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Police and Council Chiefs join to introduce new team

A new team of officers lead by Sergeant Paul Hudson have been concentrating on Crime and Disorder in St Helens Town Centre. In a joint initiative between the police and St Helens Council the team have been identified to tackle the issues that matter to the community most.

In a survey of people that live, work and visit the town centre we learnt what those policing priorities are.These include:

Tackling drinkers and drug users causing disorder on the streets
Personal Safety whilst in the Town Centre
Gangs of youths causing anti -social behaviour

The following sets out what the team intend to achieve:

To adopt a zero tolerance approach to tackling Crime & Disorder including - street drinking, drug activity, truancy and street trading offences within St Helens daytime economy under the 'Total War on Crime' heading of our Total Policing philosophy.

To send a clear message to those who choose to commit Crime and Disorder that their actions will not be tolerated

To identify, target and arrest those individuals and groups responsible for Crime & Disorder and anti -social behaviour within the Town Centre.

To gather community intelligence and evidence to ensure a partnership approach can be taken toward anti- social behaviour interventions such as Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and Anti- Social Behaviour Orders.

To enhance the feelings of safety & reassure visitors to the Town Centre thereby enhancing the image of the town as a place to live, work and visit

To improve confidence amongst retailers and business owners within the Town Centre.

To work effectively with partners such as trading standards, and community services of the Local Authority to tackle issues through planned operations in respect of street traders.

To target harden locations and vulnerable persons within the Town Centre by delivering crime prevention messages and security devices.

Results So Far..

• 91 arrests have been made for a variety of offences
• 417 persons have been stopped or stopped and searched
• 52 units of alcohol have been seized from street drinkers
• 29 persons have been directed to leave the Town Centre (using new legislation from the Violent Crime Reduction Act )
• 4 further arrests have been made for persons breaching these directions
• 2 formal warnings given for possession of cannabis
• 24 fixed penalty notices for cycling in the pedestrian area

Operational activity has also been conducted with the Education Welfare Officers to address truancy, Trading Standards and the Department of Work and Pensions to tackle illegal Street Trading.

Councillor Teresa Sims executive member for Safer Communities said " In recent years there have been significant reductions in most crime types, this operation is building on that success and complements the weekend operations at night time. This high visibility initiative also aims to reassure Town Centre visitors that St Helens is a safe place while promoting confidence within the business and retail sectors too."

Sgt Paul Hudson added " Through this operation we want to send a clear message to those involved in crime and anti-social behaviour that it will not be tolerated. We will be using all powers available to us to target these individuals and improve the quality of life for people who live, work and visit St Helens Town Centre."