Anti-social behaviour

We have set ASB as a priority for the city centre teams for the last few months as a result of feedback from local meetings, conversations with businesses and members of the public. We continue to have regular meetings to update on progress. As the warmer weather sets in, we know this can be challenging as more people move their activity outdoors. Based on current information and reports from the public our key patrol areas this month remain as Queens Square, St Peter's Gardens and Dudley Street. We are in regular contact with the ASB Team to offer support and reduce the incidents of behaviours that make people feel unsafe when they come into the city. There are civil powers we are able to use to help if the offer of pathways of support are not effective. Last week we issued 8 community protection warnings and notices to people acting anti-socially in and around Dudley Street. We have also worked with colleagues in Trading Standards focusing on city centre shops and rogue trading.

Uniformed officers from the city centre teams are busy responding to calls and investigating crimes - over the last two weeks we have arrested people for theft from motor vehicle, shoplifting, assault and exposure (to name a few offences). Officers are progressing investigations into a range of crimes, assisting CID with their enquiries and interviewing suspects

We know we have key locations within the city where anti-social behaviour is more likely to occur. Our incident logs provide data to direct our patrols so we are in the right places at the right time. A Public Space Protection Order has been granted for the city centre to provide a long term approach to reducing incidents of anti-social behaviour that is committed by groups of people. Residents, visitors and businesses can enjoy a safer space without fear of confrontation.

Report anti-social behaviour so we are aware and can target our patrols. We are aware the locations can change where anti-social behaviour happens and this can depend on the time of year.

A safe city centre - summer Safer Streets

This summer we see the summer Safer Streets campaign underway in Wolverhampton City centre and Bilston Town centre. This activity is focused around driving down retail crime, street crime and dealing positively when issues occur that make town centres feel less safe. This works fits in closely with our priority of ASB. This is an overarching priority for the city centre officers where we look to make the city feel a safe place to live, work and visit. We will share good news stories via our social media platforms and update on this platform.

Whilst we will always have priorities in policing - such as responding to emergency calls as quickly as possible, investigating crimes effectively and reducing public place violence (a few examples) and the city teams deal with a range of incidents and issues encountered by members of the public.

Our aim is to make the city feel safe - this can differ from the amount of crime that is reported to us.

Staff are out on foot and in vehicles, working alongside our response teams and a range of partners. We coordinate our approach so we can try and solve problems and reduce crime and disorder.

Theft of motor vehicle

We have continued to see vehicles being stolen from some city centre car parks. We are focusing our patrols on those areas and work with other policing teams to disrupt this activity.

Officers complete dedicated patrols at certain times of the day at hot spot locations - whilst these areas are targeted as part of our violence reduction activity, yesterday we arrested as male for theft from motor vehicle whilst patrolling in a hot spot. The male has since been charged with two offences and will appear before the court tomorrow.

We know it is key we focus on good investigations and catching those responsible for crimes but we also also ask for vigilance to reduce eye catching items that are sometimes left on show in a car. Some offenders will break into a vehicle for small change, items of clothing etc and the disruption and cost of repairing your car can overshadow the value of the items.