Stephen Morgan MP has welcomed the recently reintroduced ‘City Centre’ police team that has hit the ground running in tackling crime and disorder in Portsmouth’s city centre.
The dedicated team is working with businesses within the Commercial Road and Guildhall Square area, alongside the Portsmouth Business Crime Reduction Partnership (PBCRP).
The new police group has already made solid progress, including:
- Arrest of two prolific offenders for robbery
- Targeting of prolific repeat shoplifters
- Arrest of a prominent City Centre individual for breaching their Criminal Behaviour Order
Prior to July, the PBCRP had over ten incidents per month reported to them by businesses in Commercial Road. However, since the City Centre team has started, that number is now down to three, underlining the impact the team is having in a relatively short timeframe.
With its overall objective to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Portsmouth City Centre and boost community confidence, its priorities are:
- Engagement with the business community
- Identify and tackle vulnerability risks
- Engagement with and sign posting to relevant agencies for rough sleepers
- To target prolific offenders committing retail crime
- To target those people committing ASB
The city MP has long called for returning more bobbies to the beat in Portsmouth and a focus on tackling crime in the city centre after concerns raised with him by constituents and businesses on Commercial Road.
The welcome intervention comes at a time when a bid has been submitted to Government for £40m of investment in the city centre, supported and backed by the Portsmouth South representative aimed at bringing ‘the heart back to the city centre’.
Recognising the early success of the dedicated team and following joining a neighbourhood police team on patrol across the constituency this week, the Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan, said:
“To boost our local economy, people need to have confidence to go out in our city centre, and the new dedicated police team is already doing fantastic work to make that happen. I’m pleased the Constabulary has listened to my concerns and those of local businesses and are putting resources into addressing the challenges our community faces in our city centre.
“I want to thank them for their efforts so far and will be working closely with the police to ensure its success to make our city centre safer.”
Next week the city MP is set to host a roundtable for businesses in Guildhall Walk to hear their views and concerns and ideas to make the area safer and friendlier.
