Summer blitz on town centre crime

Over 500 towns have signed up to the Home Secretary’s Safer Streets summer blitz that will see shops benefit from increased police patrols and local action to tackle town centre crime and anti-social behaviour.  

Thousands of shoppers and businesses will see increased police presence, stronger prevention and enforcement action by police and councils to support safer high streets this summer.   

Over recent years street crime has sky-rocketed, with theft from the person more than doubling between December 2022-2024, and there has been record levels of shop theft, up by more than 60% – with offenders increasingly using violence and abuse against shopworkers.

This marks a key step in delivering the government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, which from July will see named, contactable officers in every community, increased peak time patrols in town centres and anti-social behaviour leads in every force.  

Commissioned by the Home Secretary, Police and Crime Commissioners across England and Wales have developed bespoke local action plans with police, businesses and local councils to crackdown on crime this summer.  

The aim is to support town centres to be vibrant places where people want to live, work and spend time, and restore faith in community policing after years of declining police officer presence on Britan’s streets.  

These plans include increased visible town centre policing and ramping up the use of targeted enforcement powers against troublemakers – including banning perpetrators from hotspots.  

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:  

“High streets and town centres are the very heart of our communities. Residents and businesses have the right to feel safe in their towns. But the last government left a surge in shop theft, street crime and anti-social behaviour which has left too many town centres feeling abandoned. 

“It’s time to turn this round, that’s why I have called on police forces and councils alike to work together to deliver a summer blitz on town centre crime to send a clear message to those people who bring misery to our towns that their crimes will no longer go unpunished. 

“The fact that 500 towns have signed up shows the strength of feeling on this issue. 

“Through our Safer Streets Mission and Plan for Change, we are putting officers back on the beat where you can see them and making our town centres safe again.” 

The summer initiative will also support young people, making sure there are activities across the 500 towns for young people to be involved in throughout the holidays. 

The Home Office, alongside police, retailers and industry are also launching a new Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy, which will use shared data to assist in disrupting not just organised criminal gangs, but all types of perpetrators including prolific offenders who are stealing to fund an addiction and ‘opportunist’ offenders. 

Creating thriving town centres where businesses and communities can flourish supports the government’s growth mission, raising living standards, backing local economies and supporting communities. 

Initiatives taking place this summer include:  

• In Humberside, police are using real-time mapping to deliver dynamic patrols to target emerging problem locations while reassuring local communities.  
• In Devon and Cornwall, police are embedding specialist anti-social behaviour lawyers to fast-track enforcement activity. 
• In Derbyshire, police have developed a Night Time Economy Charter to help deliver consistent proactive policing and coordinated management across the four largest local town centres. 
• In Wales, Dyfed-Powys Police are targeting seasonal, tourist towns through early police visibility, deterrence and community reassurance. 
• In Nottinghamshire, police have introduced a new diversionary intervention programme for Out of Court Resolutions with conditions attached for problem offenders. 

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: 

“We are on the side of local businesses, and our Plan for Change is helping create the right conditions for our great British high streets to thrive.  

“The Safer Streets Summer Initiative will play a vital role in achieving this by keeping footfall high, communities and those that work in them safe, and the economy growing.” 

Shop theft and the abuse of shopworkers has become an endemic problem for Britain’s high streets with many shopworkers victimised in the same communities where they live.

The government is set to introduce a new law to protect shop workers from this vile abuse. 

Record levels of shop theft have been driven not just by organised crime gangs but drug addiction for some prolific offenders and opportunism for others. 

The new Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy will bring together multiple sources of data from industry and policing to create a single avenue for intelligence to help better target and respond to perpetrators. 

Police and retailers will also team up with security firms and local communities to locate the highest harm areas and identify the role offender management programmes can play in breaking the cycle of crime for repeat offenders.