Minister for Policing: "No one should go to work fearful they'll be attacked"

Home Office Minister Dame Diana Johnson visited Woking town centre to shadow a neighbourhood policing operation, to see how the force is tackling anti-social behaviour and street crime.

This comes as today (Wednesday 13 August), the Home Office launches its new 'Safer Streets Summer Initiative’, focusing on protecting town centres from street crime and anti-social behaviour.

Over 500 town centres across the country are set to receive increased police patrols in an attempt to crack down on crime and antisocial behaviour during the summer months, when this activity often sees an increase.

Over recent years street crime has sky-rocketed, with theft from the person more than doubling between December 2022-2024, and there has been record levels of shop theft, up by more than 60%, with offenders increasingly using violence and abuse against shopworkers.

The Home Office says the aim of the new campaign is to "support town centres to be vibrant places where people want to live, work and spend time, and restore faith in community policing after years of declining police officer presence on Britain's streets."

Plans include increased visible town centre policing and ramping up the use of targeted enforcement powers against troublemakers, including banning perpetrators from hotspots.  

"People told me they do not see bobbies on the beat in the way that they used to"

Minister for Policing Dianna Johnson told us she noticed people talking about a lack of a police presence

"People told me they do not see bobbies on the beat in the way that they used to, people just do not feel that there is a police presence, so that's why it's so important that that high street, that town centre, there is a very visible police presence."

"No one should go to work fearful of being attacked."

Another part of the plans is for every neighbourhood in England and Wales to have a named contactable officer, with their neighbourhood team details online.

Johnson says the idea could be that members of the public could get to know their local officer in the same way they know their postman.

"I'm confident that with that constant presence within our communities, people will get to know that it's Fred, or Joe, or Sally who is their PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) or their police officer".

"It would make a big difference if I knew there was a police presence outside"

During the operation, Johnson and the police force visited a JD sports, who says they had had multiple issues with assault and shoplifting.

A worker, who didn't wish to be named, says she was confident that the added police presence would help lower these incidents.

"I think it would probably make a big difference, I mean for me, I don't think that I would want to risk stealing something if I knew there was a police presence outside a shop, so I think that it will hopefully make a big difference".

The initiative has been called phase one of Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee for more town centres patrols by the Home Office.

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