Every police force in England and Wales will have a dedicated officer to clamp down on the scourge of antisocial behaviour. These new officers will work with local people and businesses to develop action plans to stop louts causing chaos.
This comes amid efforts to boost neighbourhood officers by 13,000 by 2029 to “turn the tide of rising criminality”. More than one million complaints of antisocial behaviour were reported in England and Wales last year.
The latest promise to restore “bobbies to the beat” arrives on the heels of statistics showing a stark decline in people seeing police in their local area. The proportion of people who report seeing officers or PCSOs at least a week fell from 27% in 2015-16 to 12% in 2023-24. The share of the population in England and Wales who say they never see such police went up from 34% to 54% in 2023/24.
The Home Office says PCSO numbers have gone down by 56% since March 2010.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Everybody should be able to feel safe in their own community, but the decline of neighbourhood policing in recent years has allowed criminals and thugs to get away with causing havoc and undermining the sense of security on too many streets. That’s why we are restoring bobbies to the beat and rebuilding the relationship between the police and local communities around the crimes that matter to residents most.
“Forces will need to work with communities on new antisocial behaviour plans – making the most of the forthcoming new powers on off-road bikes or Respect Orders to keep communities safe.”
Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of the UKHospitality trade body, said: “It cannot be overstated how important it is for businesses and communities to feel confident in their own safety on the streets, and knowing their neighbourhood police officers engenders that confidence. Utilising local knowledge and relationships is critical to providing safe high streets.
“Hospitality and our high streets are critical for driving economic growth and regenerating our towns and cities, and we want them to be thriving hubs of activity.”
Matt Hood, the managing director of Co-op, said: “Creating healthy, safer high streets within resilient and durable communities is absolutely essential. We have effective partnerships with local police in several communities across the UK and we see first-hand the benefits of working together to target high impact offenders.
“At Co-op we have recently seen an encouraging improvement in police response and attendance, however the offenders keep coming and as retailers we do all we can to prevent crime in our shops but along with our communities, we need this support from the police to make it count.”
