- The team behind a drive to cut city centre binge drinking has won praise from a police chief. Brighton and Hove was the first place in Sussex to have its own police alcohol licensing unit which launched the city's Best Bar None awards last year to drive up standards in 350 pubs and clubs. The awards, jointly sponsored by The Argus, have helped reduce violence in the city centre.The scheme was introduced in the wake of licensing laws being relaxed in 2005. Figures released in February showed that since then serious public place violent crime has dropped by 8.4 per cent. There have been 183 fewer victims of serious assault in Brighton and Hove since the Licensing Act came into effect. The licensing and Best Bar None teams are being recognised for their work as part of the initiative. The Argus
- Norfolk: Police chiefs today announced a drop in crime for the fourth year in a row. Violent crime has dropped by 6.6pc, thefts of motor vehicles by 6.3pc and incidents of criminal damage down by 1.6pc. The figures, released by Norfolk Constabulary, showed there were nearly 2,000 fewer offences recorded from last April to the end of last month, compared with the same period in 2005/6. Chief Insp Stuart Offord, head of the inspection and review department at Norfolk police, said he was delighted that for the fourth year running, crime had decreased and that the reductions had come in the areas where people felt particularly vulnerable, such as sexual offences, violent crime and burglary. “The drop in violent crime has focused on violence associated with the night-time economy in Norwich and our major towns, which has been successful,” he said. Norwich Evening News
- Violent crime has plummeted in Plymouth's clubland, and police say it's because they have ploughed money and manpower into tackling the problems. Figures released at the April meeting of the trade security forum Clubwatch reveal that in the past year violent crime has dropped by six per cent in the South Sector, which includes Union Street, the city centre, Barbican and North Hill. There has also been an overall decline of four per cent in cases of wounding since April 2006 - but in the past six months the reduction has been 12 per cent.
Chief Inspector Matthews put the change in Plymouth's clubland down to a huge increase in police resources since October 2006, which had also seen the sector achieve the best detection rate in the whole of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary. An additional £15,000 was pumped into policing clubland at Christmas and £70,000 is guaranteed to be spent on patrolling 'the strip' and other nightspots during this financial year. The cash has come as a reward from the Government for Plymouth police hitting their targets for reducing car crime.
The number of officers working on Operation Talon, specifically policing the night-time economy, has increased, with about 30 uniformed bobbies available on Friday and Saturday nights - almost double the numbers which were sometimes on call before. "Violence in the night-time economy is a huge priority," said Ch Insp Matthews, saying 'early intervention' was the key to stopping violence. "We have more staff on the streets and they are there earlier."
Operation Talon, which covers Friday and Saturdays from 8pm to 5am, is also being expanded to cover Thursday and Sunday nights at bank holidays. Club boss Peter Jones stressed that 'partnership working' through trade-run organisations such as Clubwatch and City Safe had also had an impact on tackling crime. Ch Insp Matthews agreed, praised the "valuable contribution" made by Clubwatch members and said: "This forum is very positive; they want to work with us." thisisPlymouth.co.uk
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