Newbury police hail drink crime crackdown a success after 20 per cent figure fall

A booze-related crime crackdown with late-night revellers targeted has seen a drop in the number of recorded crimes on the Newbury town beat to 553, down 141 on last year’s figure.
Insp Dave Milsom said a concentrated effort to maintain a visible late-night presence and a closer working relationship with pubs and clubs was behind the success.
According to the latest crime map statistics at

, the number of reported crimes in Newbury rose in the last month, but showed a big year-on-year drop.
Insp Milsom said: “We have been working with the council to cut down on the number of street drinkers, especially those who gather near the church and bus stations, as they tend to pester passengers and cause problems for people coming into town.
“We have been working with Gardner Leader to see about getting the bench removed [in Market Place] as that can attract groups, too.
“There were something like 29,000 people in the town during the recent [Newbury Racecourse] concert, so we had three times the normal number of police out on the streets.
“There were two assaults; one was just handbags which we quickly sorted out, and the second resulted in the arrest of three people, and also ended up sorted out.”