RESIDENTS and visitors to Truro city centre have been urged to report incidents of anti-social behaviour after an anonymous poster told a Facebook group she had been “verbally abused” by drunks.

The incident took place at around 9.30am on Thursday morning, July 10, close to Lloyds on the junction of Boscawen Street and Lemon Street where the perpetrators were allegedly ‘camping out’.

The woman, who identified as “a mum in my 40s” but wrote under an alias, said she had felt humiliated by “horrible crude comments then abusive when I clearly wasn't going to smile and was obviously uncomfortable”.

She added: “I shouted across the road when I crossed over. I genuinely felt like I might cry. I'm terrified of my daughters coming into town now. What has become of Truro? Not sure I'll ever want to walk that way again.”

Ellie Jane Black responded, saying: “I walked past about 8.45am and one of them started following me, shouting obscenities at me in front of children walking to school.”

While the woman said she was “not sure it is serious enough for the police - I don't want to look silly”, Truro’s Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Officer, Steve Lennon, urged everyone to report ASB direct to Devon and Cornwall Police.

“This is an ongoing issue,” he told us. “Truro will always have a cohort of complex individuals, some of whom engage with alcohol.

“If you are abused, you need to report it to the police, and we know Truro suffers from under-reporting. The police can only act upon what they know – and with more information on street drinking, we can call for more resources, including extra neighbourhood support.”

Mr Lennon urged people to log incidents with Devon and Cornwall Police as a first point of contact, either via the website, by calling the non-emergency number 101 or dialling 999 “if the crime is happening now and you are in fear of safety”.

He added that while street drinking isn’t an arrestable offence, gathering evidence can lead to larger actions against offenders.

“There are public protection orders in place which mean rangers can ask them to surrender their cans and remove themselves from the area – there are currently seven people for whom it is illegal to be found in possession with a can of alcohol in a public area.

“They can also be fined, although as such people don’t often have money available, this is rarely an option.”

While pictorial evidence is helpful in such scenarios, Mr Lennon said members of the public should not put themselves in danger. “It is equally helpful to know exactly where and when an incident took place, as we can then look at CCTV for evidence,” he said.

The Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Officer is a civilian role funded in collaboration by Truro City Council, Truro Business Improvement District (BID) and Cornwall Council, and working in partnership with Devon and Cornwall Police.

Mr Lennon is supported by Truro Rangers, who provide 46 hours of foot patrols, across five days a week. They wear red utility vests and body-worn video cameras, and act as a visible deterrent against low-level city-centre crime, gathering evidence to support potential prosecutions.