00:00An aggressive suspect, children trying to buy cigarettes, and a dodgy package.
00:07Who knew that this is what I'd witness in just one hour with Kent Police?
00:12In 2025, 755 antisocial behaviour incidents were reported in Chatham Central and Rompton Ward.
00:22So Kent Police launched the Clear Hold Build Scheme one month ago, starting in Chatham.
00:28It's a place-based partnership approach for actually solving some of the issues that are affecting our town centres.
00:33And here in Medway, we started off and we're focusing on Chatham Town Centre.
00:37What I'm really excited about is actually focusing on some of the root causes of serious unorganised crime,
00:43antisocial behaviour, and those environmental factors that really affect the enjoyment for those who visit, work, and reside within Chatham.
00:50So I wanted to know how the Clear Hold Build Scheme actually worked.
00:53So right now, I'm on a patrol with Kent Police, going through Chatham High Street on how the scheme actually
00:59works.
00:59And joining with me now is PC Styles.
01:02So when you're out on a patrol, what kind of things are you actually looking out for?
01:06So we do get a lot of rough sleepers in and around the town centre that cause ASB issues.
01:13So we basically try and keep an eye on them, make sure they're not breaching any of the conditions, so
01:17they're community protection notices.
01:18How often is it that members of the public will flag you down?
01:21We do get flagged down quite regularly.
01:23We're just a visible presence, so people are aware that we are here.
01:27But it didn't take long for me to see the first bit of action.
01:30We got flagged down by a member of staff because two youths came in, one of them tried to ask
01:35for a cigarette.
01:36Obviously the staff, knowing it's illegal, they refused.
01:39The kids became verbally abusive towards them.
01:42With Clear Hold Build, zero tolerance with ASB and stuff like that, clearing the kids out.
01:47And just been flagged down by a member of public saying they might have seen someone with some dodgy package
01:53that we're going to hopefully try and cut off now.
01:55We went to investigate the dodgy package, but when we arrived, there was nothing there.
02:00But it wasn't long until the police got flagged down again for the events in this video, which went viral
02:07on social media.
02:08Other police were already on scene, but we were called in as backup.
02:13Sometimes the most unexpected thing can happen and you may need to roll out a van, put the blue lights
02:18on and head back to a scene, which is exactly what's been happening here.
02:22The 51-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of intentional strangulation, racially aggravated assault, common assault and criminal damage.
02:32And with my time on patrol over, officers say these are the kind of daily incidents they're working to reduce
02:39as the Clear Hold Build scheme gets underway.
02:43Nayla Mohamed for KMTV in Chatham.
Comments