Protect Committee Meeting July 2026

Tuesday 14th July 2026, 10am

BID

Stats May - June

• £10,774.41 - value of stolen goods recovered (£6,982.47 in 2026)

• 1,090 – business visits and responses

• 111 – ASB incidents attended (38 in 2026)

• 87 - rough sleepers

• 195 – street drinkers

• 79 – begging incidents

• 484 – visitor enquiries

• 9– first aid incidents

Street Ranger team will be undertaking one late shift (1pm – 10pm) a month falling on the Friday of either pay day or a significant event. The shift will support evening economy businesses.

Members of prominent OCG group arrested with the assistance of the team following 15 offences in less than a week.

Community Safety

• Continuing with both city centre focus and city-wide patrol.

• FPNs - since last meeting there have been 15 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued in BID footprint – 10 for alcohol.

• Youth ASB - continue to try to tackle a specific group of youths causing a nuisance and have allocated an officer to work more with youth offending to focus attention on this.

• Thanks – given to Rangers and Police for the partnership work to recover a stolen rucksack with over £1,000 worth of goods inside on Sunday 12th July.

• Staffing - onboarding two new Community Safety Officers.

Police - Town Centre Police Team

• Agent Bobby - new AI-powered chat function within the non-emergency reporting system, helping public get answers quicker as it draws information from databases rather than having to wait for an operator.

• Op Hunter - increased focus on nuisance youths. Significant rise in incidents this year. Investigations and arrests have taken place with additional intervention work, court proceedings, parent visits and bike confiscations being utilised. Police stressed these matters are being taken seriously, with legal processes impacting timescales.

• Op Union - enhanced policing activity across the city with a focus on the seafront zones. Resources have been adjusted dynamically during recent heatwaves and will be increased to maximum ("Red Day") levels throughout the school holidays. Partners encourage to report any intel even where details are unconfirmed, to allow police to assess and act.

• Live Facial Recognition (LFR) - 15 deployments completed this year, resulting in 41 arrests. A further 13 deployments are planned this summer.

• Op Steel - continued focus on prolific offenders. The outstanding offender list reduced to zero last week, with all cases progressing through the justice system. Noted that sentencing legislation may limit custodial outcomes in some cases.

• Op Fearless - proactive shoplifting initiative using plain-clothes officers in retail settings to identify and arrest offenders in the act. Early results have been positive, with retailers reporting improved staff confidence and reassurance.

Police - Business Crime Team

• Op Fearless - continues to be a highly effective initiative.

• Sentencing Act changes have created challenges in securing CBOs. Police are using victim impact statements to demonstrate the wider effects of offending.

• Op Stock - targeting the sale of suspected stolen goods, with over 400 items recently seized at a Dunton boot sale. Enquiries are ongoing into two Southend premises suspected of handling stolen goods, with support from Trading Standards.

• Work continues with the most prolific offenders in each area through intensive management and support.

• Op Retail - streamlining prosecutions for shop theft offences, allowing CCTV-supported cases to progress more quickly through the justice system. Around 1,000 cases have been processed since launch, a reported 98% success rate. CBO breaches can now be progressed using this.

• AI - new ShopSafe technology is being trialled with AI-enabled body-worn cameras and radios that can automatically generate incident reports. Request for Street Rangers to participate in the pilot.

• Unusually, the defence for one offender has requested a city centre CBO, but won’t be heard in court until 2027.

Committee Member Updates

One retailer has seen an increase in bulk theft, £400+ per bag.

Another retailer asked how are stores decided on for Op Fearless, answer that than take crime reports or recent intel. Mostly data driven and stores are encouraged to report incidents.

AOB

Pride: 18th July – march from the top of Pier Hill from 11.30am to Victoria Circus, followed by speakers, Pride inside at The Victoria Centre from 12pm-4pm, and after party at Skylah’s from 4pm until late.

City Jam: 28th – 30th August 2026.