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28
Jul 2022
Report a Crime and make Harrogate a better place
This story is sponsored by Harrogate BID.
It may seem strange that an organisation dedicated to promoting Harrogate town centre is campaigning to increase its crime levels.
However, Harrogate BID knows what it is doing and there is method behind its madness.
BID manager Matthew Chapman said:
Mr Chapman and the team at the BID decided to investigate further.
The kind of crimes being seen by retailers included anti-social behaviour, often linked to drinking, and what’s termed ‘professional begging’ – people who are not truly homeless and who often don’t live in Harrogate coming into town to take advantage of what they see as a lucrative opportunity to collect money from the public.
Often, said Mr Chapman, those people went on to use the money to buy drinks and, later in the day, they would commit crimes such as shoplifting.
Yet the BID investigation found town centre workers often didn’t report the problems they witnessed.
As a result, the BID has launched a campaign to encourage people to report every instance of crime they see across the town centre.
Recognising employees’ time is valuable, the BID has highlighted the fact that crime can be reported via the 101 page on the North Yorkshire Police website.
It takes just five minutes, said Mr Chapman, and will generate a crime number and add the incident to the official police log.
He said:
Mr Chapman said the BID hopes the result will be a significant increase in the crime statistics for the town centre – which in turn will encourage more police resources to be directed towards it.
He added:
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