Residents around the St Nicholas’ Church area of Brighton have shown the power of community spirit by working with Sussex Police to tackle anti-social behaviour in their neighbourhood.
They were linked by an alleyway that had become almost unusable at night due to anti-social behaviour and drug dealing. The same issue affected green spaces around the church, which were becoming no-go areas.
But the community came together, formed a WhatsApp group to share their concerns and began reporting them to the police.
We responded and, led by PCSO Kevin Creasey, put together a community profile documenting the key issues and setting out potential solutions.
Officers began making targeted patrols, parked a police vehicle during the day for visibility, installed a CCTV camera and arranged a community meeting to put residents in touch with the right partners across the city to address their concerns.
The measures are already showing results – residents feel safer and they have a renewed sense of community and communication.
Sussex Police has hundreds of PCSOs forming a vital link between residents, businesses, police and our partner agencies.
Acting Chief Inspector Andy Saville, of Brighton and Hove’s Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “Our ongoing work around St Nicholas’ shows what we can achieve when communities come together.
“Police officers and PCSOs don’t just work with communities, they are central parts of them.
“Reporting crimes and concerns is absolutely vital for us to understand what issues are impacting our communities, what areas are particularly affected and where we should be targeting our resources.
“The recently launched StreetSafe online toolkit also allows residents to input areas where they feel unsafe or uneasy, which is then collated to allow us to identify potential hotspots.
“Please report crimes or concerns to us either online via the Sussex Police website, by calling 101 or by dialling 999 in an emergency.”
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