“Wrexham is a safe place” – extra patrols from police aimed at helping confidence for locals and visitors

Additional police patrols have been deployed in the town centre as part of ongoing efforts to prevent antisocial behaviour.

The high visibility presence aims to help confidence of shop owners and members of the public who are visiting the town.

It comes after a slight increase in complaints about antisocial behaviour in the area.

The patrols include officers from the neighbourhood police and response teams, who have been patrolling the town and engaging with the public.

However Sergeant Steve Arnold told Wrexham.com when we visited the new town centre police station earlier this week, “Wrexham is a safe place” and that encouraged members of the public to speak with officers and report any issues they see.

He said: “There will be a zero tolerance approach to anyone causing harassment or concern to the public.

“We will be dealing with it robustly and swiftly and with any arrests made we will be looking to seek criminal behaviour orders.

“Wrexham is a safe place. The presence in the town will help the confidence of shop owners and members of the public who are walking around and visiting.”

The extra patrols will continue throughout the day and evening and will continue for the near future.

This week Wrexham.com and the BBC alone were able to ask questions of senior politicians at Wrexham Council, so we asked Cllr Hugh Jones about the slight increase in issues, and if there was any link to the recent discussions over the Public Space Protection Order or just a blip.

Cllr Jones told us the blip was ‘basically seasonal’, adding: “Historically any area sees a rise in the visible vulnerable in public areas, due to weather improvements. So when you say it’s a blip, it’s a seasonal trend.

“Council Leader Mark Pritchard and I were with with the police 10 days and they told us that they are starting out the morning with two officers who go out and do a sweep. We have got the four PCSOs back in the town centre, and we are working with our outreach team to focus on the on the issues.

“The preventative work that we’re doing and have done over the over the last 18 months has been hugely successful, but a continuation of that is dependent upon funding from Betsi and the Area Planning Board. The preventative work that saw the reduction was was partly funded, was significantly funded, by those two organisations.”

We pointed to the recent ‘Gold Group’ wind up report that noted a perception issue with many people still looking at images from 2015-16 and seeing them as today’s problems, we also noted a ongoing use of branding by one media outlet keen to call Wrexham ‘spice town’.

BBC Wales using same pic and same ‘its known as spice town’ stuff again a year on – still seems to be just the BBC calling Wrexham that. Council recently had a report on this reputation thing ( https://t.co/I7sGEDIutk ) interesting to see how/if it gets tackled! https://t.co/auNGVgQGCq

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) June 23, 2019

One element in the ‘Gold Group’ report was working against those perceptions.

Council Chief Exec Ian Bancroft said, “I think perception has moved on in terms of we are tackling it, and there are a range of initiatives happening.”

“I think the key is also realism about this, it is no worse here, our rough sleeping numbers are lower than previously. But absolutely, we have to keep a foot on the pedal in relation to this issue. Because, you know, it won’t necessarily be NPS in the in the future, it’ll be something else that’s causing a spike in terms of activity in the town center.

“Our relationships with partners are good enough to respond and react quickly when we have the intelligence about what the issue is.”

Council Leader Mark Pritchard commented on the PSPO, “It is really important we work in partnership so we can resolve this, none of us can resolve this individually, we have to work together.

“I want to say this, that some elected members unfortunately feel that we can just roll this order out and then we can resolve all the issues in the town. That is not the answer. I have had discussions on the safety of our staff, and the training because it is okay putting this order in place but if you haven’t got the staff, and you haven’t got the training, and you haven’t got the body cam and everything else is very difficult because these individuals they can be difficult to manage at the best of times.

“If you’re looking to confiscate something often it can become turned into a violent situation. That’s where I think that the police are our partners, because they have their powers, they have their expertise, they have their training and they’re the specialists in that area if it becomes a violent situation.

“I think we got to be careful. We mustn’t be gung ho on this order, it worries me because I follow the press, I follow social media and you see these members say, ‘Well, this is the way to do it’. Yes, it will help, but it’s not the answer by itself.

“The most important thing is that our staff are safe in their working environment.”

Anyone who witnesses any antisocial behaviour in the town is advised to contact North Wales Police or 101 or 999 if it is an emergency.