Police Perspective: Commitment to reducing crime in the city

At the end of 2023, we introduced a new cohort of officers to patrol hotspot areas in the centre of the city, including Frenchgate Interchange and its adjoining shopping centre.

Having a dedicated team in the area has seen the forging of key partnerships with retailers and workers, enabling them to share intelligence on the patterns and behaviours of criminals in the area.

To further emphasise our commitment to reducing crime in the city centre, we worked alongside Doncaster City Council to renew the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO).

This order bans begging, drug-taking and consuming alcohol, among other behaviours, and ultimately gives the council and police officers additional powers to really clampdown on antisocial behaviour in the city centre.

To kick off 2024 we wanted to reaffirm just how dedicated we are to combatting crime in the area, with Operation Duxford seeing over 90 officers hit the city centre to make multiple arrests and home in on issues surrounding retail crime, drugs issues and antisocial behaviour.

The streets were flooded with our officers and the proactive patrols which outlined our visible presence in the area were well received by members of the public.

Operation Duxford resulted in 14 arrests, with six people arrested on suspicion of shoplifting offences.

There was also a knife arch to search for dangerous weapons, stop and searches in the Interchange and a night-time operation as part of Duxford, which led to the seizure of £14,000 worth of illegal vapes and cigarettes.

As police, we will never rest on our laurels and our activities are shaped by the concerns and issues raised by you - the people who live in Doncaster.

We really hope these recent exploits have shown you just how much we care about tackling what matters to you and I would encourage you to continue reporting crime and concerns to us so we can evolve and continue to shape our policing here in this city.

Report crime on 101 or 999.