Town centre’s fight against crime heralded
Great Yarmouth’s teamwork in fighting town centre crime was held up as an example to the rest of the country this week.
Town centre manager Jonathan Newman told a national conference of the partnership approach to ridding the town's shopping centre of crime – and make it better for traders and visitors.
He was at the British Retail Consortium annual conference to put the spotlight on Yarmouth's unique crime reduction partnership.
Mr Newman said that all various elements had been brought together under one roof. One of the things that has been vastly reduced was street drinking, because people could no longer sit around undisturbed. As well as clamping down on criminal behaviour, they were discouraging everything that went with it, like vandalism and graffiti.
The system worked well with a team of street wardens and a way of sharing information through a secure server. Any trader could access it and upload information. It meant pictures of shoplifters could be used when they were caught, not when convicted.
Mr Newman said there were benefits from the way the town co-ordinated its CCTV system, radio link and street wardens under one roof, and the excellent support that retailers received from the police.
A 50pc reduction in retail crime during the Christmas period was further proof of the effectiveness of the scheme and pro-active policing.
local news supplied by East Coast Live
