POLICE, CRIME & ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR UPDATE 21st July - 4th August CRIME OVERVIEW
There have been 211 crimes reported over the last two weeks, which is an increase of 57 crimes. However, this figure is still down from 338 crimes compared to last year. The majority appear to be theft offences, seeing a total of 89 crimes committed, with an
increase in theft of pedal cycle offences across the area. One offender responsible for stealing two bicycles was recently arrested and was sentenced to three months in prison. The police continue to encourage people to secure their bikes with
a heavy-duty lock that can not easily be cut. It is also recommended that bikes are registered with the police and notes are taken of the serial number so that it is easily identified if located at a later date.
The police, council and other partners continue to meet online every Monday to review the weekends licensing visits and reported incidents from around the city centre. The vast majority of premises managers have responded well to the requested improvements and this has contributed to minimising offending and anti-social
behaviour that can blight the city. These expectations are also being applied to licensed premises outside of the city centre, using licensing legislation to enforce against non-compliance. Such an approach has not been necessary against city centre premises and designated premises supervisors are thanked for their efforts to achieve this.
LICENSING UPDATE
In the last two weeks, there have been further improvements relating to the running of licensed premises, in line with current covid-19 guidance.
CITY CENTRE CAR PARKS There has been a large number of complaints regarding drug use and litter in the city centre multistory car parks, specifically Prince Street NCP car park. The police have been in contact with the landlord and the car park
operative to look into a long term solution to reduce the drug use and litter, as well as maintaining a high level of cleanliness within the building. Other car parks in Bristol city centre are protected by injunctions that prevent rough sleeping and begging, with others introducing swipe card access only. These options are being looked into to achieve long term improvements for the car parks still seeing issues.
IMPROVING SYSTEMS The Bristol City Centre BID team is in the process of introducing I-Auditor, a new app for tasking our dedicated Police Officer, the Cleansing Team and the Safeguarding Marshals, streamlining current systems to increase efficiency. The use of I-Auditor will enable concerns
raised by the BID’s levy payers to be tasked out to the relevant team, quickly and efficiently. It is designed to allow paper checklists to be converted into mobileready inspection forms, allowing tasks to be easily set with live updates whilst out on duty.
STREETWISE Streetwise Coordinator, PC Mark Thomas, leads on all things related to homelessness and street anti-social behaviour in Bristol city centre. With over 17 years of experience, Mark works in partnership with Bristol City Council, St Mungo’s, Bristol Drugs Project, Broadmead BID and Bristol City Centre BID to support vulnerable people sleeping rough or housed in temporary accommodation. Together, the team takes a proactive approach to enforce street anti-social behaviour where needed.
LOCAL OFFICERS This enforcement takes many different approaches and is part of a process that includes a positive requirement for the recipients which will enable the team to further engage and explore on-going support. If you are experiencing issues regarding anti-social behaviour or street begging, please click here to get in touch with the Streetwise Team.
The city centre and Broadmead are policed by officers working in various roles. As with all other parts of the city, dedicated Neighbourhood Beat officers have responsibility for defined areas, including Harbourside, Old City and Broadmead beats. It’s these officers who are responsible for delivering problem solving approaches to tackle long term and complex issues. To find out who your local officers are, use the ‘what is happening in your area?’ page on the Constabulary website.