Inspector Vanessa Foster, Kent Police, was in attendance and gave the following updates, some of which were in response to questions asked:

Electric scooters – there had been many days of Police action which included confiscating scooters and holding publicity campaigns.

Road safety – beat officers were regularly out with speed guns and fines had been issued.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) – there had been a spike in the summer months to October 2023. Further to the award of Government funding, seven-day week patrols had been carried out in hotspots, including Sittingbourne High Street. These had shown good results and 75% of parents had been receptive. Halloween had been a challenge, but the Police were planning for it next year. There were uplifts planned for weekends and Christmas.

Safer Streets – the award of this funding was providing an increase in lighting and closed-circuit television (CCTV) in certain areas.

Burglary – data was being used to target offenders and the Police were quick to react.

Robberies – there had been a decline following a proactive approach by the Police.

Shoplifting – the Police knew who committed shoplifting, there had been 13 charges made over the last weekend, the weekend before there had been 32 charges made. All recidivist offenders were currently in prison. The peak time for shoplifting took place after Christmas, there was an operation order in place to deal with this crime in January 2024.

Response times – there was a team of local Police officers whose role was to respond to 999 calls; the aim was to improve response times. There was another crime team to respond to other calls such as ASB and shoplifting.

Street drinkers – they were being dealt with by using community protection notices and community behaviour orders. However, the first approach had to be to give direction to leave before any action could be taken. The Swale Borough Council (SBC) Licensing Team had spoken to shops in the High Street about not selling alcohol to street drinkers, but they purchased it elsewhere. It was a problem that could be managed but not solved.

Reporting of crime – it was important for incidents to be reported to the Police as action could only be taken it if was recorded on the call log.

Milton Regis High Street, Sittingbourne, CCTV – a request was made to place a mobile CCTV camera on Milton Regis High Street. The Head of Housing and Community Services said there were a limited number of mobile cameras, but she would find out where they were currently deployed and look into the justification for a deployment in that area.

CCTV – following a question about the cameras that were installed in Iwade, the Head of Housing and Community Services said she would check how they had been funded but commented that parish councils sometimes fund them in villages. She said she would check the policy to see what community groups could do in unparished areas.

Inspector Foster asked councillors to support the Police when speaking to residents so that expectations were managed. The Chair added that Councillors should also encourage the reporting of incidents, so the Police could use the data to plan future action.

The Chair thanked Inspector Foster for attending the meeting.