A new drive to target anti-social behaviour, street crime and shoplifting in Harrogate has been launched by North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Council.
Project Spotlight was announced yesterday, just days before the Stray Ferret publishes Trading Hell, a week-long series of features investigating these very issues.
Over the course of our investigation we spoke to a chief inspector from North Yorkshire Police, as well as North Yorkshire Council, Harrogate BID, Harrogate Homeless Project and dozens of town centre traders. You can read the first of our special reports on Monday.
Project Spotlight sees teams working with residents, shoppers, town-centre workers and businesses to:
- gather information about crime and anti-social behaviour and use it to target police and council resources at key times and locations;
- reduce thefts, anti-social behaviour and other crimes by working with retailers and licensed premises;
- prevent begging and rough sleeping by ensuring vulnerable people have access to the services they need and are encouraged to use them;
- deploy targeted, high-visibility patrols to make sure residents, town-centre visitors, workers and businesses feel safe;
- reduce drink- and drug-related crime by working with specialist teams, licensed premises and support services;
- ‘design out crime’ by making changes to the town-centre environment;
- keep the public informed about the project and its progress, encouraging them to keep sharing information about any town-centre issues affecting them.
Project Spotlight builds on work between North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Council and other organisations to address street crime, retail theft, begging, rough sleeping, substance abuse and anti-social behaviour.
Project Spotlight will work with retailers to tackle shoplifting and other town-centre problems.
In a sample of 140 patrols of the town centre since October 2023, North Yorkshire Police made 10 arrests and moved people on or gave words of advice 54 times. The force also issued one dispersal order, which effectively bans someone from an area for a certain amount of time.
Harrogate neighbourhood policing inspector Nicola Colbourne said:
“Project Spotlight sees us stepping up that positive work we’ve already done with partner organisations, the public and town-centre businesses.
“We’re using a good old-fashioned mix of community engagement, information-gathering, targeted policing and robust law enforcement during this project, which we’re delivering alongside policing Harrogate’s wider residential areas.
“Harrogate is already an incredibly safe town, in what is officially England’s safest county. With the help of the public, businesses and key organisations, we’re working hard to make it even safer.”
North Yorkshire Council’s assistant chief executive for local engagement, Rachel Joyce, said:
“Alongside North Yorkshire Police and others, we have been working hard to maintain Harrogate town centre’s reputation as a safe and welcoming place in which to visit and work.
“Operation Spotlight presents an opportunity for all concerned to come together and build on this work. To do this we need the co-operation of the public and the business community and I would encourage everyone to support us in this aim.”
Project Spotlight comes in response to problems highlighted by the Stray Ferret’s Trading Hell survey, which revealed very high levels of dissatisfaction among town-centre traders at North Yorkshire Police’s response to anti-social behaviour and retail theft.
The results of the survey, some of which have been shared with North Yorkshire Police, will be revealed in our first Trading Hell report, published on Monday.
Read more:
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- Government inspectors hail improvements at North Yorkshire Police
- North Yorkshire Police apologises to LGBTQ+ community
