Milton Keynes North MP Ben Everitt has welcomed the news Thames Valley Police is set to receive a £1.69 million boost from the Conservative Government to help tackle anti-social behaviour
The funding will help the force to ramp up patrols to tackle violence and disorder, targeted in areas with high levels of anti-social behaviour. This approach has already been piloted in 10 areas, with over 80,000 hours of patrols in the six months since it launched. This has led to nearly 600 arrests, close to 1,500 stop and searches and around 700 uses of anti-social behaviour powers such as community protection notices and public protection orders.
The hotspot approach has helped cut anti-social behaviour by over 40 per cent in Brunswick, in Lancashire according to data from the police and crime commissioner. While in Essex, the police have reported that incidents of anti-social behaviour in Southend have almost halved in the last 12 months with hotspots in specific areas in the city playing a key role in this.
In a further bid to tackle illicit drug crimes, the government has also set an ambitious new target to smash another 1,000 county lines by August. This will bring the total number of county lines dismantled to over 3,000 since the drug strategy launched in April 2022, with the government already reaching its initial target to shut down 2,000 lines by 2025 well ahead of schedule. This has included arresting and charging hundreds of dangerous criminals who controlled these lines.
Ben Everitt, the MP for Milton Keynes North, said: "From regularly knocking on doors and speaking to local people I understand just how important an issue tackling anti-social behaviour is across Milton Keynes so I'm delighted hotspot policing for anti-social behaviour is being rolled out with significant funding across Thames Valley Police.
"I've worked closely with Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber on cracking down on crime in Milton Keynes, including issues in the Great Linford area, and will continue to do so as feeling safe where you live, work and play is an absolute priority for me."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "Anti-social behaviour destroys communities and takes away the public’s right to feel safe in the place they call home.
"Our plan to cut crime on our streets is working, with neighbourhood crime, including robbery and theft, almost halved, and we must stick with it.
"We will not stop until every person, no matter where they live, can feel safe and proud of their community. That is why we are investing in every police force in England and Wales so they can tackle violence and disorder head on."
This announcement is the latest step in the government’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, launched by the Prime Minister last year, setting out a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of anti-social behaviour.
To date, the government has:
- increased the use of drug testing on arrest, enabling police to test for a wider range of class A drugs like ecstasy and methamphetamine
- upped on-the-spot fines to £1,000 for fly-tipping and £500 for littering or graffiti
- banned nitrous oxide to stop local parks and amenities from becoming dumping grounds for empty cannisters and sites for loitering and drug use
This builds on action already taken by the government to make sure police and local authorities have the tools they need to tackle anti-social behaviour and crime which can strike at the heart of local communities, with research showing that 50 per cent of crime is carried out in just 5 per cent of areas on average.
Through the Criminal Justice Bill police and local authority powers will be strengthened to tackle anti-social behaviour including new powers to quickly close premises which are being used, or likely to be used, to commit nuisance or disorder.
The roll out of the hotspot model across England and Wales also follows the success of the government’s Grip funding which was provided to 20 forces with areas suffering from high levels of violence. This supported intelligence led patrols to target specific areas and tackle violent crime. In the areas and times where Grip patrols were active, we have seen a 7% reduction in violence and robbery offences.
