I have spoken many times before about tackling anti-social behaviour. It is an absolute priority for me and I have been pleased to see over the last few weeks a couple of national government announcements which will feed in to two of the local campaigns I have been leading on here in Sevenoaks.
Firstly, last week the Home Office launched the Retail Crime Action Plan which will enable better intelligence sharing between retailers and the police and help tackle the rise in shoplifting.
As you will know from my recent column, I am committed to tackling the rise of shoplifting we have sadly seen locally and was pleased to see this plan include a commitment from the police to prioritise attending instances of shoplifting involving violence against shop workers or when security guards have detained an offender. Police attendance will be based on risk assessment, with a focus on prolific and juvenile offenders.
I am pleased that following on from by recent roundtable with Sevenoaks Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott and local retailers, the police will now be holding a regular meeting with local retailers – the first one taking place on 13 November. I am delighted that by bring together police and retailers recently, it has led directly to these regular meetings being set up – and I am very grateful to Chief Inspector Jones for having done this so promptly after our meeting.
Since our meeting a new Sevenoaks town police officer is also already in place. I am determined to continue to help police and retailers tackle shoplifting and will keep you all updated with developments.
Secondly, the increased use of nitrous oxide — known as laughing gas – has been raised with me on several local visits recently and I therefore welcome the new legislation which means that from next week (8th November) possession of this will be illegal, with repeat users facing up to two years in prison and dealers up to 14 years.
For communities like ours, the banning of this substance is a positive move towards tackling antisocial behaviour and making our local community a better and safer place to live.
