ANDOVER BID is this week launching a new crime reporting system for businesses in the town.
The group is hoping that joining the national programme, called DISC, will help address recent reports of anti-social behaviour in the town, and optimise the current town rangers service.
Speaking to the Advertiser about crime in Andover, BID manager Steve Godwin said: “I think we are seeing a bit of a breakdown in our society in terms of the number of police. There is nothing to discourage anti-social behaviour. I am not knocking the police at all, but there are fewer of them than there used to be.
“I have lived through expanding policing, police cuts and now expanding policing again. But it will take 10 years before we will see a difference, and in that time there will be a different government and we will see a change of policy again.
“The level of crime in Andover is relatively low-key. But when there is crime, you see it!”
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He continued: “But for day-to-day anti-social behaviour issues, people target Andover. We see shoplifting, for example, happening in Andover at odd times. Like on a Monday, because it’s quiet!
“There was a spate just before Christmas, during the school holidays when youngsters who are not quite adults but are also too old to be at home were out and about. There was a group of 16 at one point!
“What we are trying to do with the shops and retailers is help them report things. We have given them radios so that they can call on the wardens. They have got the power to take any alcohol off people, or to ask for names and addresses. That’s quite a deterrent.”
From this week, Andover BID has signed up to DISC crime self-management system, which allows businesses, the town rangers, and the police to share information about incidents in the town in a GDPR-compliant way via an app.
“Shops will have a list of problematic people,” explained Steve. “So if someone is a prolific shoplifter, for example, then they might be banned and then they are put onto the app. It is approved by the police and means that a shop can make a report that is shared directly with police.”
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Expanding on why he thinks now is the right time to buy into the service, Steve added: “Because we have been running the rangers service for a year now and we have seen the benefit, the value to the community. They are dealing with 18 to 20 incidents a day, of varying levels. So that might be a medical emergency, or someone asking for directions.
“The app can be used by all the businesses that want to use it, a business-led crime reduction service. It’s to make them safe, and more aware.”
DISC is a national initiative which describes itself as a service which “enables local crime reduction partnerships, national businesses and large venues to self-manage low-level crime and ASB – and enables police forces to deliver ‘joined up’ policing to the communities they serve”.
For more information, visit: https://discagainstcrime.com/
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