Dudley councillor joins calls for more police to crackdown on thieves and youth gangs
Dudley traders say the town is rife with crime because there are not enough police officers on the streets.
Despite West Midlands Police opening a new headquarters down the road at Castlegate, shopkeepers and business owners say gangs of thieves and crowds of youths are causing mayhem because there is no visible police presence in the town centre.
Poundland staff say the store is affected by shoplifting every day with crooks filling bags with items like chocolate and washing up pods.
Ava Webb, assistant manager at Dudley Poundland, said: “Once the school kids finish on a night they will come in droves, you will get 20 or 30 at a time and there is just no supervision for them.
“They will be on the market, they’ll be lobbing things at each other, there’s just not enough presence to even deter anybody let alone stop them.”
Paula Goodyear runs a popular café in Fountain Arcade and says her customers are turning their backs on the town.
Mrs Goodyear said: “I have got messages on my phone where people have said ‘I won’t go to town. It’s too frightening for me’.
“If you lose that one customer, then another one adds on, where you had four or five of them sitting at a table, you might get the odd one now.
“That is down to crime. I cannot tell you the last time I saw a policeman walk up this arcade, when you say your PCSOs, the kids will cheek them because they know they can’t do anything.”
West Midlands Police’s Dudley Central sergeant Chris Pyke said: “We actively look to deal with any issues reported to us and in Dudley town centre have two dedicated neighbourhood PCSOs and two PCs who monitor the area, help tackle crime and who are also assisted by Dudley response officers, the wider neighbourhood teams and other specialist units.
“Tackling antisocial behaviour remains a priority for us in Dudley and we conduct regular targeted patrols in hotspot areas, engage with the public and businesses, and also work together alongside Dudley Council Street wardens.”
Dudley Council has also introduced new Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO) which aim to target antisocial vehicle use and antisocial behaviour in the town centre.
Cllr Caroline Reid, whose ward includes Dudley town centre, said: “I walk the town five times a week, I walk the arcade, I walk from the top of the town to the bottom.
“If you see the police they have been called for a shoplifting offence, if you see PCSOs – you have a glimpse of them but then you don’t see them all day.
“If the police say that their presence is here, how come so much crime is going on?”
Even charity shops are not immune to crime. The Acorns Children’s Hospice shop is regularly targeted by thieves and shoplifters while staff worry about their personal safety.
Acorns shop manager Emily Shaw said: “There isn’t enough police presence, sometimes we have to lone work.
“You get the gangs of kids, trying to have fights and whatever, I have shut early if I’ve seen gangs outside.
“I know one of the other charity shops had their window put in through an incident like that.
“This is the worst town I have worked in.”
