Safer streets campaign comes to 11 Surrey towns

Eleven towns in Surrey have joined a government scheme to protect town centres from anti-social behaviour and crime.

The Home Office Safer Streets summer campaign will see increased police patrols and enforcement, with offences such as shoplifting targeted.

Surrey's police and crime commissioner Lisa Townsend is also backing the plans.

She says Surrey Police have identified "key hotspots that are now going to benefit from more police action".

The towns taking part are:

• Guildford
• Dorking
• Caterham
• Addlestone
• Epsom
• Walton-on-Thames
• Reigate
• Farnham
• Woking
• Camberley
• Staines

"I don't feel safe," one woman from Addlestone told BBC Radio Surrey, adding: "We need more police on the streets."

"Certain areas feel very unsafe, especially at night time, you can definitely see a lot of anti-social behaviour," another Addlestone resident said.

Ms Townsend said: "You'll see an increased police presence, including specific patrols tackling retail crime and anti-social behaviour.

"Plain clothes officers will be in our busiest night time hot spots and there'll be joint operations to stop crime that's enabled by mopeds and motorbikes."

The Safer Streets campaign will run until September, with the Home Office promising 13,000 more police officers, PCSOs and special constables across the UK.

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