Safer Streets: Increased police patrols in over 500 towns to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour - including Dewsbury and Cleckheaton

Shoppers and businesses in the towns will see increased police patrols and local action to tackle town centre crime this summer after the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, launched a major blitz to support safer high streets.

The blitz – which will see officers in town centres during peak times - has been welcomed by Kim Leadbeater, Labour MP for Spen Valley, after Cleckheaton, along with Dewsbury, signed up to the Safer Streets summer crackdown.

Increased police presence will be accompanied by stronger prevention and enforcement action by police, councils and other local partners.

Five additional PCSOs will be spread over Cleckheaton and Dewsbury town centres. They will have the missions of increased visibility for the police and tackling anti-social behaviour.

Kim said: “The Conservatives decimated neighbourhood policing whilst crimes like shoplifting and street theft were spiralling out of control. Towns like ours have paid the price.

“I welcome this crackdown, which will make a real difference to Cleckheaton. We all deserve town centres and high streets free from thugs and thieves.

“As part of this Government’s Plan for Change, we are putting 13,000 new neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs back on the streets by the end of the Parliament.”

The officers will work on targeted policing as well as community outreach to emphasise that ASB will neither be tolerated nor go unpunished. Another key element to the strategy is an increase in patrols to keep the streets and towns safe.

Police and Crime Commissioners have developed bespoke local action plans with police, businesses, and councils with the aim of supporting town centres to become vibrant places where people want to live, work, and 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.

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.

“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”.

The summer initiative will also support young people, making sure there are activities for them to be involved in throughout the holidays.

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.