St Helens police highlight results of recent ASB Awareness Week

Police quad bike patrols, school visits, joint-operations with Trading Standards, thousands of illegal and counterfeit tobacco products seized, a stolen motorbike recovered, and three licensed premises caught selling alcohol to minors during test purchases – just some of the police activity in the St Helens area during Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Awareness Week.

The awareness week – a national campaign organised by ASB and community safety specialists RESOLVE – was held a couple of weeks ago (Monday 3 July to Sunday 9 July) and as part of our ongoing work to tackle anti-social behaviour, officers patrolled ASB hotspots across the St Helens policing area, working with partners and targeting offenders.

Superintendent Steve Brizell, who heads up the Community Policing Team at St Helens said: “The national awareness campaign ran for one week, but that one week represented a snapshot of the variety of work we are doing every day to not only target persistent offenders, but to also help prevent the problems occurring in the first place.

“For example, we had officers on quad bikes that teamed up with rangers at Colliers Moss to tackle nuisance scrambler bikes, while other officers worked jointly with our partners at Trading Standards to stamp out the selling of illegal vapes and cigarettes. We also had officers visiting primary schools to talk to the children about anti-social behaviour and water safety. Our officers will pursue offenders with steely determination, but prevention is also crucial to our approach in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in the long term.

“We know that some of the ASB problems in the area can be exacerbated by alcohol consumption, and this is not limited to street drinkers that members of the public can find intimidating, it includes underage drinking. This is why our colleagues in the Community Engagement Unit assisted with organising test purchases at numerous licensed premises throughout the borough. Three premises failed these tests and will now be issued with a written warning. These letters are recorded on the licensing system and will be used as evidence in a prosecution should this become a habitual problem.

“In a joint operation with Trading Standards, our officers assisted in the seizure of thousands of vapes that were found to be substantially stronger than the legal limit, counterfeit tobacco products and counterfeit drinks products. Two retail premises are now the subject of an ongoing investigation that is being led by Trading Standards.

“This was all just one week of policing with the support of partners. It was a week during which officers also gathered valuable intelligence that we will put to good use in the weeks and months to come.”

If you are experiencing anti-social behaviour or are a victim of a crime, you are encouraged to report this to Merseyside Police via the force website here: www.merseyside.police.uk/ro/report

You can also report via social media direct messaging to the force’s account @MerPolCC on Facebook and Twitter. Alternatively, you can call 101, or to report anonymously via Crimestoppers call 0800 555 111.

You can also anonymously tell us about areas where you feel unsafe because of anti-social behaviour via ‘StreetSafe’: www.merseyside.police.uk/notices/street-safe/street-safe

The information you submit will help us to identify the areas that need improvements to make our streets safer. Note, 'StreetSafe' is not for reporting crime or incidents.