TOWNS will see an increase in police patrols this summer to tackle town centre crime.

St Austell, Newquay, Truro, Falmouth and Trelowarren Street in Camborne have signed up to the Home Secretary’s Safer Streets summer crackdown.

The increase in police patrols and local action will aim to tackle anti-social behaviour, which will be accompanied by stronger prevention and enforcement action by police, councils and other local partners.

Devon and Cornwall Police will get an additional 45 officers, 55 PCSOs and 10 special constables thanks to the investment.

Police and Crime Commissioners have developed bespoke local action plans with police, businesses, and local councils with the aim of supporting town centres to become vibrant places in which people want to live, work, and spend time.

These plans include increased visible town centre policing and ramping up the use of targeted enforcement powers against troublemakers including banning perpetrators from hotspots.

The summer initiative will also support young people, making sure there are activities across the 500 towns for young people to be involved in throughout the holidays.

The Home Office, alongside police, retailers and industry are also launching a new Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy, which will use shared data to assist in disrupting not just organised criminal gangs, but all types of perpetrators including prolific offenders who are stealing to fund an addiction and ‘opportunist’ offenders.

St Austell and Newquay MP Noah Law said: "This crackdown, and the provision of more ‘bobbies on the beat’ will make a real difference to my constituents in St Austell and Newquay.

“I was elected on a pledge to revitalise town centres, which includes tackling antisocial behaviour and drug and alcohol abuse. This, and improving the overall state of the public realm, are priorities for local people so I am thrilled to see national government support it.

“I am also having a lot of conversations with residents in smaller towns and villages on the peripheries of St Austell Police Station's coverage like St Dennis, St Blazey, and Penwithick, where residents have witnesses creeping antisocial behaviour in recent years.

“This commitment to having named officers and decent neighbourhood policing is needed to help turn things around and I look forward to meeting with the station again soon to discuss how we can get proper coverage in every community.

“We all deserve town centres and high streets free from thugs and thieves. As part of this Government’s Plan for Change, we are putting 13,000 new neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs back on the streets by the end of the Parliament.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper added: “High streets and town centres are the very heart of our communities. Residents and businesses have the right to feel safe in their towns. But the last government left a surge in shop theft, street crime and anti-social behaviour which has left too many town centres feeling abandoned.

“It’s time to turn this round, that’s why I have called on police forces and councils to work together to deliver a summer blitz on town centre crime, to send a clear message to those people who bring misery to our towns that their crimes will no longer go unpunished.

“The fact that these towns have signed up shows the strength of feeling locally on this issue. Through our Safer Streets Mission and Plan for Change, we are putting officers back on the beat where you can see them and making our town centres safe again.”