June 7 – Local politicians pictured above have met with businesses in the city centre to discuss the recent spate of crime and burglary that has affected the area.
They stated “We’ll keep working together to ensure the police are fully aware of the problems and individual issues raised with us by businesses, and keep pressing for more resources and support in the city centre.Massive thanks to everyone who took the time out of their day to speak to us.”
On June 1 Xclusive Jewellers was targeted at 4.30 in the morning with a quantity of gold taken. In addition, Barcode, the Neon, Raven House Trust and Sports Direct were all previously targeted in a spate of burglaries that has plagued the city centre since April. Annette Farmer the owner of Xclusive Jewellers acknowledged the increased presence of independent retailers as a positive for the City but highlighted the lack of police presence there “All the public and businesses have is each other – we’re fending for ourselves”.
Many visitors would agree. Any walk around the city centre involves bypassing beggars and people openly drinking, dealing drugs in contravention of bye laws without any significant visible police presence. Very often it is the same characters carrying out repeat anti social behaviour. Newport City Centre is part of the capital city of Gwent but it seems to have too low a priority. Gwent Police has the motto ‘protecting and reassuring ’ but it is doing none of these things.
In November businesses criticised the failure by Police to respond in a timely manner to night-time events. A police operation in December saw five men arrested and charged with a total of 24 theft offences in the city centre, and four people arrested on suspicion of public order offences.
Their latest figures show that the number of shoplifting offences in the city centre has fallen by 3.4% in the current financial year to date compared to the previous year, while violence with injury offences has dropped by 10.9% over the same timeframe. But this is moderate progress when you consider this is one of the UK’s crime hotspots.
For reference – Gwent Police has 1,571 police officers and 133 police and community support officers supplemented by 60 special constables.