Police Perspective: Great success tackling crime in Doncaster in last 12 months

Over the course of 2023 our policing teams have made great strides and enjoyed considerable success in tackling crime.

As we reflect on the past year, I want to share some of the initiatives introduced that have helped us keep Doncaster a safe and welcoming place for people to live and visit.

At the start of 2023, we created a fourth neighbourhood policing team in the North of the city to cover areas such as Sprotborough, Adwick and Bentley.

This has allowed us to provide a much more tailored service to support the people who live and work there, and the team has already established strong links with partners and communities which will only grow stronger in 2024.

We listened to concerns around antisocial behaviour in Doncaster city centre and have been able to expand the team of officers dedicated to tackling crime in the area.

Alongside City of Doncaster Council, we have also been able to renew a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) which further protects people from antisocial behaviour.

Engaging with communities across Doncaster is a big part of our officers' roles and we know we can achieve the best results by working together.

To help us in this mission, we set up two community hubs in Armthorpe and Denaby, which have enabled officers to have a direct link with residents and shows a clear and visible police presence in towns and villages across Doncaster.

We are also combatting organised crime by dismantling and disrupting their operations in our local communities, with significant progress made in Edlington over the past 12 months thanks to the robust response of our officers and diligent intelligence gathering.

Having dedicated crime fighting teams has proved a real success, with a considerable number of prolific shoplifters put behind bars this year thanks to the efforts of our retail crime team. Operation Castle - a dedicated operation to target burglars - has seen the introduction of a new investigation team and has resulted in burglary rates in Doncaster since July 2023 falling to the lowest levels in five years.

I'm immensely proud of what the teams have achieved in Doncaster but I know they won't rest on their laurels. They will want to build on these results and forge even more formidable ties with communities, businesses and neighbourhoods.

We know that we are stronger as a police force when we work together with our partners and the people of this city, and I would encourage people to continue reporting any concerns they have to us. We are here to listen and your knowledge and intelligence, no matter how small, does make a difference.

If you need to report a crime call 101 or 999 in an emergency.