Police report rise in antisocial behaviour in Welsh city despite crime drop

Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter

Incidents of antisocial behaviour have risen in Welsh city this year despite an overall reduction in crime.

Gwent Police superintendent Jason White told city councillors antisocial behaviour had increased by around 7% across Newport, compared with the previous financial year.

The biggest rise in reports was in the city centre.

Supt White suggested there could be “many things” behind the spike, including people “feeling more confident to report matters, because they are being dealt with”.

But he said the rise in antisocial behaviour in the city centre also had “strong links to homelessness, begging, substance misuse and youth”.

The council meeting heard the most recent batch of last year’s figures were a cause for optimism, however, with a “downturn” of antisocial behaviour in the city centre recorded since November.

Cllr Dimitri Batrouni, the council leader, said antisocial behaviour “creates that fear factor, and inhibits people’s feelings of being free to go around doing their business, whether it’s outside their door or in the city centre”.

He added it was “usually persistent individual characters that cause the most mayhem”, and asked the officer what the force was doing to offer “reassurance” to Newport’s residents.

Supt White said Gwent Police was preparing a new plan to tackle antisocial behaviour and was working with other organisations to fight the issue.

More officers will be on the beat, too, the officer said, adding the “biggest” factor in reassuring the public is “visibility in our communities”.

“What I’m pleased to report, in relation to Newport but across all of Gwent, is that by the end of this financial year every single neighbourhood policing team will be up to full strength,” he said.

“We’ve got several more intakes [of] PCSOs… and next month for the first time in our history we’re taking on 12 direct-entry neighbourhood police officers to supplement that strength.”

The council meetings heard overall crime in Newport was down by 6% compared to the previous financial year, with notable city-wide drops in commercial burglaries, vehicle crimes and shoplifting – and “strong falls in violence” in the city centre.

The force recorded single-digit percentage rises in personal thefts and robberies.