The World Cup and Anti Social Behaviour campaign

Well, it is World Cup time, and that means extra duties for us. There is a whole operation around policing the World Cup, with specific patrols on the days that England play. That will be particularly interesting for Friday night, which gets busy with the Violent Crime Strategy anyway. If the weather stays fine, that will mean even more people out and about. So while we hope England go all the way, it does cause us extra work.

As mentioned last week, you may be aware of the Chief Constables Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) campaign. It was run last year, and reported ASB went down about 17% across Hampshire. Fortunately we do not suffer too much from ASB during the summer. I think that is mainly due to the work that has gone on in the past, and still going on, providing activities for youngsters after school and during the holidays. This will include the Summer Activity programme we do with Saints in the Community. The scheme caters for kids 5-15yrs of age, with activities Monday to Thursday from 10am to 3pm at St Marys School playing field. Last year we had 200 children registered, so we are hoping for the same or even more this year. A variety of agencies are involved on top of Saints and the Police. We have Catch 22, Hampshire FA, Solent University and others. On top of that the youth clubs will be open as usual, which provides activities after 3pm. We are getting along further with the planning for the Tag Rugby project with Hampshire RFU on Thursday evenings at St Marys School from 5-6pm.

Regarding the ASB campaign, we will be supported by a host of police staff and ‘office wallers’ who will don their uniform and come out to assist with our activities. Alternatively, we will be holding more of the gazebo events in Hoglands Park, to advise youngsters about crime safety and security mark bikes and phones. There are also ASB operations with the Roads Policing Unit tackling nuisance drivers and vehicles, where often my officers will assist. So all in all it will be a busy time.

During the last week we have held a couple of operations at Itchen Bridge regarding cyclists riding on the pavement. Bitterne police did their end and we have done our end. The first few operations were warning people, and that seems to have made a difference. From warning over 25 people on the first day, it reduced to about 12 the following operation, and when we decided to ticket on the third operation, there were only 2 tickets issued. We will continue to these operations at irregular intervals. The anti social behaviour at Princes Court in Northam has reduced a bit although there was a party there again last weekend. We have had a joint visit with the council to warn the tenant that their tenancy is in jeopardy, so hopefully that will do the trick. .PC Dave Houghton has cracked the 90 mark for the number of tickets issued to offenders at the Prince of Wales junction – he is aiming for well over the ton for the rolling 12 months.

That is about it for now, more next week

Cheers

Dick