Home Office Starts £200 Million Summer Crime Blitz in 500 Towns

The UK Home Office has launched a ‘Safer Streets Summer’ programme that will increase uniformed patrols in more than 500 town centres across England and Wales through 30 September. The initiative targets a recent surge in shoplifting and other anti-social behaviour that officials say is discouraging shoppers and hurting local businesses. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government will spend £200 million this year to recruit thousands of additional neighbourhood officers and guarantee every area has named, contactable police. Speaking in Derby, Cooper argued that visible policing is essential to restoring public confidence and keeping high-street footfall high. The plan also calls for the first national database of repeat shoplifters, enabling retailers and police to bar and prosecute prolific offenders more quickly. Ministers say the combined measures will ‘take back town centres from thugs and thieves’ and help revive local economies.