Dave Thomas: Operation Town Centres brings more eyes and arrests

You may remember that in our last two budget announcements, we said that we are committing extra funding to improving our town centres. And that’s all three of them across the Bay. We have called this focused work Operation Town Centres. I haven’t spoken about what has taken place in this area recently, so I wanted to provide an update.

Our CCTV team has logged, monitored, and recorded more than 2,000 incidents so far this year. Almost half of these were identified by operators during live monitoring. 

The cameras have also recorded 22 breaches of community protection warnings and community protection notices. CPWs are formal written warnings designed to stop antisocial behaviour. If someone ignores their community protection warning, they can be issued with a community protection notice, which can lead to further action by our anti-social behaviour teams. 

While talking about CCTV, it is great to share that new cameras have been installed at Goodrington as well as at Castle Road in Torquay. A new camera at Clennon Valley is due to be in place this week too; furthermore, we continue to look at additional funding/allocations to be able to continue increasing the number of cameras we have installed across the bay.

The CCTV team has also recently received its new corporate security fully electric vehicle. They use this to complete patrols of council buildings and property. They can also monitor and capture evidence of antisocial behaviour and direct patrols towards them. 

Many residents ask me about the various incidents captured on CCTV, so I thought I would share some of the incidents the team have been involved with recently, as I found them interesting and thought you would too. They work with a range of organisations, and some of the work they have been involved in includes: 

Working with Paignton police to identify people causing noise-related anti-social behaviour on Paignton seafront. 

Monitoring an e-bike rider at the request of police – they followed a man until police were able to stop him and found him in possession of £1000 worth of cannabis. 

Identifying two men fighting who were joined by a woman with a knife. The operators monitored them until police arrived and arrested the woman, who also had an iron bar and a hammer.

Alerting police to a bleeding female assault victim. Her perpetrator was later arrested for grievous bodily harm. 

The team also works closely with our new taxi marshals to maintain a safe night-time economy across the Bay. Recently CCTV operators identified a man they thought could be a concern following his behaviour towards some women on a night out. They shared the information with police and other agencies. This has now led to the police pursuing convictions for stalking and predatory behaviour. 

We also have four taxi marshals who are on patrol between the hours of 10pm and 4am every Friday and Saturday night. Two of them can be found at the Strand, Pavilion and Vaughan Parade areas and near the taxi ranks and the N12 and N22 night bus shelters in Torquay. Another two-person team operates near Paignton bus station. The marshals will be in place until at least the end of March 2026. 

Finally, I wanted to remind you about the events we will be at over the next couple of weeks, where we want to hear from you about local government reorganisation.

Together with councillors from all sides of the chamber, we will be at:

Babbacombe Fayre on the Downs, Torquay - Sunday 10 August, 10am to 4pm 

Scala Hall, Brixham Town Hall with Cllr David Thomas, Leader of Torbay Council, and Cllr Swithin Long, Leader of the Opposition, Torbay Council - Tuesday 12 August, 5pm to 7pm 

Paignton Green as part of Children’s Week - Wednesday 20 August, 10am to 4pm 

We are asking those that wish to attend the event in Brixham that you book your spot; this is just so we know how many are coming and that there is enough space for everyone. You can do this at www.torbay.gov.uk/lgr-engagement-events or email engagement@torbay.gov.uk.

I look forward to meeting some of you when we are out and about across the Bay.