Hotspot policing will be rolled out as 'business as usual' thanks to £1m funding boost

Police say it will be more effective in tackling serious violence and antisocial behaviour

Crime 'hotspots' across Devon and Cornwall are set to benefit from a ramping up of visible policing.

Members of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel were given a presentation this week which highlighted plans to tackle violence and antisocial behaviour, using a £1m granted to the force by the Home Office and topped up by the Crime Commissioner, Alison Hernandez to the tune of £200,000.

The scheme will see additional police patrols for 15 minutes once every three days in specific areas of Devon and Cornwall plagued by these kinds of criminality. The panel were told the money for the 'hotspot policing' has mainly gone on overtime payments.

A six-month progress report for the Crime Panel on Friday [October 4] revealed that officers attended 369 antisocial behaviour 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 was just a case of "being in the right place at the right time".

The panel heard how technology helped police map out areas where patrols were best focused, with officers being tracked to make them more effective.

Chief Insp Tim Evans, who is leading the project, told the panel during the presentation at Plymouth's Civic Centre, the highly-visible patrols and 'enhanced problem solving' could be delivered as "business as usual" from next April when the trial ends.

He said: "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 antisocial behaviour, 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."

Chief Insp Evans said the issue of displacement had been raised, but said the evidence revealed this did not happen as much as people thought and the methodology used also effected crime "around the edges". He added: "People may come to an area thinking they're going to commit a crime but after they get used to seeing police out on the street or street marshals out on the street they're deterred then from coming and deterred from committing a crime at all."

The panel heard that police 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 police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez. Councils also contribute, although panel members raised concerns that local 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 antisocial has reduced by 30 percent.

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

Click here to join PlymouthLive on WhatsApp and we'll send breaking news and top stories directly to your phone. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.