Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen has secured an extra £1m to step up visible ‘hotspot’ patrols to tackle serious violence, knife crime and anti-social behaviour.
The extra patrols will be targeted in locations which have the highest prevalence of knife crime, serious violence and ASB to deter crime and ensure communities feel confident and safer.
The funding, which comes in addition to the £1m granted last year, will deliver at least 900,000 hours of patrols by police, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and other visible uniformed presence over the next 12 months.
Latest figures show that between January and March this year, more than 3,626 hours of additional patrols were carried out across the force area.
These resulted in 23 arrests, five stop and searches, 42 informal warnings and several civil orders, penalty notices and dispersal notices.
One in four (25%) residents placed policing visibility as a top priority in the PCC’s recent consultation, and she has pledged to increase the presence of officers to prevent crime and protect County Durham and Darlington’s communities.
Welcoming the confirmation of funding, the commissioner said: “This is a significant amount of extra funding that will provide visible and ongoing policing activity over the next 12 months in areas prone to serious violence and ASB.
“It is part of a whole suite of measures being employed to drive these crimes out of our neighbourhoods and provide respite to residents and businesses.”
Serious violence accounts for 13% of all crime within the force area and is concentrated within urban centres notably Durham City and Darlington town centre.
The hotspot response involves the targeting of resources and activities to those places where crime is most concentrated and is based on the premise that crime and disorder is not evenly spread within neighbourhoods but clustered in small locations.
Focusing resources and activities in hotspots aims to prevent crime in these specific areas and potentially, reduce overall crime levels in the wider geographic area.