Episode 7 Street Patrol UK

Our lives are blighted by antisocial behaviour,

whether it's nuisance neighbours...

Will you let us in, please?

..graffiti on the streets or too much booze.

-England!

-You need to make your way away from here right now.

This is the story of the police officers...

This is the police, are you in here?

You've been drinking a bit today, haven't you?

..council wardens...

This is antisocial behaviour, because it affects everybody.

..and local volunteers whose job it is to keep it off our streets.

Let's go do some good.

Welcome to Street Patrol UK.

Today, taking charge on the high street -

the supermarkets sorting out the super-strength boozers...

It may mean that we may need to ban that customer

to prevent any further antisocial behaviour in the store.

..the mysterious theft which left Cheshire churchgoers

bewildered by damage to their heritage.

I felt really sick in the stomach when I realised it had been stolen

virtually right from under my nose.

And cracking down on nightmare neighbours

on a troubled housing estate in Dorset.

I found a load of needles, loads of them, it's horrible.

My kid's come round here to open my shed to get his toys out,

-he won't be any more.

-No.

-No way.

I can't have my kids anywhere near anything like that.

Booze is often at the root of antisocial behaviour

and when cheap, super-strength lager is easily available

on the high street,

sometimes it's the retailers who end up getting the headache.

Because that bad behaviour can rear its ugly head in the very shops

that are selling the stuff,

some shopkeepers are now taking matters into their own hands.

A drinker enters a store and helps himself to a case of booze

assaulting a member of staff as he makes a run for it.

A brazen act, but for one central Ipswich store,

cases like this were becoming all too common.

The reputation of this store was a lot of thieves,

a lot of fights and a lot of drinking on the streets.

And alcohol was a big part of the problem.

Street drinkers, fuelled by super-strength lager,

would congregate near the store,

making life hell for customers and store workers alike.

We'd order, like, 14 cases of delivery,

cos it was so cheap, 99p,

and when we ran out, they used to sit on the wall outside,

watching for the lorry,

waiting for it to be delivered into store

and then they'd come in to buy it.

You know, then you'd start getting all the antisocial behaviour.

For co-manager Joe Davies and his staff,

work became a horrible place to be.

We constantly had gangs of people here drinking,

antisocial behaviour, shouting, fighting,

we got a lot of fighting out here,

and urinating in it and flashing my staff when they came into work.

We found lots of cider bottles and extra-strength lager -

just a constant pile of them.

It was really scary sometimes, you know,

and you think you're only coming to do your job, you know,

to earn your money.

It was just impossible. I can't run my business like that.

For Superintendent Andrew Mason, the problems caused by alcohol

extended across the town.

Unfortunately, there were four homicides

in the street-drinking community

in 18 months and those homicides were unfortunately street drinkers

murdering other street drinkers and clearly something needs to be done.

The East Of England Co-op knew they had to address the problem

and that meant facing up to the reality of what they were selling.

We were actually part of the problem.

We realised that because we were actually selling the product

that the street drinkers liked to purchase -

cheap, high-alcohol lagers, around 9% alcohol by volume,

and indeed there was a Co-op lager that was over 6.5.

Finally, the police came up with the only workable solution -

to break the drinkers' reliance on super-strength alcohol

by simply removing it from the shelves.

We simply went to the retailers and said,

"This is the item that we think is causing the most amount

"of violence and problems in the street,

"we'd like you to stop selling it."

The East Of England Co-op was the first retailer on board,

becoming the police's first partner in the scheme.

We took it with both hands. We said,

"Yeah, we're really interested in this and we want to be involved.

"In fact, we'd like to lead with you on this."

We were really, really surprised

and pleasantly surprised that most retailers said,

"Yes, that's something we'll definitely do for our communities."

And we started with the East Of England Co-op

and they removed it from all their stores in Ipswich.

Subsequently all of Suffolk and then subsequently all of East Anglia.

We also placed posters in our stores,

clearly indicating that we do not apologise

for not selling these products.

We were quite blatant about this and we're actually proud

that we don't sell these products now,

because all we're doing is fuelling the problem.

This store has seen an impressive 78% reduction

in antisocial behaviour.

This ban's helped us out a lot -

it's made my staff happier, it's took a lot of stress off me,

and it's just made the place a whole lot better for everyone, in the end,

as well as public and staff.

But that's not all the Co-op is doing to rid their stores

of problem behaviour.

They've set up a unique antisocial behaviour team

which is active across the East of England.

This is our central control room for the East Of England Co-op.

It's our security control room and call-handling centre.

It monitors 3,800 cameras across 200 units.

It could range from antisocial behaviour

in terms of youths hanging around stores causing issues

for the local community,

or it could be the aftermath or an ongoing incident of verbal abuse

where a customer's in the store

and there is an issue there that we need to deal with.

We're then able to dial immediately into the CCTV, access the images

so we've got accurate information and we can obviously make a judgment

on what sort of support the store's going to need

in the immediate aftermath and we obviously gather enough evidence

so that we can deal with the offender

and make sure that they're no longer an issue

for either the community or our stores.

And in other parts of Suffolk, like rural Framlingham,

there have been problems with youths in and around the store.

They congregate in one of our entrances, in large groups,

they stop people from getting in and out of the shop.

When we move them on, they come back, usually in larger groups.

They're causing vandalism, trying to force the doors open,

hanging off, sometimes, from the doors

and when I get told about it I go up there to try to clear them away

and that's when they start swearing at you and everything

and make you feel really intimidated.

At one point, it caused a lot of pain in my chest,

so I had to think, "This is not part of my job, really."

The East Of England Co-op Antisocial Behaviour Team

is on stand-by to deal with incidents whenever they occur.

A report has come in of a disturbance in Felixstowe.

Where are you calling from?

-'I'm calling from the Felixstowe store.'

-OK, and what has occurred?

We've just had a call from our Felixstowe supermarket,

regarding some antisocial behaviour that's literally just occurred.

It's some verbal abuse, which we rate as an amber call.

As soon as the call comes in,

Scott Walker from the specialist team is on the road.

Apparently he's became very verbally abusive,

he's become aggressive towards the manager

and, um, from what I understand, from the report, um,

he's been using swearing which could have possibly intimidated

our customers, and, obviously, our staff may need support.

By the time he arrives, the angry customer has gone,

but Scott's quick to follow up on both CCTV and the witness statement.

It's important for me to get an account by taking a statement

and it's also important to gather the CCTV footage.

Hopefully, from the evidence that I collate, I can then take

action against the person who's acted in an antisocial manner.

It's important that we at least advise that customer

that their behaviour's not accepted,

but it may mean that we may need to ban that customer

to prevent any further antisocial behaviour in the store.

The CCTV is crucial evidence in deciding how to treat the incident.

Age, approximately 20 to 22, um....

average build.

In this case, the offender was asked to provide ID before buying alcohol,

a standard procedure for anyone who looks under 25.

Some customers take offence at being asked for their ID.

It's a frequent trigger for abuse.

-So we're talking this guy here.

-OK.

I mean, he is under 25, without a doubt,

so you've followed the right procedures,

you followed the right policy.

And this is where he really, um, kicks off.

So he comes back, cos he obviously can't take the advice

-of the cashier...

-Yeah.

-..and he's going to continue.

Come back again, and this is the final gesture.

Yeah, OK. Now I believe he kicks the door on the way out, is that right?

Yeah, it's not a big kick. He isn't going to play football

-for anyone professionally...

-HE LAUGHS: No?

-..put it that way!

-Nevertheless, he does kick it.

-Yeah.

Well, I think, in this case, with the statement that you've provided -

and I can obviously see he's agitated and hostile - um,

I think we may need to formally ban this guy

in order to prevent him from acting

in an antisocial manner again at the store.

Such prompt action is leading to a marked reduction

in abuse against staff and a more peaceful shopping experience.

The message seems to be getting through

that antisocial behaviour will not be tolerated.

Offenders now know that we take this seriously

and we will deal with antisocial behaviour

and verbal abuse against our customers and colleagues.

Later, how old-fashioned policing is having a positive effect

on the streets of seaside resort Ilfracombe.

While he's in this slightly volatile state,

and while we know he's about to consume a lot more alcohol,

I don't really want him to have those things on him,

cos they could essentially turn out to be offensive weapons.

Living on a housing estate means living side by side

with other people, and that can be a good thing.

The downside comes when those people don't respect the area,

letting their dogs foul, leaving litter all over the place,

and giving their neighbours a hard time.

For housing officer Amanda Lowder,

helping make housing estates into nicer places to live

is a key part of her job.

When you come to schemes like this, it's not just

one specific case of antisocial behaviour,

it's a problem with the scheme as a whole.

So we have to look at lots of different ways,

so it's not just about me going and carrying out enforcement action,

it's about what positive things can we do

to make the community a better place to live.

Raglan Housing operates schemes all over England and Wales.

Today, Amanda's visiting one in Bridport, Dorset.

The development may be part of a picturesque market town,

but the problems some of the residents are facing

are anything but pretty.

There's been a history of antisocial behaviour.

For example, drug issues, litter issues, fly-tipping issues.

We've had people linked to the scheme

that've recently received ASBOs.

It's been quite a difficult scheme to crack, because, in the past,

people haven't been telling us what's been going on,

because I think they're scared,

scared of the individuals that have been involved

and scared of the ramifications, any comeback on them and their family.

Today, Amanda's had a tip-off from residents

about some serious fly-tipping.

They did say that there was an amount of cigarettes,

but I didn't quite realise how many cigarettes there would be.

They've obviously decided that this is the best place

to dispose of their unwanted goods.

We've got lots of little areas like this and people do just dump things

and we do spend a lot of money trying to clear this up

and, unfortunately, the cost does get passed on to the residents,

which encourages them to report things,

when they see it as well, instead of just leaving it.

I can actually see a knife in there,

so I'll have to warn the contractors about that, cos, when they come out,

they'll have to make sure they've got the right protective equipment.

It's important that she's a visible presence on the estate,

listening to residents' concerns and building up trust.

And, as well as the rubbish,

there's another kind of waste which is causing a stink.

A problem we've got on the scheme is, um, dog poo.

We've been having dog fouling for quite a while since I've been here.

And it's uncalled for for us to go through it

and have to put up with dog foul and my kids can't play.

At the moment, there's a big argument

about people having to get rid of their dogs...

-Yes.

-..and it's nobody apart from one specific person,

because we, actually, one of our neighbours

had to go and pick up the dog mess, because they watched them do it

-and then specifically asked them to go back and pick it up.

-Yeah.

They refused, so he has bagged it and put it by the bush

and is waiting for her to come and get it.

We haven't got a dog and some of the neighbours ain't got a dog,

so why should we come out with our kids before

and pick up dog foul because other people can't be bothered?

Hi, it's Amanda from Raglan.

Amanda's keen to get the residents together

to reassure them that firm action IS being taken.

We've sent a letter to every dog owner that we know of in the scheme

asking people to remove their dogs in 14 days

or else we will be taking legal action.

That is a shame, really, because, in a way,

you've got the lot that's not complying to the rules...

-Yeah.

-..pulling down the lot that's obviously the good pet owners...

-OK.

-..and they've got to suffer for other people's ignorance in a way.

It's all part of a broader plan

to make the estate a safer place to live.

We're at the start of a process of change here, aren't we?

Us changing the layout of the scheme

and moving those horrible drying and bin areas,

um, taking down the large bushes, and making it all more open plan

and it'll become much more appealing

-and a nicer place for you guys to live.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Amanda is pinpointing problem areas that she can transform.

Raglan Housing have received a £20,000 community allotment award

and plan to spend it getting rid of those hidden spaces

which may harbour undesirable behaviour.

I know it is a shame, because it's green and it's beautiful,

but we are looking to remove all of the large hedges, so there's

not an opportunity for people to use them to hide fly-tipping

or hide people that maybe not want to be seen in an area,

so we're looking to take all this down

and turf it to make it a nice green area,

a nice safe area for children to play

and a safer area for people to live.

As well as dealing with rubbish and dog fouling, she has to face

more serious antisocial behaviour complaints on the estate.

She's visiting a woman who, for months,

has been living in fear of her neighbour.

He's been known in the area for a long time

for drug and alcohol issues, antisocial behaviour generally,

shouting, swearing, dogs, dog fouling.

There seems to be a very, very long list of problems.

Amanda is keen to build a case for his eviction, so needs to

run over the details with neighbours who have witnessed his behaviour.

He was off his head. Well, he's always off his head.

And I was going in the garden

and he was letting his dogs out as well and then he turned on me.

-He goes, "Oh, your dog's always

-BLEEP

-in the garden," and I said,

"Don't be so ridiculous, I always clean up what she did,"

you know, and he doesn't clean it up.

-He doesn't clean his own house, let alone

-BLEEP

-in the garden.

-And he grabbed me by the arm...

-OK.

-..and he bruised me completely.

-Right.

-I mean, the police took photographs...

-I was going to say.

I had all that done, yeah.

The tenant was arrested and an anti-molestation order

was placed on him, forbidding him from intimidating,

harassing or acting violently towards his neighbour.

"Entering or attempting to enter your home,

"damaging or attempting to damage, threatening to damage

"any property belonging to you

-"and posting any item through your letter box."

-That's right,

-cos he posted faeces, his dog faeces...

-Oh, wow!

-..with a key, through my letter box.

-OK.

Despite the order, the intimidating behaviour has resurfaced.

-The police got called out again yesterday.

-Yesterday, OK.

So what made you, this time,

-what made you call the police?

-Cos I'm frightened.

-Oh, OK.

What did he do to make you feel that?

Just, like, his aggressive behaviour.

He threatened, um, another neighbour around the corner.

-I'm aware of that.

-Yeah, and he had a knife

and that person called the police.

-He threatened to burn me out...

-Right.

-..burn my flat down.

He made threats to burn my flat out.

'That is an absolutely horrific situation.'

Nobody should feel like that in their home and, um,

I think we should be doing more to help that lady to resolve

that situation for her, so I am going to start that process today.

Having reassured the tenant that action is being taken,

Amanda's now taking steps to evict the neighbour.

Threatening another neighbour with a knife

is an extremely serious breach of tenancy.

He's been served with notice that the housing association

will repossess the property if he causes any more trouble.

This nightmare neighbour may have to find a new place to live.

Later, the residents get going on a clean-up operation,

only to make a horrifying discovery.

This is just not acceptable for a family estate.

'I've been out and about on street patrol of my own

'to hear what bothers you about Britain today.'

All right, Patch. Now is your chance to tell me what you witness,

what you see out there that really bugs you that people do.

-Er, spitting in the street...

-Yeah.

-Chewing gum.

-Yeah.

-That's top of the list with most people.

-Yeah.

-People pushing other people around.

-Yeah.

-So just a lack of common decency?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-No courtesy.

-Donna, Lily and Joe, lovely to meet you all.

-Nice to meet you, hello.

Now, tell me what really annoys you guys about antisocial behaviour.

Antisocial behaviour? I would say, um, swearing.

If I hear people swearing on the bus, in the shops, in the street,

-that would upset me, I think.

-Especially in front of these two!

Yeah. I think, if the children aren't there,

then it wouldn't necessarily upset me.

Or somebody elderly, I feel, you know what, it's disrespectful.

-Yeah.

-So swearing in public would really annoy me.

-And I think you're entitled to be.

-Yeah.

What else? What about you guys?

-Anything that people do that you think's not very nice?

-Graffiti.

You don't like graffiti?

I tell you what, Lily. Good answer. Give me five!

-What about you, Joe?

-I don't like having wet clothes.

-OK, I don't think wet clothes is antisocial.

-No.

Depends where you're standing or how they got wet, of course!

OK, give me one thing top of your list that really winds you up.

I would say, um, the languages used by the young kids.

And, um, their dress code.

I would like to see them dress a little bit more -

especially the girls - wearing something on,

because I've got a young daughter.

I would not like to see her walking in the town in what

-these young people are wearing now.

-Right.

-I wouldn't allow that.

So expand on that, tell me what they're wearing that you don't like.

-They are showing too much.

-OK, this is girls and boys, yeah?

Yeah. Mainly the girls. The clothes are not long enough.

-OK.

-I would like to see them cover up more.

When antisocial behaviour hits our most precious buildings,

it affects not only the local community,

but also everybody who cares about our heritage.

And at one church in Cheshire,

a mysterious theft has left the parishioners bewildered.

Winwick, a village in Cheshire,

is home to the historic St Oswald's Church.

We think the first church here

was built in round about 1000, 1050.

It's a very hodgepodge church. Bit built here, bit built then.

It's Grade I listed

with a chancel added in 1836 by AW Pugin.

Pugin is renowned as a prolific designer and architect of works,

including the Palace of Westminster's Gothic interiors.

His work on St Oswald's raises the church's profile across the world.

This is important to the whole country, not just this community.

It's one of our great architectural treasures.

But instead of being revered, this unique and precious church

was singled out for an audacious theft.

One evening in March, we know that a white van

was parked up the driveway to the north door

and one of our colleagues was walking past and saw it.

What he'd witnessed was the final moments

of the theft of 40 Yorkstone flagstones

ripped up from the pathway leading to the church.

So here we are, this is where the flagstones were stolen from.

The van came in from here

and then they managed to dig up all these stones and take them away

without anybody seeing them, except for the last couple of minutes.

I felt really sick in the stomach

when I realised they'd been stolen virtually right from under my nose,

because I was actually having my evening meal in the bungalow

right opposite the church when these men were removing the stones.

For PC Vicky Goodwin, this was clearly a carefully planned crime.

The perpetrators are obviously

very well organised in relation to this offence.

Um, they have obviously prepared themselves,

so they've got the right equipment, they've got a van,

they've got the correct tools

and, obviously, they've attended at the right time, when it's quiet,

when it's dark, when there's not a lot of members of the public around.

English Heritage architect Tim Wilkins

knows that this is all part of a repeated pattern

of thieves treating our churches as soft targets.

Why these particular flagstones were stolen, I can only speculate.

One in six historic buildings in this country

is a victim of some form of crime every year.

And that rises to one in three for churches.

Now that goes across a whole spectrum,

from vandalism and antisocial behaviour and graffiti,

through theft of artefacts, theft of materials.

Lead theft, of course, is a huge issue, and right through to arson.

Now, some of these crimes will be financially motivated,

particularly lead thefts, but as to other ones, I can only speculate.

It was just very, very sad to think

that someone could come and steal flags like that,

which really are of little value to anybody.

But these were not just slabs of stone.

Some of them, er, were gravestones. Why would you steal a gravestone?

While centuries-old gravestones might be hard to sell,

PC Vicky is convinced that the thieves had another plan in mind.

Obviously, I don't know why the flagstones were stolen.

However, we suspect they may have been sold to order,

so, for example, if somebody was doing a big garden job

and they wanted a York patio fitting in the back garden,

they could've obviously, rather than paying over £1,000

to actually purchase those items,

they've decided that they're going to steal them

and, obviously, the church has got a number of them on the premises,

so they've been there and they've taken them.

This theory is echoed by the builder brought in to fix the pathway.

I think this was an organised crime.

They've come along and they've taken them.

Somebody's asked them to get such a measurement,

they've come along, got the tape out and taken them up

all along the path and they do a lot more damage than just

taking the ones that they're taking,

cos they loosen all the other flags, which then makes them dangerous.

The loss of the flagstones meant the church needed a quick fix,

as there were important events coming up.

We had to get the stones replaced very quickly,

because we had a wedding and we didn't want to see the bride

tripping up over missed flagstones,

so that's why we had to do everything so quickly.

And all the flags around them were all stuck up as well,

so we had to take all them up, level all the ground again

and cut every one to size.

For John, the hasty concrete replacements

only accentuate the sense of loss.

Just looking at these stones, it really does look a mess.

Comparing these old original ones, Yorkstone, with the concrete ones,

it really does hurt every time you walk along.

To add to their woes, the theft couldn't have come at a worse time.

The church is short of cash.

When I heard about this theft, it was of course very disappointing,

because there's huge issues on this church with the roofs.

There's big draws on the congregation's time and resources

and to have this put on top of them as well

is just very disappointing and exactly what they don't need.

Police are still hoping that someone will come forward

with further information to help catch the thieves.

There's no CCTV that would assist the case. There was one witness,

but he wasn't able to provide us

with a good description of the offenders, um,

and we did have a partial registration number

of the vehicle involved in the incident, but unfortunately,

that wasn't enough for us to identify the owner of that vehicle.

In the meantime, Tim has a message for the thieves.

What they thought was a very minor act of theft

in fact has serious implications for the church.

It is undoubtedly a piece of history

that has been taken from the community

and the historic environment has been eroded by that action.

But he will keep up the fight to defend our churches

against these antisocial vandals.

It's vital to protect our heritage.

It's central to our culture, our history, to who we are as people.

Antisocial behaviour is all about a lack of human decency

and disrespecting those people who live around you.

And if your way of life makes other people's a misery,

that's about as antisocial as it gets.

We're on the front line with the highly skilled teams

of council workers, police officers and local volunteers

who are committed to keeping our streets safe and clean

and taking on our antisocial battles on a daily basis

to make sure that our lives are not blighted

by other people's bad behaviour.

This is Street Patrol UK.

Policing can be a tough job -

and when it's in a small community it takes a particular

type of person to strike the right balance between showing a friendly face

on the street and taking a firm stance on antisocial behaviour.

And in Ilfracombe, the delightful seaside resort on the

north coast of Devon, that's exactly how they like to do it.

-POLICEWOMAN:

-Evening.

-And it seems to work.

Hi, you all right?

Policing here is done the old-fashioned way,

with bobbies on the beat.

Just to let you guys know, you have got a bulb out,

sort it, all right?

It's the kind of softly, softly approach that locals appreciate.

I think we are a little bit like the old-fashioned bobbies on the street.

We have got the time to speak to members of the public,

go out on foot patrol, and visit local shops and local pubs.

I'm Karen, one of the local PCSOs, I'm just doing some house-to-house.

And get to know the local community like the old-fashioned bobby would.

-Ooh!

-DOG BARKS

SHE LAUGHS

The town is heavily dependent on tourist trade

and needs to keep attracting the visitors.

I have not experienced it being rowdy around here,

I guess that's part of the charm, it is very calm.

I have got to be honest, I have been coming down here for the last

20-odd years and it is probably one of the nicest places with

the least amount of trouble I have been to in the UK, so, yeah.

Oh, we like coming here, it's peaceful, quiet,

never any trouble in the evenings, it's lovely.

It's a great coast.

But, of course, not everything is as rosy as tourists would like to believe.

Sometimes it's the visitors who bring the trouble

meaning police officers like Nella Barker need to work hard to

maintain their holiday paradise.

I think all towns experience an element of antisocial behaviour,

er... I'd say just average. Like any town, it's got its problems.

Just give me a nod and I'll come out...

Ideal, thank you.

Nella and police community support officer Karen Grant have been

called to the supermarket to deal with a suspected shoplifter.

He's in the store at the moment, he seems to have clocked

what is going on, that he has been spotted by the managers.

Either way we need to stop and search him, really, it is just about deciding whether to wait.

But I am just waiting for a colleague

because it is going to have to be a male that searches him anyway. So, my colleague has just turned up.

Just a quick liaise about that...

All right...?

Where is he?

He is just down in the bread aisle...

-So...

-Still shopping?

-Still... well...

-Has he selected anything?

-He has got some bits and pieces in there.

Meat and he's got a bottle of wine.

-All right, let's go for it.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Do you want me to come with you?

-Yeah.

Karen, just block the entrance for me.

While Karen keeps an eye on the exit

they search the aisles, with a bit of help from the store's CCTV.

Go ahead...

KAREN OVER RADIO: It has gone in his jacket.

Yeah, where you are now,

keep walking down, he did put something in his left-hand jacket pocket.

Where his left hand is in his pocket now.

-SHOPPER:

-I just put that down there cos my hand...

OK...

The suspect is caught red handed, concealing a bottle of wine.

..really bad, I can't put anything in my hand so...

It doesn't really explain why you've taken a bottle of wine

out of the trolley and put it under your jumper, does it?

No... Cos I'm just moving it about, that's all.

OK. All right, what we are going to do is just pop out to the back, is that all right?

-Just so you are not, obviously, in public view for a minute.

-Yeah, yeah...

Out the back a male officer searches the suspect for

any more contraband.

-Have you got any ID on you?

-I did have some paper...

Just going to run you through our systems, all right?

Check you're not wanted for anything...

Can I get a person check, please, for a stop search?

The report back from headquarters reveals the man

is wanted by the police in Exeter.

Nella wastes no time in reading him his rights and slapping on the cuffs.

You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention,

when questioned, something which you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Thank you.

-Just pop... so it's the other arm is it?

-Yeah, can you just...?

If you just pop it up for me and bend it round for me?

-All right, that feels comfy...?

-It's absolutely perfect.

So, going to lock them for you.

He's been booked into custody, he has actually

moved from another area so he has moved from Exeter to Ilfracombe.

They haven't been able to track him down, the local

police in Exeter haven't been able to speak to him about things he's outstanding for

so, obviously, he has cropped up to our attention today and

in doing that we have found out that he is wanted for some other offences

that he needs to attend court, so he will be going to court tomorrow.

If you take him for a sec and the other van will be here in a sec...

Cutting out crime in her own town is something that mum-of-three

Nella takes great pride in.

I work full-time, so I work 40 hours a week and I think

when you have got three young children it is full-on and it's hard work.

Mine are two, four and six so it is a busy but very rewarding time.

And like many modern women she juggles her work and family.

I was very determined to stay front line,

I joined policing to be out and about.

I don't want to be sat behind a desk.

All credit goes to my partner. He's been amazing and he's really supportive of the fact

I need to work. He has got a busy job himself but we just juggle it

and manage it like, I am sure, lots of parents do.

Experience with children certainly helps with

some of the situations she has to confront -

some adults need clear instructions and a firm hand.

Get rid of that, chuck that away.

MAN MUTTERS

Don't drink it all now.

He has got some cider on him and he has also got some homebrew.

It's not the only thing he has got,

he's carrying round some very dangerous items.

I'm not really happy that he has got on him an axe,

yeah, he's got a bag of tools, he's got a reasonable

explanation for having them with him which is that he has been

kicked out of his address and is sleeping rough at the moment

and he has taken all that with him but, like I said, while he is in this

slightly volatile state and while we know he is about to consume

a lot more alcohol I don't really want him to have those... those things on him

because they could potentially turn out to be offensive weapons.

-Shall I get rid of this for you?

-No, you will not.

He is from California, originally, but he has been around our area

for a couple of months and I arrested him a couple of weeks ago

from some disorder down in town which is why I am a little

bit wary of him because I know when he drinks his violence can escalate.

Some strong, persuasive words seem to have had the right effect.

Well done. I think that's the right decision.

We can get rid of the bottle. Good job, sir, good job.

Thank you for that. I think that's a good idea.

We are not getting married any more, no.

-We're not getting married any more. No.

-No.

-OK.

It looks like this guy has taken a bit of a shine to our Nella!

-I think I have still got the strength to do this!

-OK.

There you go!

I've seen better ways to try and impress the ladies.

That's impressive.

Come here, you, no, no, don't blush, if you want to record anything

I'm professing my love to this lady here.

I'll check in 20 minutes to see

if you've managed to get on all right, OK?

I want you to blush again.

-Make sure you get on that bus, all right?

-Will do.

'I do like working in Ilfracombe - we do have some characters here

'but it does give a flavour, I think, of the area.'

-The bus stop is that way!

-At the roundabout turn right.

-Right?

-That way.

Hopefully, in the next 20 minutes or

so he will be able to get on a bus and get to where he wants to go.

Like I said, he is treading a bit of a line but he is

amiable at the moment, he is not committing any offences.

I know!

Unless things change I'm sort of satisfied

that he is just about behaving himself.

HE SHOUTS

I've been out on a street patrol of my own to find out what bothers

you about Britain today.

What is the worst thing that you witness antisocial-behaviour-wise

in this area?

People just coming down here picking on people, you know...for whatever reason...

-I hate to see violence like that.

-OK.

-And we don't really need it.

-OK.

-No.

-You know?

-The gang and the drugs thing.

-Yeah.

You know, people are...just random people are approaching you

asking if you want crack or any other business and I don't really

want to be approached by people,

-they should be approached by the police.

-Yeah.

-Not just...

The lads are...pick

-and choose their customers on the street. New custom.

-Yeah.

-I'm not a new customer for them and I don't really want their activities around here.

-Yeah.

It brings all the violence and all the other problems with it.

I'd rather the police be dealing with it or the council.

And it causes problems for the shopkeepers and everybody else.

What about anything that you would class as a filthy,

antisocial habit?

-Well, I could think of one...

-What?

-..but you probably won't be able to put it on camera.

-Whisper it.

I actually saw some guy urinating in the street in front

of everybody at the bus stop.

OK - broad daylight?

-Broad daylight!

-You CAN say it.

You saw some man urinating in a bus stop - broad daylight?

Yeah, it was there in the road - the bus stop, there was loads of people

and he just stood there and did it and I just think that's terrible.

-Yeah, it doesn't get much worse than that, really, does it?

-No, it doesn't get much worse,

and he seemed to be quite proud of what he was doing at the time as well.

Do you think that might have been because he was inebriated or

-anything like that or do you think he just didn't care?

-I think he just didn't care.

-Yeah.

SHE CHUCKLES

I would like to ask you a question - what do you see,

out there on the street or at home or anything else that might really wind you up?

Stuff that people are doing.

Very few people are now willing to even give old ladies or old gentlemen

a chance to walk, really, so...

When you say not giving elderly people a chance to walk, do you mean

as in they are not making spaces for them on the street? Or there's no chivalry any more?

For example, walking down the street, it is only helpful that you, sort of, give them

-a chance to walk because they are feeble, if you like.

-Yeah.

It is all about common courtesy, really.

-OK, and you think we lack common courtesy at the moment?

-Yes, it's lacking by the bucket.

I think that is one thing that should be

reintroduced into society. I think the bottom line is it needs

to start from schools because those are the microcosms of society.

What we see in schools is again extrapolated within society so

I feel that is something that needs to be taught right from school

and from our homes as well because we need a society that is prepared

to look out for each other and if we don't look out after those who

really made what Great Britain is today, a great country, then we have no society to go back to.

Earlier, we met a housing officer who's dealing with problems

on a Dorset housing estate,

trying to make life cleaner and safer for those who live there.

And that means getting the local residents

involved in improving their own area.

Confronted by a huge mound of fly-tipping, Amanda Lowder

of Raglan Housing Association has called in the cleaning contractors.

Is that all right?

They're now on the estate dealing with the hazardous mess.

Earlier, Amanda spotted a knife in the rubbish.

This was the bit I was a little bit worried about.

-Just that bit there.

-The knife.

Nothing surprises us on this job. We find absolutely everything.

There's nothing to stop someone coming along later

and dumping a whole load of other stuff so the whole point of us

trying to do some improvements on the scheme and getting rid of

those tiny spaces is to try and stop people from doing it in the first place.

Antisocial behaviour is anything from litter, fly-tipping all the way

up to your extreme nightmare neighbours.

Some of the residents are keen to get involved with clearing

the problem areas.

But they've quickly identified a more serious issue.

As the guys have been clearing away some rubbish they've actually

found some needles on the scheme.

I found a load of needles, loads of them,

it's horrible, my kid's come round here to open my shed to

get his toys out, he won't be any more, no way...

I can't have my kids anywhere near anything like that.

We see it quite often - all the needles are next to

kids' clothes, kids' books, it is surprising.

There is loads in there. There is hundreds in there.

It is not a site you want to live by at all, especially over a kid's

book and stuff.

It's horrible. It's very horrible.

We have got these big, big bushes - unfortunately if that is your

thing and you want to dump something, something as horrible as this

you are just going to chuck it in a hedge

where you think nobody's going to see it and again not think about the consequences,

not think that a child is going to come round here playing

and touching things and could pick something like that up.

It is just... It's not on, it is not on at all.

We found another needle box in a bag in the bush...

we heard a rattling so we thought we'd check it through.

We have found someone's jacket and papers and more needles, really.

When they are using certain drugs,

heroin, for example, they heat it up on a spoon before they draw

it into the needle and then inject themselves with it.

As well as all sorts of drug paraphernalia,

the user may have unwittingly left personal information that

means they can be traced.

Amanda plays detective.

You know those papers you have just seen...? There any names on it?

Fantastic.

I am going to take a photograph of you holding that next to that.

...benefit centre.

-But we might be able to connect that with somebody here.

-Yeah.

It's a grim job, but clearing up dumped rubbish like this

and trying to prevent it from happening again is a vital

part of restoring the estate to make it more family friendly.

We need to be working quite closely, as we do,

with the local police to try and change the culture in this area

because this is just not acceptable for a family estate.

The development is starting to turn around, with residents

coming forward and joining forces with the housing association.

This is a heartening case of people power triumphing,

improving their own lives for the better.

Well, that's your lot for today - thanks for watching.