Town centre police patrols to intensify in summer crackdown

The move comes after the South Yorkshire force revealed a 70 per cent reduction in anti-social behaviour around the town’s transport interchange - compared to three years previously - due to focused work in the area.

Now Rotherham MP Sarah Champion has announced that patrols are to be increased over the summer - a move she welcomes after investigating the “shocking scale of violence in Rotherham’s shops” with a survey of staff.

That showed almost four of five shop workers believed a stronger police presence would help.

Rotherham has now signed up to the Government’s Safer Streets initiative, which runs over the summer.

That will see more patrols on the streets and other work to control anti-social behaviour.

Ms Champion said: “People have a right to feel safe at work and shopping on our high street.

“This is a topic I feel deeply passionately about, following my survey into retail crime in Rotherham.

“It revealed that local shop staff have been punched and spat at, with one even threatened with a knife.

“I have been calling for thought action on this crime, working with retailers, the council and the police to see what more can be done to prevent shoplifting and the abuse of retail workers.

“I am hopeful that with more officers on the beat, we can make our town centre safe again,” she said.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The last Government left a surge in shop theft, street crime and anti-social behaviour which has let too many town centres feeling abandoned.

“It’s time to turn this round, that’s why I have called on police forces and councils 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 Rotherham has signed up shows the strength of feeling locally on this issue.”

It is unclear whether any additional money has been made available for the crackdown, though South Yorkshire Police has, for several years, received money for ‘Grip’ patrols, using officers to make short but intensive patrols in known trouble-spots.