Sussex PCC's video log: Working together is key to fighting anti-social behaviour

Filmed ahead of the Police & Crime Commissioner's '˜Listen Live: Partners Together' crime summit this video examines anti-social behaviour in Hastings and Rother, and some of the great partnership work which is taking place in the area to tackle it.
Katy BourneKaty Bourne
Katy Bourne

More than 100 people attended the summit when it was held in Hastings recently. The Listen Live: Partners Together event at Sussex Coast College Hastings on Wednesday, 27 September, focused on the work being done behind-the-scenes with younger people to tackle anti-social behaviour.

The audience, including local business owners, Hastings Youth Council members, not-for-profit organisations and residents, heard that the town had plenty to celebrate with its partnership work to fight the problem – but that more needed to be done.

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This was the Police & Crime Commissioner’s second crime summit after a successful event in Brighton earlier this year which focused on elder exploitation as part of the PCC’s pledge to protect vulnerable residents and help victims.

The Hastings event, which tied in with another of the four priorities in Mrs Bourne’s Police and Crime Plan, to work with partners to keep Sussex safe, concentrated on anti-social behaviour.

During a panel debate chaired by Laura Green, BCRP Crime Manager, about the components necessary to fight low-level crime, Ben Wyatt, from the Youth Offending Service, said a fully funded youth service to provide somewhere for young people to go would be vital to address the root of the issue.

Not criminalising under-18s where possible was high on the priorities voted on by the audience, as well as a general agreement that everyone has a responsibility to keep the town safe.