'We aim to let everyone feel they can relax and enjoy the season' - Police launch winter initiative in city centres
West Midlands Police has launched a fresh crackdown on crime and anti-social behaviour in towns and city centres in the region.
Over the coming months they say they will be carrying out a range of activity to tackle knife crime, violence against women and girls, anti-social behaviour, retail crime and robbery.
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It includes increased visibility and targeted operation and forms part of the national Winter of Action initiative.
Policing Minister Sarah Jones was in Birmingham city centre today (Wednesday) as the start of the Winter of Action plan coincided with the launch of the Government’s new 'hyper local' approach to tackling crime, with five zones identified in Birmingham city centre.
West Midlands Police is one of the force areas piloting 'HEX areas', named due to their hexagon-like shapes, which has seen five zones created in the city centre for targeted activity.
These are roughly the size of 10 football pitches and have been identified using police intelligence and local data to focus resources where they matter most.
Chief Superintendent Paul Joyce, force lead for the Winter of Action, said: “We want everyone to feel like they can relax and enjoy themselves during the festive season and beyond.
“Our Winter of Action activity is all about providing visible reassurance for all of those people who live, work and visit our town centres.
“Whether people are travelling in for the Christmas markets, enjoying socialising or making the most of the post-Christmas sales we want them to feel welcome and safe.“
"The Winter of Action activity will see our officers and staff across the region intensifying our work on issues that can cause issues in our centres and have a negative impact on how people feel.
"We’re working with our partners across the West Midlands, whether that’s the local councils, charities or local business improvement district teams to come together, coordinate activity and make the most of all of our resources to make a real change."
The minister joined officers, including Superintendent Sam Batey who is head of city centre policing, to see some of the force's activity which included knife arches, and cracking down on illegal e-bike, operations.
