Working to keep Hertford’s night time economy safe

Police in Hertford are working even more closely with their local partners, in a bid to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour and to improve safety in the town’s night time economy.

Operation Attitude has been in place for the past three months and has proactively targeted those who want to cause issues in the town centre.

There has been an increased police presence and the constabulary is working with the district council, licensees, door staff, street pastors and St John’s Ambulance in order to make the town a safer place to enjoy a night out.

Alongside this, the introduction of a dispersal order has enabled officers to utilise powers to keep people away from the town centre whenever necessary.

Since the beginning of December, a total of 40 people have been banned from entering licensed premises in the town, through Pubwatch’s Behave or be Banned (BOBB) scheme. The initiative means that anyone who gets barred from one premises will automatically be banned from all Pubwatch member premises for a set period of time, depending on the severity of the offence.

Of the 40 banned, 10 have been banned for a five year period and one has been given a lifetime ban. A further seven people have been sent warning letters.

Sergeant Clare Ramirez, from the East Herts Community Safety Unit, said: “Hertford has a busy night time economy and we welcome those that want to come to town and behave. The work that my team are carrying out is to identify the small minority of those who don’t want to act sensibly and prevent them from coming back. Their actions often cause misery for others and this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.

“We have previously worked hard to have Scannet installed in seven of the town’s larger venues, which allows licensees and police to identify offenders more easily. We are also rolling out a new initiative called Licensing SAVI*, along with vulnerability training for all those involved in the night time economy, to help them identify vulnerable people and keep them safe.

“I want to thank the licensees and our partners for doing all they can to make the night time economy a safe place for all.”

Alongside local CSP partners, police in East Herts have recently launched a Feelings of Safety survey, to enable people to share their views on how safe they feel in the local community. The survey will assist in identifying areas of concern and help the CSP to understand the reasons that people may not feel safe in their towns and villages. The feedback will be used to help shape local safety improvements.

You can have your say by visiting the relevant link:

East Herts Rural
Buntingford
Bishop’s Stortford
Sawbridgeworth
Hertford
Ware

The East Herts CSP consists of local organisations including East Herts Council, police, fire, education providers and justice services, who work to keep East Herts a safe place to live, work and visit.

* Licensing SAVI is a self assessment tool that licensed premises can use, to help provide a safer and more secure environment for their patrons. More information is available on the Licensing SAVI website (opens in a new window).