Business Crime – driving down retail crime in Walsall town centre and bringing offenders to justice.

We are working hard together to tackle shoplifting and business crime especially in Walsall Town Centre. We have been developing closer working relationships with retailers including security teams, market stall holders and our colleagues at Walsall Council.

We have made a number of arrests over the last few weeks including one in which resulted in a woman being charged with 19 offences.

Shoplifting is a priority at Walsall LPA. We recently launched Op Marigold in a bid to tackle shoplifting across the Walsall borough. We are regularly patrolling in and around Walsall Town Centre have been visiting shops and businesses to hand out crime prevention leaflets and advice to staff to help keep them safe.

Reducing Serious Youth Violence - Taking a firm stance on reducing violence involving young people in and around Walsall Town Centre.

We continue to be proactive and visible in our efforts to tackle serious youth violence in and around the town centre.

The team are regularly carrying out operations in the town centre to identify anyone carrying weapons and will often use our knife arch to assist with this.

We recently arrested and charged a man with possessing a knife in a public place in Walsall.

Educating young people on the dangers of carrying a knife is also one of our priorities and we have good relationships with local educational sites where we visit and speak to young people about staying safe.

Tackling alcohol and begging related ASB in Walsall Town Centre and surrounding area

Our officers, along with the support of other policing colleagues and Walsall Council Safety Officers continue to carry out daily patrols in and around the town centre targeting public place related anti-social behaviour and the people intent on committing crime.

We recently teamed up with our partners at whg and carried out joint patrols and visits to premises where there are current ASB issues such as tackling street drinkers, rough sleepers and drug activity

We have also been visiting addresses in Walsall to hand out anti-social behaviour (ASB) warning letters to individuals identified as causing issues. We issued five letters to parents and guardians of young people we have stopped for behaving in an anti-social way in Walsall town centre.

In an effort to build positive relationships between police and young people we have set up a Youth Advisory Panel with students from Walsall College. The first session we held in November we discussed ASB and the impact and consequences for anyone engaging in this behaviour as well as the wider community impact.