The latest crime figures for Gloucestershire (Apr 19 - Mar 20) show a 16% rise in crime, even though nationally crime has decreased by up to 9%.

For the last few years, Anti-Social Behaviour in the County has been persistently high – over 30% higher than the national average!

This is despite the last 2 years of additional investment in our local police (of 6% and 11%).

Now that we are coming out of Lockdown, Anti-Social Behaviour needs to be a higher priority for police action.

With the summer weather, bad behaviour has been on the increase, particularly from groups of teenagers, with excessive littering being a common complaint in Stroud, Cheltenham, and Gloucester.

Late night drug dealing and street drinking are other regular problems.

The Woodland Trust has also had serious issues with fly-tipping, litter and drug waste on its County sites, including at Barber Wood, near Cheltenham.

The Cotswold Water Park has also had littering incidents.

Where necessary, I would like to see the police work with council environmental officers to crack down on littering and Anti-Social Behaviour (on-the-spot fines of up to £150 can be issued).

We also need more mobile CCTVs to deal with hotspots of activity.

We certainly need a new approach to fighting crime from someone who really cares about our community and is passionate about crime prevention.

Chris Nelson

Community Crime Fighter