Antisocial behavior inititative Operation Centurion Wyre to continue as stats reveal success

Operation Centurion sees the police targeting ASB hot spots in Fleetwood with visible patrols, contacting vulnerable people and local businesses affected by these issues.

In recent years there have been on-going incidents of vandalism and harassment by groups of young people across the different communities of the borough.

In a previous year Fleetwood town centre was identified as one of the main anti-social behaviour hotspot on the Fylde coast.

Operation Centurion is intended to raise awareness of ongoing activity and successes in tackling ASB among key audiences, building public confidence in respects to the police response. It is also intended to increase the reporting of ASB incidents and the amount of intelligence reported to Crimestoppers from local communities in order to increase the ability of the Police to tackle the issue.

Wyre Centurion operates every other Tuesday from 12pm-8pm involving sx officers, and every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (2pm-10pm) involving four officers.

Given the success of the initiative to date Op Centurion in Fleetwood is proposed to continue into 2025.

Wyre’s Community SafetyPartnership has produced a report, to be considered by the Cabinet this week, which includes data from Lancashire Police about Operation Centurion.

The report highlighted that throughout 2024 in Wyre, the operation resulted in:

• 85 arrests • 919 stop checks • 202 stop searches • Officer attendance at 395 incidents • The issue of 24 Youth Referrals • The seizure of 6 vehicles • The collection of 28 statements • The submission of 387 pieces of Intel • The submission of 21 PVPs (vulnerable person reports) • The undertaking of 1729 stakeholder visits • 47 Lancashire Talking sign ups • 20 Lancashire Talking messages • 51 Social media posts.

These are part of broader county-wide initiative, the Lancashire Serious Violence and Community Safety Board , set up through the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office to oversee the role of community safety partnerships in reducing violence.

Wyre Council, a member of the Wyre Community Safety Partnership along with the Fire and Rescue service, Probation service, Health teams, Police and Lancashire County Council, takes a lead role as coordinator.