More visible policing in your neighbourhood

Funding secured to boost successful hotspot strategy

I am pleased to report that I have secured just over £1.5million for Kent Police to conduct extra patrols in hotspot areas in 2025/6. This is a continuation of the funding I received from the previous Government.

There are currently 27 areas around Kent and Medway which are designated “antisocial behaviour hotspots” and 24 zones designated as “serious violence hotspots”. Since the increased officer deployment, which began April 2024, reports of antisocial behaviour across the county fell by 4.5% compared to the previous year and the number of serious violence offences dropped by 6.3%.

Serious violence fell in 18 of the 24 of the designated zones and antisocial behaviour reports fell in 16 of the 27 areas.

There were some key principles behind the programme. First, I ensured that every District in Kent (council areas) benefitted in someway from the patrols. This meant that everywhere from Dartford to Dover had at least one hotspot area.

Secondly, they would benefit the areas that needed it most. Working with Kent Police, we ranked the hotspots from the previous twelve months by the volume of crimes committed and the harm they caused.

Next year, I intend to apply the same principles; a data-led approach but with at least one area benefitting in each District.

Knife crime

I have also secured funding to continue the work of my Violence Reduction Unit next year. The results have been astonishing.

At my last Performance and Delivery Board, I asked the Chief Constable about knife crime figures, which shows a fall of 9.2% since last year. Mr. Smith acknowledged there was still much to do, but said the current “solve” rate for knife crime offences is 26.5%, which is an increase of 5% on last year.

There has also been an increase in the knife prevention workshops taking place in schools across Kent and Medway. More than 40,000 students have now signed the Knife Pledge, which is a commitment to keep themselves and others safe from knife crime.

I’m pleased knife crime is falling against the national trend, thanks to the hard work of officers, staff and the VRU. It is still too high and we know more needs to be done, but I’m delighted to see the solve rates increasing.

It’s also good to see the extensive prevention work being carried out by Kent Police, from First Aid sessions with some of our most vulnerable young people, to broader educational programmes in schools. This is a problem no-one can afford to ignore.

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