GETTING TOUGH ON ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
This year has seen significant progress as we proactively tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB), in all its forms, wherever we find it, particularly in the hotspot areas where we have seen repeated issues. By strengthening the teams responsible for addressing what is a blight on communities and ruins lives, whilst further strengthening partnership working to deliver long lasting solutions, we’re making our streets safer.
2023/24 Highlights
Op Centurion
Following extensive research through a county wide ASB survey and engagement with key stakeholders and partners through the Commissioner’s ASB summits, Op Centurion launched in July 2023. The operation is Lancashire Constabulary’s response to the Commissioner’s Police and Crime Plan priority of getting tough on anti-social behaviour.
The focus is on partnership working to target those issues and people who cause the most harm in our communities.
The Constabulary’s new ASB, Prevention and Problem-Solving Command supports the now strengthened neighbourhood teams in working with partners and engaging the public to implement sustainable solutions to address recurring issues, ASB, repeat victims and locations, issues which are community priorities and issues which result in a continuously high demand for police services.
In addition to this, thanks to an extra £2m secured from
Government over two years, every Lancashire district now also benefits from Op Centurion foot patrols in areas identified as ASB hotspots. These additional foot patrols are dedicated to dealing with and preventing further ASB incidents in and around these locations.
Lancashire was one of only 10 forces chosen for extra funding following the Commissioner’s extensive talks with MPs, Ministers, and national bodies on ideas to address ASB and help deliver the fighting crime plan priority to get tough on ASB and stop the blight on our communities, ruining lives and risking escalation.
By October, the first hotspot areas in Accrington, Blackpool, Chorley, Fleetwood, Padiham, and Preston, saw 5,700 additional policing hours with officers walking the beat on additional foot patrols targeting reported spikes in ASB and community concerns.
Op Centurion had also already seen officers attending more than 700 incidents, carried out over 1,500 stop checks, close to 300 stop searches and made 75 arrests.
In October, hotspot patrols
were rolled out to the remaining Lancashire districts meaning that additional foot patrols are now also covering ASB hotspot areas in Darwen, St Annes, Morecambe, Clitheroe, Colne, Bacup, Leyland and Skelmersdale.
The rollout of Op Centurion and strengthening of our policing teams focusing on neighbourhood concerns, and delivering more results on what is one of the Commissioner’s Fighting Crime Plan’s key priorities, is providing what we all want to see – more officers on the beat, keeping people safe.
Since the launch of Op Centurion in July 2023, in hotspot areas alone, officers have:
- Walked the beat for an additional 27,633 hours
- Attended 2,326 incidents
- Carried out 5,917 stop checks
- Carried out 1,017 stop searches
- Made over 270 arrests
This is on top of the wider work that goes into tackling ASB across Lancashire every day.
Overall, Op Centurion has also resulted in:
- 1889 people arrested for criminal damage
- 1257 arrests for drug supply offences
- 287 quads, e-bikes, e-scooters and motorcycles seized
The policing operation is backed by a wider media campaign which provides public reassurance and demonstrates actions taken to tackle ASB. It also encourages members of the public to report local concerns on a newly established web page – LancashireTacklingASB.co.uk
To date the website has seen over 7k in page views and over 11k clicks to report issues or to find out more about the policing operation.
Headlines
ASB 8% reduction – over 4,500 fewer incidents
ASB hotspot policing – 14 hotspot locations across Lancashire have seen additional patrols specifically tackling ASB. Significant reductions in ASB have been achieved and an increase in public confidence.
Increased used of Civil Orders against those causing harm in our communities. The use of CPWs, CPNs, Civil Injunctions, CBOs and Closure Orders have found to have contributed to preventing further victims of crime and ASB.
Over 200 civil orders issued to target ASB hotspot locations and persistent offenders
An increase of over 118,000 users of our community messaging and survey tool, Lancashire Talking with over 3000 messages sent rated on average 4.73/5.
Enhanced software capabilities, allowing Lancashire Constabulary to review levels of community engagement at district and ward level and to identify representation from seldom heard communities. Enhancing targeted activity to improve engagement with less engaged areas and groups.
Fighting Crime Grants – Council Patrols
To complement the additional police patrols in ASB hotspot areas, the Commissioner made funding available to councils for additional visible council patrols.
£58,236 was awarded to four councils for additional council support.
- £18,000 – Blackpool
- £23,520 – Chorley
- £14,976 – Fylde
- £1,740 – Preston
This has supported an additional 238 patrols and 1,700 council hours.
From these patrols, Blackpool and Chorley Councils employed the following tools and powers between September 2023 and February 2024.
ASB Awareness Week 2023
During the national ASB Awareness Week, where Operation Centurion was launched and
the first additional policing was seen in hotspot areas, there was heightened activity across the county getting tough on ASB.
During the crackdown, 43 arrests were made across the county, with high visibility patrols and multi- agency operations taking place, with 264 stop checks and 79 stop and searches.
The Blackpool Neighbourhood team carried out a multi-agency operation with Blackpool Trading Standards, while in Carnforth, £75,000 of stolen roofing was recovered and returned to the owner.
Closure Order
Civil Injunction
Community Protection Warning
Community Protection Notice
Criminal Behaviour Order
Youth Civil Injunction
1x Fixed Penalty Notice
Environmental Protection Section 79
Brothel Warning Notices Issued
Public Space Protection Order
Fixed Penalty Notice
Diversionary activity for Hyndburn
One of the main focuses of the Commissioner’s Safer Lancashire Neighbourhoods Fund, in helping deliver the Fighting Crime Priorities, has been addressing concerns around anti- social behaviour and supporting the increased enforcement we’ve seen through Op Centurion, with targeted diversionary schemes.
One of these has been in Hyndburn, where the Commissioner invested almost £10,000 to fund diversionary activity, delivered by Accrington Stanley Community Trust, taking the form of sports sessions during school holiday periods.
The Commissioner visited to see the activity being run by the Trust in Clayton-Le-Moors, one of the five wards across the borough seeing activity take place. These locations were identified in partnership with local police based on local concerns, and similar sessions had previously seen decreases in ASB reports.
It was great to meet with the Police and Crime Commissioner in Lancaster recently, alongside local police officer PC Law for a walkabout. I was pleased to hear about the aims and objectives of Op Centurion. Anti-social behaviour makes people’s lives a misery. I have always worked hard to highlight areas of concern and join up with our hardworking police force to stomp it out. I hope that the Police and Crime Commissioners’ latest efforts have a hugely positive impact across both Lancaster and Fleetwood. Cat Smith MP
Today Op Centurion has started across Lancashire, utilising £2m from Government, to put more police officers on our streets tackling ASB. In my constituency that means an almost 2500 extra hours of police patrols in Padiham. Andrew has always been a great ally in taking the fight to criminals and getting the police focused on the issues residents raise with me on the doorstep, right here in Burnley and Padiham..... Antony Higginbotham MP
I’m grateful to the Police and Crime Commissioner for coming to Burnley to listen to the council and to our business community about local concerns. There is always more we can do to make the town centre a safer and more secure place, so I welcome further commitments to help us reduce antisocial behaviour. Councillor Howard Baker, Burnley Council’s Executive Member for Community and Environmental Services
It is good as well that Lancashire is one of the pilot areas for hotspot policing, currently delivering two thousand hours a month of additional patrolling in ASB hotspot areas and that is set to increase. I just want to take this opportunity to thank Lancashire Police, they’ve launched a new ASB problem solving unit, they ran Operation Propulsion, which involved more officers patrolling locations, dealing with motor nuisance and boy racers. Suella Braverman MP, when in Parliament as Home Secretary
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