government we are delivering on the commitment I made to local people to restore neighbourhood policing.
“The announcement today that Ulverston and Barrow will be part of this safer streets summer blitz is part of the wider work being done to address the anti-social behaviour that had been allowed to get out of hand over the last 10 years.
“This is the start of turning around the choices over the last decade to downgrade community policing with neighbourhood officers pulled off the beat to plug shortages elsewhere.”
The Home Office, alongside police, retailers and industry are also launching a new Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy, which will use shared data to assist in disrupting not just organised criminal gangs, but all types of perpetrators including prolific offenders who are stealing to fund an addiction and ‘opportunist’ offenders.
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