By Tariq Albassam, Director of Operations at NE1 Ltd
Our Street Ranger service provides a prime example of this. The service has undergone a significant transformation over the last 18 months. From its traditional ambassadorial role, the team has shifted focus to tackling business priorities including on-street issues, antisocial behaviour, and retail crime.
It has been quite a journey but we are starting to see positive results from our efforts.
When NE1 was established in 2009 it was clear how important the on-street environment was for businesses and the city’s economic success.
Creating the right environment on the ground for Newcastle’s growth and prosperity was the cornerstone of NE1’s founding principles, and remains a key priority today. A successful city needs to look and feel loved and cared for, with a strong identity and a welcoming sense of place.
NE1’s Street Rangers arrived on the scene in 2009 to play their part in setting the tone and creating the right environment. They quickly became an integral part of the fabric of the city centre, providing a highly-visible and reassuring presence on the streets.
Recently however, business feedback highlighted growing concerns about the city centre environment including antisocial behaviour, retail crime, reduced enforcement presence and a worrying lack of perceived consequences for frequent and repeat offenders.
It was clear that something had to change.
Armed with this knowledge and with a mandate from businesses, we went back to the drawing board to review how we could refocus our efforts, and reallocate resources to respond to these changing conditions.
We knew from research that 90% of businesses didn’t report many offences to the police. As a result, the police lacked accurate data and couldn’t allocate resources accordingly. To address this, NE1 created our Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) to provide an easy and effective way to report crime and disorder and to encourage the police, the council and businesses to work together. We knew that by collaborating we could make Newcastle even safer and more welcoming.
Since its launch in April 2023, the BCRP has gone from strength to strength with membership topping over 300 businesses, making it one of the largest in the country, and achieving impressive and mounting results.
In the 12 months from August 2023, to August this year the number of reported incidents has doubled to 2813 and reports on known subjects have also doubled to 811.
The BCRP has been strengthened by several key appointments; a dedicated Business Crime Officer joined to work closely with the police, attract new members and provide advice and guidance to businesses. NE1 also part-funded the recruitment of two full-time, city-wide, CCTV operatives. This new, dedicated ‘eyes in the sky’ monitoring of the city’s CCTV cameras has already delivered exceptional results ensuring that appropriate resources are deployed when and where they are needed.
Security in the city entered a new era in May this year with the launch of Newcastle’s City Safe initiative, a partnership between Northumbria Police, Newcastle City Council and NE1.
City Safe has created a dedicated, highly responsive and collaborative task force based in the heart of the city to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour on the streets, pooling resources, sharing intel and avoiding overlap in services and delivery.
NE1’s Street Rangers play a key role in this new partnership acting as the eyes and ears on the city streets, liaising with businesses to identify issues and reporting to the task force so action can be taken quickly. The team moved into dedicated centrally located premises in August, further cementing the partnership and working practices.
Fast forward to today, and we can already see a positive shift.
In the last two months, City Safe has delivered 94 arrests, 84 dispersals, 50 investigations and 114 Stop and Search incidents, as well as 28 criminal banning orders being issued – efforts that make the city an even safer and more welcoming place for all.
Now, we have the three elements working together, the BCRP providing data, the CCTV operative providing realtime updates, and City Safe providing resources on the ground to deal with issues. We will continue to work closely with businesses, critically reviewing our approach to ensure we continue to deliver.
We won’t shy away from future change, and will continue to exploit our unique position to bring the right teams together and push hard for additional resources and presence when needed.
We are proud of the results so far but we aren’t complacent and will continue to strive to ensure that Newcastle remains one of the safest and most cared-for cities in the UK.
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