Following concerns raised with Stephen Morgan MP over recent weeks about anti-social behaviour and crime at Southsea Common, the Hotwalls, other public spaces including parks in Milton, Fratton, and across the whole constituency, Stephen continues to take action on behalf of constituents to ensure the police, council and other bodies are doing all they can to address issues.
As result of further conversations, lobbying and liaison with senior officers today, the following is an update on efforts by key public services and what we can expect over the coming days to manage the situation:
Hampshire Constabulary efforts
Stephen is in regular contact with the District Commander and his senior leadership team and receives a full briefing on the police’s response to the coronavirus crisis weekly.
The police locally have dedicated Covid patrol teams, who will be resourced for Portsmouth this weekend. They also have response and patrol teams with a patrol plan to focus upon locations, where the community have guided the force to consider in relation to groups gathering and breaches of Covid-19 guidance compliance taking place.
Community Wardens will also be patrolling across the city including supporting the Hotwalls area and Southsea Common.
Working with the city council additional security will be provided in some locations and a community advisers foot team will be pro-active in engaging with the public again on social distancing.
Street Pastors will also be providing support engaging with members of the public, and the Ministry of Defence police will be on duty assisting across the constituency.
Hampshire Constabulary – update for 26 June 2020
- Two more people have been arrested following incidents in the area, one for failure to comply with a S35 dispersal notice and another for obstructing / resisting a police officer in execution of duty, assaulting an emergency worker (police officer) and possession of a class B drug.
- The local police are implementing a dispersal order for the zone identified and will extend the order for another 48 hours.
- This means the order will be in place from midday today (Friday 26 June) and it will remain in place until midday on Sunday 28 June and could be extended further.
- The order gives us the power to order someone to leave the designated area and not return for 24 hours to prevent crime and disorder. Failure to comply with this is a criminal offence.
- Additional police patrols are taking place in Southsea and Old Portsmouth.
Portsmouth City Council – update for 26 June 2020
- Community Advisors will continue to be on patrol across the seafront both Saturday and Sunday they will be pro-actively supporting safe social distancing, handing out bio-degradable bags to encourage people to take their litter home with them and supporting safe use of BBQs in the correct areas.
- Open Spaces Mitigation measures work remains on-going to reinforce and reduce the risk of further traveller incursion onto the public open spaces. A new delivery of larger boulders is expected very soon which will be used to reinforce the common and provide more of a barrier for ingress. Further additional posts are also due to be put in place to prevent vehicle movement across public footpaths where practical.
- Grounds Maintenance Team have been extremely busy despite the heat. All the summer bedding in now in including a dedicated ‘NHS thank you’ bed at the end of Avenue de Caen. The team are also working hard to manage the increased levels of rubbish being left in the area. The council has increased both the number and the capacity of the bins right across the seafront and are also currently in a trial with staff volunteering to work expanded hours to be able to provide a litter clearing operation until 7pm in the evening. They are also encouraging the public to dispose of BBQs in the designated bins so the hot coals are safely managed.
- Deploying additional security in the Hotwalls area to have a presence and to positively engage with young people. The council is aware that the more regular youth services will be stepping up to have some deployment in areas such as the Hotwalls and Ferry Road areas.
