Sussex Police are cracking down on rising anti-social behaviour in Rye with civil powers and it’s proving to have an impact, the District Commander for Rother and Hastings, Chief Inspector Simon Yates, told Rye News.
Anti-social behaviour in the town has jumped by 9.3% in the past rolling year – that’s about one incident every three days, according to Chief Inspector Yates. “The local PCSO in Rye, Demetrius Georghiou, has issued community behaviour notices to individuals to say, ‘You can’t behave like that anymore, and if you do, we’re going to take action.’ It has had the desired effect. We’re using those civil powers a lot more fluently now, I guess, to where we were probably even 18 months ago.”
Chief Inspector Yates says Sussex Police tackled crime in Rye over the summer by enforcing the government’s “Safer Streets Summer” hotspot policing campaign. Since June, there have been 57 patrols in Rye, including in crime “hotspots” such as Rye Railway Station.
“It’s quite a small hotspot, but that’s where we see the increase of anti-social behaviour. What we then do is target our patrols in those areas and what we’re trying to do is, every other day we will be there in that area, trying to create a residual presence,” says Chief Inspector Yates.
“When the patrols are taking place in Rye, they’re taking place at the key times. We try and match it like that.”
He added: “If I see [anti-social behaviour] increasing in Rye, [resources] will come to Rye. We have to be flexible with the resources we have and if we see that increase, we’ll react to it.”
Rye residents are being urged to phone Sussex Police if they see any anti-social behaviour so resources can be allocated accordingly.
Meanwhile Chief Inspector Yates says neighbourhood crimes – such as burglaries, robberies, theft from a person and vehicle crime – have reduced by 32%.
Starting out on the beat in Rye
A young Yates started his first ever patrol on the streets of Rye. Born and bred in East Sussex, Chief Inspector Yates says he has an invested interest in the area. He became a cop after witnessing theft as a retail manager.
“When I saw some of the officers running around after these people, I thought, I could do that. That seems like a good job,” he says.
He worked in Hastings for many years before moving over to the Criminal Investigations Department as a Detective Inspector. In 2019, Simon managed a National Disclosure Project with the Digital Policing Programme in London Victoria and went on to work at the Police Digital Service alongside the Home Office, Attorney General, and Director of Public Prosecutions. In 2021, Simon returned to Sussex to deliver a Home Office Programme aimed at reducing the effects of knife crime in Sussex.
Bringing neighbourhood policing back to Rye Police Station
Chief Inspector Yates’ top priority is to make the community feel safe. “I think East Sussex, specifically Hastings, Rother, and Rye, they’re so idyllic. They’re such beautiful places. We don’t appreciate them enough and I want people and the community within those areas to feel safe. I think there’s some building to do around trust and confidence, which is something that we always look at.”
He says he supports government plans to reinvest in neighbourhood policing and he’d like to see this in Rye, including making more use out of Rye Police Station. “Rye is on our furthest border. I would love to keep the station and I’d love to make it more usable and more open, and I’d love to have a Neighbour Policing Team working out of it. It’s still a very usable station, it’s in really good condition. If I could achieve that before I move on to another post, then that would be brilliant. But that all depends on finance.”
Drugs in Rye?
Chief Inspector Yates says he understands there are no county lines operating in Rye but it would be wrong to say there’s no drug problem. To develop intelligence further, he’s urging Rye residents to contact police if they have concerns.
“I think there’s probably drug problems in every single town…but it’s about us building an intelligence picture. We have teams that work undercover, we have teams that work with surveillance, we have what we call tactical enforcement units that will execute warrants on information, and I would say, again, it’s a request for people to come forward and report it and if they’re worried about reporting it to the police, they can always use Crimestoppers, which is anonymous.”
Image Credits: Miriam Burrell , James Stewart .
Thank Mr Georghiou, pcso, for making a big difference here in Rye with respect to anti social behaviour.
I am very grateful
I would like to echo J’s comment and thanks to PCSO Georghiou and his colleagues. My children and I have been targets and often the victims of anti-social behaviour, mostly done by small groups of male or female children and/or young people. It is therefore very encouraging to read that a strong message is initially given out to any perpetrator of anti-social behaviour and that it is having an effect.
It is too easy not to report any act of anti-social behaviour on the grounds that nothing will be done, but may I urge any victim to inform the police.
Echoing the above reply, thank you Mr Georghiou and the force for being pro-active in our town, It is very much appreciated. Also thanks to our MP, Helena Dollimore and RDC Councillor Simon McGurk for all their hard work on the issue of anti-social behaviour. We are fortunate to have good, kind and supportive leadership at this challenging time.
Here’s a thought. Every man/women and their dog in authority have dodged the issue of the selfish, inconsiderate and at times frankly dangerous parking along South Undercliff. Leading to stopped traffic as far down as East Guildford. Time and time again Rye citizens have complained about this antisocial behaviour. Antisocial because those that live along South Undercliff and Fishmarket Road spend hours of the day inhaling foul and noxious traffic fumes. Parents have had to navigate their pushchairs into traffic just to get on their way. As for wheel chair users—tough, you go into the traffic as well. Perhaps the virtue signallers and genuflectors could contact PCSO Georghiou and ask him to pass by and maybe issue a few parking tickets or better still have some of the long term offenders towed away?
I have no problem with the PCSOs but what we need is full time coppers on the beat. They seem to be readily available for motor accidents and Bonfire nights.