Friday 15th November 2024

Sussex Alerts - Eastbourne Police

ASB patrols continue

Additional patrols to deter and identify those involved in ASB (anti-social behaviour) across the town continue with officers proactively patrolling a number of locations including local parks and open spaces reported by communities.

This follows recent reports of ASB during the half-term and Halloween week.

Whilst we appreciate the vast majority of youngsters kept their tricks to themselves and amongst friends this year, sadly a small number missed the memo around 'having a good time, but not having fun at the expense of others'.

We thanks, and continue to encourage residents to report incidents of ASB to us at the time; all reports help to direct targeted patrols in locations which have seen an increase in or an increase in the reporting of ASB.

A number of ASB related Police Operations are both currently running and in line to start as we head into the winter months, including Operation Confront.

Operation Confront, aimed at tackling and dispersing ASB in the town centre predominantly, will see Neighbourhood Policing Team working with partners on a number of joint patrols in the run up to Christmas; including Eastbourne Borough Council to address community concerns raised around both crime and anti-social behaviour, including street drinking and begging in the town centre.

Under these operations; proactive patrols and targeted activities across the town are an opportunity for Police to not only engage with communities, but to also offer reassurance to communities that we are committed to reducing crime and disorder, as well as responding to any concerns and addressing any inappropriate behaviour at the time.

SABA week 2024

Sussex Police actively supported the national business crime week of action with officers across the force, supported by the business crime team, actively engaging directly with our businesses around reporting, undertaking hot spot patrols and targeting prolific offenders impacting retailers.

With its main aims to engage with retailers to ensure they know how to protect themselves from business crime and how to report an incident, and to enforce legislation around offenders – in particular prolific shoplifters.

As a result of this week, over 20 individuals were arrested across the force resulting in multiple charges and court appearances.

Locally officers conducted targeted patrols at known hot-spot areas in Eastbourne, where six suspects were arrested; including a prolific offender who was arrested the following week and jailed for multiple offences.

The 45 year old male, of no fixed address, was arrested on Friday 25 October for a total of 12 offences of theft from a shop, as well being arrested for a breach of his Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO).

He was remanded in custody to appear before Brighton Magistrates’ Court the following day, where he pleaded guilty to all 13 offences and was given a custodial term 8 months.

The offences saw him repeatedly target stores, including a number of thefts committed at the Co-Operative in Green Street, Eastbourne.

Chief Inspector Andy Nicklin, lead on business crime for East Sussex, said: “This is a great outcome for the businesses that this male targeted; during his time offending he caused a significant amount of disturbance and unrest for the staff involved, in addition to the financial loss incurred by the stores affected.”

Sussex Police continues to encourage shop workers, business owners and the local community to report offences to us so we can gather intelligence to help prevent, detect and respond to crime.

New Police Pod launches

Following recent successes of a trial pod in Eastbourne last Summer, a new community engagement pod has been installed in the town.

Sussex Police opened the doors to a it’s new engagement hub earlier this month; the Police Pod which will be used by Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), Neighbourhood Policing Teams, Response Teams and other partner agencies as a tool for engagement with the public and to help deter crime and disorder by maintaining a high-visibility presence.

The pods follow on from the successes seen at the Brighton ‘beach hut’ installed 2019, and aims to provide a highly visible presence in the town centre to deter criminal activity and engage with members of the public; the pod will also build on the extensive work teams in the town already do to tackle anti-social and criminal behaviour in the area, which includes daily patrol activity and initiatives to address crime targeted at local businesses.

The pods operate as a clear point of contact for the public and a visible deterrent to those who may be involved in criminality, and will continue to support the work being conducted by our ‘Hot-Spot Policing Teams’ across the divisions; more on the recent decreased Sussex Police has seen in these areas attributed to the successes of hot-spot policing teams can be found here: Crime falls in Sussex's hotspots | Sussex Police

In November, further community pods were also opened to give a presence in each area with ‘hotspots’ – these areas are Hastings, Eastbourne, Brighton, Crawley, Horsham, Worthing and Chichester.

Contact us

For non-emergency incidents or crime prevention advice, click  www.sussex.police.uk,  (If you report a crime online, we will assess it in the same way as a 101 call).  

Call 101 when you do not require an urgent response. In an emergency when life is threatened or there is immediate danger always call 999. 

Speak to us face-to-face at a police station or contact the local policing team at www.sussex.police.uk/area/your-area.  

If you are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired, you can contact us using TypeTalk on 18000 or by sending a text to 65999.