Leeds set for 'crime fighting blitz' over Christmas as city marked as knife crime hotspot

A nationwide crackdown on crime and anti-social behaviour has been launched as police, councils, and businesses unite to protect shoppers, retail workers, and Christmas revellers.

To keep communities safe over the busy festive period, police will use hotspot patrols, quick visible enforcement, and locally tailored approaches, working closely with businesses and community groups to clamp down on shop theft and street crime across hundreds of town centres.

As part of the Winter of Action initiative, the Home Office has announced a new tool to tackle knife crime in Leeds, which is an area of particular concern.

The Winter of Action builds on the Safer Streets Summer initiative, which took place in almost 650 town centres and resulted in over 16,000 arrests and fines, mostly for shop theft and anti-social behaviour.

There was also an increase of visible patrols by 20% compared to the previous year, largely in town centres.

Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood said: "Shoplifting and anti-social behaviour are tearing at the fabric of our communities.

"This winter we are launching a crime- fighting blitz with police patrolling our high streets across the country.

"This is part of our wider plans to fight crime with 3,000 more police on the beat by the Spring to catch criminals and make our communities safe.”

December will also see the police deploy a new tool in their fight against knife crime in Leeds and six other cities, targeting hyperlocal areas that are most impacted.

These special zones, known as HEX due to their hexagon-like shapes, are roughly the size of 10 football pitches and are identified using police intelligence and local data to focus resources where they matter most.

By focusing on these zones, police and local partners will work together on detailed problem-solving to tackle the root causes of crime and prevent violence in locations across towns and cities.

HEX pilots are commencing in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Peterborough, and London, focusing on locations where knife crime is most prominent.

In Leeds, HEX activity is targeting areas with persistent youth violence and weapon carrying.

Nerys Thomas, Director at the College of Policing, said: “Protecting the public has, and always will be, the police’s top priority. We are working with a number of police forces to rapidly test new methods for tackling knife crime.

“The consequences of knife-enabled offences are serious and we need innovative, locally grounded, and evidence-based solutions for these complex problems.

 “The public want to see police tackling these issues, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. By taking an evidence-based approach, forces will be able to implement and test new initiatives at speed and get a real sense of what works best for their communities to keep them safe.”

Police will also take action to tackle violence against women and girls during the Christmas and New Year period, with increased patrols at night life hot spots and action to tackle the threat posed by the illegal spiking of drinks.

The Winter of Action continues the government’s drive to restore neighbourhood policing through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, which from July has meant named, contactable officers in every community, increased peak time patrols in town centres and anti-social behaviour leads in every force.

From Spring next year there will be 3,000 additional officers in neighbourhood policing roles with officers set to have new powers to tackle shop theft and anti-social behaviour through the Crime and Policing Bill.

This includes a new specific offence of assaulting a retail worker, ending the effective immunity that currently applies for theft of goods of and under £200 and the introduction of Respect Orders.