More hotspot policing to be rolled out next year

It will be more effctive in tackling serious violence and ASB

A scheme to ramp up the visibility of police in Devon and Cornwall’s crime hotspots will be rolled out next year.

Patrols to tackle violence and anti-social behaviour (ASB) will be conducted for 15 minutes once every three days in known problem areas. The £1 million cost of the ‘hotspot policing’ trial is being paid for by the home office.

The money has mainly gone on overtime.

A six-month progress report for the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel revealed that officers attended 369 ASB incidents and made 107 arrests in the 13 areas including parts of Plymouth, Torquay, Exeter and Barnstaple.

There had been 146 stop and searches, 85 safeguarding referrals, 24,000 engagements with the public, 6,000 premises visits and 35 public engagement events.

The panel was told in future neighbourhood teams could carry’ hotspot policing’ in their normal hours as it is just a case of “being in the right place at the right time”.

Technology maps areas to identify where patrols are best focused and officers are tracked so that they can be effective.

Chief inspector Tim Evans who is leading the project said the highly visible patrols and ‘enhanced problem solving’ could be delivered as “business as usual” from next April when the trial ends.

“There is a bank of evidence, both nationally and internationally, to show that this works … for us the methodology will be used to drive down serious violence and ASB, but in other places it is used to drive down drug dealing.

“By putting a patrol into an area once every three days for roughly 15 minutes, walking all over an area and being seen by members of the public, you deter crime.

“Fifteen minutes doesn’t seem very long, but evidence suggests that is the amount of time you need to be present for most people in that geographical area to see you.

“It seems like an easy process, foot patrol in its basic form, but there is a finesse to it. We will use crime data and mapping and into next year we can share this with other towns across our geography, this will become business as usual in Devon and Cornwall then.”

Patrols have been carried out in Exeter (Sidwell Street, South Street/cathedral), Plymouth (Barbican and The Hoe, city centre), Torquay (Castle Circus, waterfront and Torre, Truro (Boscawen), Newquay (beach and centre) and Barnstaple (town centre).

These areas have also had street marshals, along with Bideford, Exmouth, Newton Abbot, Paignton, Penzance, Camborne and St Austell, which have been subsidised with £200,000 from the police and crime commissioner.  Councils also contribute, although panel members raised concerns that ocal authorities would struggle to continue paying for them.

Street marshals, who are employed by security companies, have a different role from the police and can deal with medical situations. They have proved effective in places like Barnstaple where ASB has reduced by 30 per cent.

The meeting was told that Devon and Cornwall has 700 new police officers, resulting in more arrests. That in turn has led to a backlog in cases getting to court.