Anti-social behaviour in Hitchin town centre and drug use and dealing in local parks are among the latest priorities announced by neighbourhood police.

The North Herts Neighbourhood Policing Team sets its local priorities every four months, using crime data and feedback from residents to identify the issues causing the greatest concern.

For Hitchin Urban, officers will focus on:

• Anti-social behaviour in the town centre
• Drug use and dealing in parks and open spaces

The priorities for Hitchin Rural are:

• Vehicle crime, including thefts from vehicles and the theft of vehicles
• Fly-tipping and associated offences in rural areas along the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire border

Residents can expect to see dedicated PCs and PCSOs working with partner organisations to tackle the problems through increased patrols, community engagement events and targeted enforcement.

Inspector James Lant, who leads the North Herts Neighbourhood Policing Team, thanked residents who contributed their views.

He said: "Thank you to everybody who took the time to share their views. In some cases, priorities will remain the same in areas until we are satisfied the issue has been dealt with.

"My officers will now be working hard to tackle these latest priorities and we'll be sharing regular updates on Herts Connected and the North Herts Police Facebook page.

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"Please do sign up and follow us to keep up-to-date. We look forward to sharing our progress with you and keeping the borough safe."

Police stressed that officers will continue to respond to everyday incidents, force-wide priorities and any emerging issues requiring immediate action while carrying out work on the neighbourhood priorities.

North Herts is also served by emergency response officers, detectives and specialist teams dealing with offences including burglary, robbery, assault, domestic abuse and acquisitive crime.