As we all know, both Truro and Falmouth and towns across Cornwall more generally have had issues with shoplifting and antisocial behaviour (ASB) in recent years. During the general election campaign last summer, the then Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper visited Truro with me to talk to retailers about the growing problem while announcing the Labour Party's commitment to putting more police on our streets and making sure that shoplifters are prosecuted, whatever the value of what they have taken.

During the Conservatives’ time in power figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that the proportion of the public who never, or almost never, saw an officer on patrol surged to 50 per cent. That's half of the public saying they never see a bobby on the beat. That wasn't always the case. In Falmouth, in particular, there is a proud history of public participation in policing and community/copper relations run deep in the town. Andy Hocking personified that. Hopefully, in time, we'll return to that place.

In the meantime, I welcome the new action on ASB and town centre crime. As part of its flagship Crime and Policing Bill the government is introducing a raft of measures, including brand new Respect Orders and action against shoplifting,

Respect Orders, promised in Labour’s 2024 manifesto, will enable swift enforcement against persistent ASB offenders. The Orders come as shock data shows that Devon and Cornwall Police failed to hand out a single Penalty Notice for Disorder for ASB in 2023, 2022, and 2021. For context: in 2010, fifteen years ago, 2,635 notices were handed out.

With 83 per cent of businesses highlighting ASB as a high priority for Falmouth Business Improvement District (BID) these measures will surely come as good news for the local community. Whether it’s street drinking, harassment or vandalism, noisy and intimidating noisy bikes terrorising our towns, police now have the powers to deal with these situations.

Labour will also scrap the Tory ‘shoplifter’s charter’, a law which deprioritised the theft of goods under £200. The Bill also includes a new offence for assaulting a retail worker. Back in November I was grateful for USDAW to give me the chance to come and speak with retail workers from Tesco, Primark, Poundland and the Co-op. Retail staff and shop managers feel totally powerless and on their own. These are not trained security staff. They're staff going about their jobs in the very public workspace of the shop floor and they absolutely should feel secure and safe in that environment. Stealing isn't a victimless crime.

Finally, Hot Spot funding has also been agreed for the next 12 months in Truro. The science behind hot spot policing is that when officers visit high levels of crime areas at least twice a week for 15 minutes to deter offending, ASB drops off. The anecdotal feedback has been very good so far. Meanwhile the funding to keep the PCSOs has been agreed, and BID will continue to fund the Street Rangers for 56 hours a week. All vital steps towards the safer streets Labour promised.