Wolverhampton City Centre

Anti-social behaviour

Anti-social behaviour continues to be a focus of our activity in the city centre and we are aware of the impact this can have on the public.

The nature of this behaviour will change as the dark nights draw in and we will see less day and evening time alcohol related incidents. We are seeing pockets of ASB in and around Dudley Street, St Peter's Gardens and Skinner Street and are working with our partners to improve the situation.

The closure order for The Hair Shop, Lichfield Street is in place until midnight on 01.01.2027 following a further hearing at Dudley Magistrates Court. The closure of this shop has reduced problems at the locality significantly. We work with our partners to consider the risk posed by other shops in the locality and will continue to target problem locations for the safety of the public.

Anti-social behaviour linked to young people remains a priority for us throughout November and outreach and HomeSafe patrols continue every weekend. This is important to ensure young people understand why we conduct our patrols and to keep people safe. We will be getting the assistance of our Operations department later in the month with support from the Guardian Taskforce, mounted branch, and our Safer Travel colleagues.

We know we have key locations within the city where anti-social behaviour is more likely to occur. Our incident logs provide data to direct our patrols so we are in the right places at the right time. Two Public Space Protection Orders are in place for the city centre to provide a long term approach to reducing incidents of anti-social behaviour. Residents, visitors and businesses can enjoy a safer space without fear of confrontation.

Report anti-social behaviour so we are aware and can target our patrols. Whilst we always want to reduce the number of crimes that take place, we want recording to be a true reflection of the problems so we will continue to encourage reporting. We are aware the locations can change where anti-social behaviour happens and this can depend on the time of year and weather conditions.

Reducing public place violence

I have kept violence as a priority for the city centre teams as our licensed premises are busy and we are seeing some reductions in serious youth violence compared to the earlier part of the year. We know that the time of year can impact crime levels and we have a plan in place for Christmas and events that run throughout December.

We had additional officers on duty over the Halloween weekend as this has been a demanding weekend in the past. We had staff focusing on engagement with venues and dealing with incoming jobs and other officers were solely focusing on the safety of women and girls. If you were out that weekend, we hope you felt safe and reassured when you saw our officers. We do not have the numbers of officers to be present in every street but try to locate ourselves where the demand is greatest.

Officers are regularly involved in incoming calls for service - this can be for a range of things but will include searches for missing or people in crisis, searching for people who are wanted and responding to crime.

On an almost daily basis, our officers carry out targeted Guardian patrols in key hot spot areas. We have an additional area to patrol and focus our efforts with a view to reducing knife related crime. The concentrated area sees officers carry out regular patrols and work with partners from the local authority to consider problem solving activity in addition to a focus on pursuing offenders. We continue to publicise some good news stories but others are not widely shared as we continue our investigations. Our requests for support from the public when we try to identify suspects or trace known offenders continues to be successful and assist us in pursuing justice for victims.

As part of our daily work we review 24 hour crime and also understand daily, weekly and monthly data.

Project Servator operations have seen officers from across Wolverhampton come and work in the city centre.

We are encouraged to see that members of the public are reporting crimes to police and city centre premises. Crime figures alone do not tell the whole story and although we see a rise in some offence types being reported to us, we hope this is the public trusting we will act on the information and get an outcome in line with their wishes.

Safer Towns Winter commences

The summer safer towns initiative came to an end at the close of September and we are now into the Safer Towns winter initiative that will run through to the end of January 2027.

We have planned a number of activities working towards our goal of making the city a safe and fun place to visit. Some of these activities will include our night-time economy strategy, our ongoing pursuit of shoplifters and reassurance to city centre businesses.

We got off to a positive start with focused activity around Victoria Square. Our plain clothed team focused on catching prolific offenders and had arrests every day. This led to arrests for a range of offences and a number of charges. One male was recalled to prison and the crime levels in the area have instantly reduced.

We are mindful that we are now into the darker nights period and visibility of our officers is key.

Working to ensure Bonfire Night celebrations are enjoyed safely and responsibly.

Wolverhampton Police are working with the local authority, key stakeholders and community members to help ensure these celebrations are enjoyed safely and responsibly.

Neighbourhood officers will be out across the city reassuring communities and preventing any behaviour that could put others at risk.

We will be working with licenced premises to ensure that safe securing of fireworks and appropriate selling is taking place.

Our Prevention Hub officers are working with schools to ensure that educational resources are delivered to schools to educate young people on the importance of staying safe across the period.