Clacton: action to boost community safety

We’re working with Tendring Community Safety Partnership to improve safety in Clacton.

And we joined forces with a number of agencies last week for a series of activities aiming to do just that.

Our roads policing officers joined Tendring District Council’s (TDC) Licensing team and Environment Agency staff for a series of road checks on Wednesday 14 June, clamping down on motoring offences, checking waste carriers had appropriate licences, and carrying out spot-checks on taxis.

Our officers reported four people for traffic offences, seized one vehicle for no insurance and issued a prohibition notice for a car found to be unroadworthy, as well as giving advice to other drivers.

While TDC officers did spot checks on 19 taxis, with three warning letters issued and one referral made. And Environment Agency officers checked 40 vehicles – issuing four advice letters and one formal compliance notice.

The following day, officers and staff from Tendring Community Safety Partnership agencies came together for an event in Clacton Town Square, speaking to the public, giving advice and signposting people to further support on issues ranging from domestic abuse, home security, crime prevention and water safety, to volunteering.

Friday evening, 16 June, saw partners tackling issues arising from the local night-time economy, with Clacton Community Policing Team joined in Clacton town by staff from Tendring District Council’s (TDC) Community Safety Team, UTurn, Next Chapter and Save A Life Ditch The Knife.

Police community support officers patrolled with TDC anti-social behaviour patrol officers, speaking to people enjoying the evening sunshine and visiting pubs, restaurants and bars in the town centre.

TDC licensing officers carried out checks of licensed premises and taxis to make sure all were operating safely and legally – finding one suspected breach of licensing conditions and one taxi with an expired licence plate.

Awareness of drink-spiking was raised, with 100 drink covers given to pubs to hand out to customers.

Police officers conducted two stop searches, seizing a small amount of drugs from two women, aged 19 and 20, who will be issued with community resolutions.

Meanwhile staff from Next Chapter, UTurn and Save a Life Ditch The Knife spoke with people about the work their organisations do to help people and keep them safe, raising awareness of the help available to survivors of domestic abuse and the dangers of carrying a knife.

Tendring Community Policing Inspector Aaron Homatopoulos says: “Our work with our community partners over the three days was very successful.

“We work very closely with them to help keep Clacton and the rest of the Tendring district safe because policing alone cannot tackle anti-social behaviour and criminal activity.

“We rely on our communities, local authorities and other agencies to work with us to provide us with information and to help tackle the root causes of bad behaviour.

“You will often see our town centre and community policing teams patrolling with staff from our partners. These high-visibility patrols are a deterrent to people who want to cause trouble.

“And they are also an opportunity to carry out licensing and vehicle safety checks or talk to people about matters which concern them or the support available should they need it.”

Cllr Gina Placey, TDC Cabinet Member for Partnerships, adds: “These three activity days show the real strength we have in our Tendring CSP, with each organisation bringing something different to the table but all collectively contributing to keeping our community safe.

“Each action day was a success in its own right, and my thanks go to all of our partners for this joint effort.”

 

Incidents of anti-social behaviour have consistently fallen in Tendring over the past five years, by more than 60 per cent. In the past year alone, they dropped by one-third and reported crime also dropped by five per cent.

Looking at pre-pandemic crime levels, in the 12 months to May 2018, there were 4,215 incidents of anti-social behaviour reported to us across the Tendring district. In the 12 months to May 2019, there were 3,787.

Last year, in the 12 months to May 2022, there were 2,377 reports of anti-social behaviour and this year, in the most recent 12-month period to May 2023, there were 1,595 reports.

Violent incidents are also down by more than 11 per cent in the last year, with 820 fewer incidents and, as part of our whole-system approach to drugs, we’re also seeing those incidents dropping; in the last 12 months, drug offences have dropped by more than 7 per cent.

We are proud of our work to make our communities safer but that has only been possible because we work very closely with our community partners and Tendring Community Safety Partnership.

Visibility is an important element of our response to anti-social behaviour but it’s not just us, it’s our Tendring District Council ambassadors too.

Our town centre teams are a great example of this. The focus of these teams is to be visible in local communities, prevent and reduce crime and continue to build on the high levels of public trust and confidence we work hard to maintain in Essex.

At Essex Police, we value difference, and know that we’re strongest when we all work together.

If you share our values and want to protect and serve our communities, why not join us?

If you think you could protect and serve the people of Essex, either as a police officer, member of staff or volunteer, why not see if you fit the bill?

Find out more by visiting our careers page.