Thousands of shoppers and businesses will see increased police presence, stronger prevention and enforcement action by police and councils to support safer high streets this summer including in Hitchin.   

Over recent years street crime has sky-rocketed, with theft from the person more than doubling between December 2022 and December 2024, and there has been record levels of shop theft, up by more than 60% - with offenders increasingly using violence and abuse against shopworkers.

This marks a key step in delivering the government's Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, which from July will see named, contactable officers in every community, increased peak time patrols in town centres and anti-social behaviour leads in every force.  

Commissioned by the Home Secretary, Police and Crime Commissioners across England and Wales have developed bespoke local action plans with police, businesses and local councils to crackdown on crime this summer.  

The aim is to support town centres to be vibrant places where people want to live, work and spend time, and restore faith in community policing after years of declining police officer presence on Britain's streets.  

These plans include increased visible town centre policing and ramping up the use of targeted enforcement powers against troublemakers – including banning perpetrators from hotspots.  

The summer initiative will also support young people, making sure there are activities across the 500 towns for young people to be involved in throughout the holidays. 

The Home Office, alongside police, retailers and industry are also launching a new Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy, which will use shared data to assist in disrupting not just organised criminal gangs, but all types of perpetrators including prolific offenders who are stealing to fund an addiction and 'opportunist' offenders.