CRIME CUTTING PLANS AGREED

Ambitious plans to cut crime and anti-social behaviour in Thanet by 2% have been agreed by Thanet District Council.

The latest Community Safety Plan for 2011/12 sets out four clear priorities for the next year, which are:

1. anti-social behaviour
2. domestic abuse
3. managing offenders
4. public safety

As part of this, work will be carried out on a number of key projects, including continuing with the successful Cleansweep operations, and using the new anti-social behaviour toolkit, once it is given final government approval.

The plan was put together, using crime statistics and people’s views on crime and anti-social behaviour. Some of these came through the community safety open forums, which were held in late February and early March in Birchington, Broadstairs, Margate and Ramsgate. More than 150 people came along to the sessions, with some of the main concerns raised including dog fouling, underage drinking and alcohol related crime and traffic offences. As a result, the plan includes measures to run road safety campaigns, naming and shaming publicity campaigns around environmental crimes and using the Street Scene Enforcement team to tackle problems such as dog fouling.

Over the last year, achievements include the most successful Community Pastor scheme in the country, helping 130 people get home safely through the night bus, seeing more than 200 people at the SOS trailer and setting up a domestic abuse court and advocate, along with a directory for people suffering from domestic abuse.

Enforcement Services Manager, Mark Richardson, said: “We’re setting ourselves an ambitious target for the coming year, but we’re determined to do everything we can to crack down on crime and anti-social behaviour in Thanet. We’ve achieved a great deal in the last 12 months and already that’s had an impact. People think that teenagers hanging around is less of a problem now than it was a year ago. People also say that the police and council are keeping them informed and dealing with anti-social behaviour. We intend to build on those successes over the forthcoming year.”